Friday, October 10th, 2014

I got up twice during the night and we woke up at 8:30am.  She was kidding me by saying I don’t like her very much.  For some reason I broke her up laughing by replying “Why do you believe I don’t like you very much?”

She told me we should go to Industriales this morning.  When I hear that word all I think of is the Metro Station.  Luckily when she repeated it she said Edificio Inteligente and I understood she was talking about returning the router to the Une building where I had been twice before.  Of course that’s a better idea than waiting at the apartment for 4 hours as long as they will accept it that way.

We got up and Teresa made breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham and chocolate milk (sin azucar) because we have run out of sugar.

Teresa asked me to call Jhon and I found out that when Une calls Jhon that they are coming to my apartment he will tell them we are returning the router to Une’s office in the Intelligent Building.

I asked Teresa if the dogs have eaten and I understood she gave them each a little but ran out of dog food.  I gave each of them 3 dog biscuits so they won’t starve today.  Except Peter, who is probably off somewhere exploring at the bottom of the hill.  He came back later and I managed to get him 2 dog biscuits without the others stealing them from him.

Teresa put on a shirt and sweater and wants me to wear a jacket to Medellin.  I don’t think so!

I had told her that I wanted to stop at Home Center for some things and she asked me what – just to make sure it was important enough for us to stop today.  As I was telling her we got interruped and I didn’t get to finish my list.

We were confronted by the killer dogs as we passed the neighbor’s house and Tony almost got bit because he was straggling behind us.  Teresa yelled at him to go back but he followed us all the way down to the road.  We caught a bus after only a 5 minute wait and got off at the Poblado station.  We took a taxi to Cedimed and, since I was there before, I knew exactly where to go and what procedures to follow.  I understood the receptionist told Teresa that blood draws are today only from 12:30 to 1pm and 6am tomorrow.  It was about 11:25 at this point.  First I stopped at the their BanColombia ATM and withdrew 400mil but for some reason I didn’t get a receipt.

We walked down to MBE where I was given my monthly deposit statement from Sears and my Chess Life magazine.  We walked back to Cedimed and it was 11:55.  I was unsuccessful at getting a Wi-Fi network from where we were sitting just outside.  I moved into the lobby and sat at the side of a fountain where I finally found the CediMed network.  What looked like an intern came out and told me I couldn’t sit there.   I stood up and walked closer to the entrance and another man asked if he could help me.  I asked him for the password for their Wi-Fi and he told me “intern3t”.  I keyed it in and it wasn’t correct.  I tried again by capitalizing the “I” but it still didn’t work.  Finally, he went inside and someone wrote down for me “INTERN3T” and when I entered that it finally worked.  I sat down in their waiting room and a minute later I asked the receptionist if it was okay for me to sit there.  She said yes so I asked her if it was okay for my girlfriend to join me and she said “of course”.  I went back outside and waved Teresa inside.  After we sat down for a few minutes the receptionist asked for my work order and my cedula.  I did have time to read a few emails.  Then I paid 130,000 for my blood draw and 2 tests – PSA Total and PSA Free.  I tried to charge it but for some reason the process failed so I just paid cash.  I understood the results would be ready in 4 days.  They took us inside where a young lady withdrew 2 vials of blood.

We then had lunch at their restaurant – Il Capuccino – for 28mil.  It included the usual chicken and rice, a cooked slice of plantain (a cousin of bananas), cole slaw, sliced tomatoes, and juice.  Very tasty!

We took a taxi from there to the Intelligent Building where we were finally able to return the router to Une under Dilan’s name.

Teresa asked me again what is so important that we need to stop at Home Center and I told her what I needed.

Across the street was Plaza Mayor where we went to try to pay for, and cancel, Laura’s “wi-fi”.  But we couldn’t find the MoviStar office.  Finally we talked to a security guard there and he told us that they have an office in Premium Plaza.  Interestingly, he spoke some English and was happy to practice a little with me.  

We took a taxi to premium plaza and as soon as we entered Teresa started asking a security guard where it was.  I looked up and saw the sign for Movistar so we were already there.  While we were waiting I told Teresa that I read an email earlier that Movistar has Wi-Fi.  She talked to the service man about it and we learned they have 8mg Wi-Fi.  I paid 43mil to pay for last month’s usage and the cancellation fee.

Teresa noticed an Envigado bus as we were leaving so we waited at the bus stop for about 10 minutes and took a Sabaneta bus and got off in Envigado.  The bus was pretty slow in heavy traffic but we finally got off near Parque Envigado.  Walking down the street Teresa recommended we stop at an ice cream cake store where she had a brownie with vanilla ice cream and I had a slice of Tres Leches Torta.

While we were sitting there her brother Wilson walked by with apparently heavy bags in both hands.  I called to him and got Teresa’s attention but he didn’t stop.  We finished our snack and then walked down the hill to his bar so say “hi”.  We understood he must have been in a hurry to open the bar.

Finally, for the first time of the day, I was able to get a strong internet connection and I downloaded the 850 page Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy #1) by Ken Follett for $9.99.

We left for Home Center and again Teresa asked me what we are going to get there.  I told her it’s a surprise and we had a good laugh about that.

Once there she picked out some rope for us to use to raise things into the attic.  I found a couple pull chains for the light socket adapters and I still needed a couple 3-1 sockets.  I tried to explain to one of the employees what I was looking for and she sent us downstairs.  We found another employee who took us in the direction of the small electric accessories.  On the way I found a display with exactly what I was looking for but it was part of a set.  I showed it to the employee and he took me straight to them.  I bought a couple for the finca.  I paid 50,700 cash for everything.

I’m glad I didn’t bring a jacket because I didn’t feel cold all day.

We went to Exito where we bought more food and other things like spray for the cockroaches.  When I walked into the pet aisle to buy food for the dogs I was surprised to see a dove standing in the middle of the aisle.  (At least it was in the right aisle if it was looking for pet food.)  I charged 78,860 to my debit card.

We carried everything over to the bus stop and waited 15 minutes for a bus.  When we got on I was surprised to see a handwritten note taped to each of our seats.  After a couple stops a man got on and for some reason he got Teresa’s seat.  I have no idea what that was about.

Just as we got out of Medellin I noticed a Motel.  Other than it having a front gate it didn’t look much different than ones in the US.  I could see through the gate that it was 2 stories, horseshoe shaped with cars parked in the center.

Traffic was very heavy and I understood from Teresa that more people that usual are getting out of town for the weekend because next Monday is a holiday.

By the time we got off the bus, 6:15, it was dark.  I turned on the torch (hey, that’s what the option is called) on my cell phone and we used that to walk up the hill.  She was carrying 2 heavier bags and I had the two lighter ones so I could both get up the hill and carry my cell phone flashlight.  When we got to the turnoff she wanted me to turn off my light so as not to alert the killer dogs.  I turned it towards my body, we waited a minute for our eyes to get used to the dark, and we started walking.  The problem was that without the light you slip on the rocks and they hear you anyway.  When they came charging out I shone the light in their eyes and was ready with the pepper spray.  It appears that as long as you are facing them they won’t charge you but don’t turn your back on them.  Finally Teresa’s dogs came up to meet us and I felt comfortable enough to just concentrate on the path.

Laura had a new movie for use to watch – 3^rd Person starring Liam Neesom.  Teresa made popcorn and we started watching it but while it was in English Laura couldn’t get the Spanish subtitles to appear within the viewing area.  It was a very strange movie with 3 different relationships going on at the same time.  I tried to convey to Teresa and Laura that I didn’t know what was going on.  Another night they will watch it in Spanish; good luck to them in understanding it.  One good thing; you get to see the dark haired young lady from the House TV series in full frontal nudity.  Nice figure!

We went to bed at 10:30.

T-shirt of the day: We are the young.