Monday, February 10th, 2014

Last night I made some popcorn with a small container of butter I saved from the hotel at breakfast yesterday.  I had that along with 400ml of Coke (1,600 pesos) from the corner store while I watched the 1995 movie Convict Cowboy on Netflix (5.7) “Sentenced to prison in Montana, Clay Treyton lands at a convict ranch, where he learns about rodeo riding from a former champion and fellow inmate.”

I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep rather quickly (yah!), got up once during the night, woke up at 5:30 and got up at 6:30.  Having a little discomfort in my neck this morning I took 2 Excedrin Migraine but still completed my morning workout.  Back in November when I first started using my jump rope I could only do 19 revolutions without being out of breath.  Now I’m doing 85 revolutions and I do it twice.  My technique has improved greatly also; I’m no longer getting tangled in the rope and having to stop every 20 revolutions or so to straighten it.

It’s a very overcast and cool morning thus far.

I stopped at the bank to get change for 50mil for the cleaning lady tomorrow.  35mil goes directly to her, 14mil for lunch and 1mil to tip the delivery man.  The teller gave me my 1 20mil, 2 10mil and 2 5mil bills but told me that I can’t get change there.  What’s that about?

In the Exito bakery I noticed they sell something called “pastel chicharron”.  It is a pastry that looks very much like chicharron. 

In America, “Bimbo” is a derogatory slang term for an attractive but unintelligent female so it’s interesting to see young ladies walking around with the Bimbo (the name of a local bread company) logo on their uniforms.

I bought a package of Oral-B floss for 7,320 at Exito.

I stopped at Redd’s for a glass of orange juice.  The lady I bought the Chicago Bears t-shirt from came by and asked me if I wanted to buy the t-shirt she was wearing for 20mil.  I told her I’m only interested in Chicago Bears t-shirts.  She told me “mañana”.  I think she’s just pulling my leg!

Later a man started talking to me in slightly accented English.  His name is Alberto and he worked for a cleaning company in New York for 18 years.  He owns Redd’s bar, the apartment next to it, and the drug store next to it.  He told me Redd’s bar is actually named Salsamenteria Abril (April).  He took me to a storage area behind it and showed me barrels of what looked like spheres of lead.  He told me it’s used to pulverize rock to separate raw material from gold.  That was very interesting.  He complimented me on my Spanish thus far and recommended I be patient about finding a lady here.

I checked Carrefour theatre and Last Vegas (6.8) is playing there at 2:05 and 4:30.  It’s also playing at Los Molinos at 12:20 and 2:55 and Santafe at 1:00 and 3:30.

12 Years a Slave (8.4) is playing at Oviedo at noon and 2:50 and Vizcaya at 12:20 and 3:15.

I stopped at the tailors on Avenida 84 but was surprised they couldn’t repair the small holes in my sweat socks.  I’ll try a couple other places but I expect to get the same answer again.

Since I was in the neighborhood of course I stopped at Paisa Pan and had a churro and coffee for 1,800 pesos.  I noticed they sell bags of milk also and since they are open 24 hours it’s a good backup to the corner store I’ll have to remember.

I walked across the street to the internet café where I had the lady make a color copy of both sides of my new Cedula and had it laminated for 2,400 pesos.  Now I’ll just carry the copy and keep the original in a hiding place in my apartment.

I had a waffle for lunch but while removing the tab ring on the top of a new bottle of olive oil it exploded onto the floor, the sink, my hands and some even got in my hair.

I left the apartment at 1:25 for a 2:05 movie at Carrefour.  The Circular 303 bus I got on looked brand new.  One feature I didn’t like is there are 2 levels of windows and only the upper level can be opened.  I was at the theater 20 minutes early so I walked around Jumbo for a while.  The movie Last Vegas (6.8) starring Michael Douglas, Kevin Klein, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, and Mary Steenburgen only cost me 7mil.  I was very happy there was only one short before the main attraction.  I had a small popcorn and medium Pepsi and thankfully only needed to make 1 trip to the restroom.

About 6:30 I walked over to Fresco Pan and had a pastry with arequipe inside and a cup of coffee.  Juliet Andrea was working the store alone tonight.