Monday, December 8th, 2014

I got up at 7am and got dressed in my clean short-sleeved shirt.

Teresa and I had a bowl of granola at the kitchen table.

Later I understood Vicky wanted my help for her to get a visa to the US.  I told her it wasn’t easy to do but I learned she has a 9 year old son and owns her apartment so maybe she would be able to get one.  I told her the only help I would be is to speak English but since she doesn’t and I don’t speak much Spanish I wouldn’t be able to do a very good job of representing her.

Later Vicky and Daniela were discussing something and I understood Daniela has a boyfriend in San Jeranamo (sp?) but Vicky doesn’t know him.  Daniela is 23 and I understood something about her wanting her freedom but not much else.  Things got a little heated and at one point Daniela threw her emory board across the room towards her mother and went into her bedroom.

While I was waiting I noticed the security wall outside their apartment.  It’s about 8 to 9 feet high with the usual barbed wire and razor wire at the top but also broken glass embedded in the top of the wall.

I wasn’t in any hurry and we finally left about 1am.  I didn’t want to eat anything more there so Vicky dropped us off at Exito Laureles so we could eat at a restaurant before we left for the finca.

Teresa and I had the Frischuleta and Laura had the Frispecial for a total of 57,200.

We took a car con effective (cash) and a bus that unfortunately went through Caldas.  We got past the killer dogs without them coming any closer than the edge of the path.  Maybe they are learning.

When I got back home I checked my Culture Smart! Colombia book and found that “December 7-8 is Dia de Las Velitas (Day of the Candles) is the Colombian celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception and is the unofficial start of the Christmas season.  On the night of December 7 Colombians join in processions through town carrying candlelit paper lanterns, then, in honor of the Virgin, place their glowing lanterns in the windows when they get home; or, people carry luminous paper lanterns to neighborhood parks, where they are left to light up the night.”

In reading the latest Medellin Living emagazine I noticed a comment that “We … know Colombia’s economy is on the rise, and the government is actually taking steps to weaken their currency as a result.” which may explain the current and dramatic increase in the COP to USD currency exchange rate over the last few months.

I finished Ken Follett’s 807 page Winter of the World and downloaded his 1,015 page Edge of Eternity.

Teresa was tired so I took my sleeping pill at 9:30 and we went to bed at 10:30.

T-shirt of the day: Beer drinking will ruin you.