Wednesday, January 8th, 2014

I went to bed at 11:30 got up twice during the night (with a little difficulty getting back to sleep) and finally woke/got up at 8:30.

My plan was to have a cup of coffee at the Tinto store if Gonzalo was still there and then a slab of pineapple across the street.  As I approached the fruit stand I saw the owner holding his finger dripping blood.  That’s when I decided to skip the pineapple today.

It was almost 10am as I walked past the Tinto store (Gonzalo wasn’t there) so I just continued on my way to Panaderia Los Mejores.  As I was crossing the street I thought I saw Damaris but when I got there she wasn’t in sight.  While I was drinking my coffee and eating my croissant I did see her so when I finished I waited in line again and handed her a note that said: “Merry Christmas.  Happy New Year.  Do you want to be friends?”  It was very busy so I didn’t stick around for a reply.

As I was walking back towards the Tinto store I heard someone call my name; it was Dario on his way to pay his Une (communications) bill in Exito.  He handed it to me – he wanted me to pay it – I declined but I did notice it was only 54,000 pesos.  I told him mine is double that – I think I remembered it’s about 104,000 pesos.  I’m sure he has telephone and television but he probably doesn’t have Wi-Fi.  So, maybe that means when I drop my telephone and television I should save about 54mil or so.  We played frogger as we walked across the street to Exito.  We confirmed we’re meeting at Mall de Laureles today at 2pm to play chess and he wants to do the same tomorrow.  He told me it’s a new year and he doesn’t plan on losing this year.  He’s so funny!  Lol.  As we parted I was surprised to find he pays his bill in the bank while I pay mine in Exito near the entrance.  

I bought my monthly supply of Tamsulosin at the pharmacy for 36,225 ($19.07) and then 2 packages of 2 Glade air fresheners, 2 more kitchen towels and another package of Trident gum for a total of 50,620 ($26.64).

About 1:30pm I had a large hot dog and medium Pepsi at Dogger’s for 9,700 pesos in the lower level of Viva CC.  Dario showed up at LM at 2pm as scheduled.  First I showed him the Christmas booklet that mentioned Parque del Ajedrez (chess park) that’s located in berrio Santa Mónica (Calle 35 & Carrera 94) just west of us up in the hills.  He wants to go check it out tomorrow.  I assume we’ll use his car.

We played 2 games and in both games he pushed one or both of his knights down my throat and won them both.  (I know what I did wrong in the 2^nd game as I switched the order of two moves.)

About 5pm I had Chinese food at Oriente Chino in LM.  They call it Arroz con Pollo Especial and I had it with a glass of jugo de mora (blackberry juice) for 17mil ($8.95).  It consisted of chinese rice, chicken, a few pieces of beef, vegetables and pieces of something that seemed like bologna but I confirmed with the owner is ham.  In the future I’ll try to remember to order it without the ham (jamon). 

From 6pm to 7pm I was at Fresco Pan having a cup of coffee and reading more of my Nook book.  While sitting there I received a text message that said (in Spanish): “Polar vortex in U.S. leaves 20 dead and five billion dollars in losses.”  Andrea was there and I asked her what something was that she had just taken out of the oven and she said it was pan integral which I understand means whole grain bread but it was more in the form of “pigs in a blanket” without the “pigs”.  She said there was something inside but I didn’t understand what.

I mentioned last night I purchased Bit Defender Total Security for $51.97.  Here’s a description:

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