Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Tuesday, December 16th, 2014



7 days remaining on my visa.

I got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7:45, having slept very well.

We left the finca at 9:15am and quickly caught an express van to Aquacatala.  We took a Circular Sur bus to Calle 19 and walked the two blocks to the Immigration office.

At the entrance a guard directed us to the other side of the building.  We went in to an air conditioned space larger than the one I was in last year.  Teresa talked to someone there and then we sat down and she asked me for my documents.  I wasn’t there to submit my Pensionado Visa I just wanted an extension on the expiration date.  I tried to tell her that if they tell me what the requirements are I would come back with the “documents”.  

We waited a while for someone to come out who spoke English.  She sat behind a plexiglass screen with a small hole in the center.  I had my ear up to the hole trying to understand her English with a heavy Spanish accent.  I understood I need to show them all the documents I plan to take with me to Bogota.  Finally, they gave me a little piece of paper with the telephone number, fax number and website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – www.Cancilleria.gov.co.

Teresa led me outside and we walked down the block to an Internet cafĂ© where I printed out the Pensionado Visa requirements.  We stopped at another store to print out pages from my passport.  We went upstairs and I was led into a room to take my photo.  I tried to tell the young lady there that I need a CD copy because that was my lawyer’s requirement last year.  Teresa and I went back out into a waiting room where Teresa talked to a middle aged lady named Martha.  I understood she was a lawyer who offered to help us with my visa.  She put me on the phone with a young man who informed me that they would have the visa ready for me without having to ask for an extension for about $500.  He said half of that would go to Colombia for the visa itself.  I agreed and we went outside and she took us to her car and she drove us to her main office across the street from Unicentro CC.  

First Teresa and I walked down to the Exito in the mall where she had salmon and juice and I had ribs and a Coke for 24,800.  We stopped at an ATM machine where I took out 800mil and then I bought another month’s supply of Tamsulosin for 42,600 in their pharmacy.

We stopped at a tienda where I added 20mil to my cell phone.  

We stopped at a FotoJapon shop where they took my picture and gave me 8 copies for 10mil.

Back at the office I signed a number of documents and then we took two of them a block away to the notary where they compared my picture and signature in my passport, stamped it, signed it and I paid 6,500 for the 2 pages.

Back at the office they gave me several things I need to take photos of and email to them in the morning.

I gave them a downpayment of 600mil with 460mil to be paid later for a total of 1,060,000 COP (about $450).  Last year I paid a total of 1,180,000 or $621. At least now we don’t have to worry about the challenge and inconvenience of going to Bogota.

We took a taxi from there to Exito Laureles where we bought salad dressing, bread, Christmas cookies and more dog biscuits.

Teresa called Ramiro and he said he would be at the finca early tomorrow morning.

We took a bus to Aquacatala where we caught an express bus at 5:30 but traffic was the worst I’ve ever seen; most of the time we weren’t moving at all.  Finally at 7:40, at the 3rd to last traffic light leaving Medellin, we saw an accident in the right lane (two cars tried to occupy the same space at the same time).  After we got through the light there was another accident with a bus and a truck in the left lane.  Then things opened up and the driver drove like a bat out of hell.  At the first tienda (small store) just outside of Caldas, he stopped the bus, opened the front door, climbed out of his seat, out the door and into a side area of the store.  I’m sure he needed to take a piss something awful.  I was thinking maybe I should have followed him.  He got back into the bus and he dropped us off across from the side road at 8:05.

There was no moon and I used the “torch” on my cell phone to see where I was walking on the way up the hill.  At the top she insisted I turn it off.  I didn’t turn it off but I slipped in into my back pocket.  I held onto her sleeve with one hand and held my pepper spray in the other.  Just as we got even with the neighbor’s house we heard the killer dogs.  One came out and when I heard him close to me I sprayed in that general direction and then took out my cell phone and pointed the light into his eyes.  He backed off after that.

I took my sleeping pill at 10pm and we went to bed at 10:15.

T-shirt of the day: Chill out.

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