Thursday, January 15th, 2015

It took me about 30 minutes to fall asleep.  I woke up briefly at 4am and 5am when Teresa got up and returned from helping Laura.  I finally woke/got up at 7:30.

I took my shower and Teresa was up when I came out of the bathroom.

It’s funny when she walks around saying “freo!” (cold!) and I reply “donde?” (where?).  

Teresa informed me that last night it was only 5 minutes before I was snoring peacefully.

After breakfast she told me she didn’t sleep well last night, not because of me, but because of the nap she took yesterday, so she went back to bed for a few minutes.

I heard her talking to someone on the phone (Vicky) and she told me something about not needing or having appointments for an Urologist in the clinic so we have to go back to the clinic in Envigado.  I understand Vicky, her sister, works in a clinic (maybe even Nueva eps) so she’s a good source of clinic information.  Teresa told me it’s difficult (paperwork?) getting an appointment with a specialist like an Urologist.

Today she wants to have another massage and we will buy fruits and vegetables in Envigado.  Things can change by the minute around here.

Fun fact: Colombia has the second most bank holidays in the world. Only Argentina has more and it's by a margin of one day. 

I called Chess Life magazine and requested not to receive any mail from them except the magazine.  I also called my old medical insurance company – Aon – and requested not to receive any mail or calls from them.

We took a nap from 11am to 12:15.

We left the finca at 1:30 and one of the killer dogs saw us just as we were approaching them.  Probably because the gate was closed it took them a minute to get around the house and to the path.  In the meantime the emaciated puppy approached us with his tail wagging and I gave him a dog biscuit.  He carried it into the bushes so I hope one of the other dogs didn’t take it away from him.  The doberman was too busy giving us a hard time on the trail at the same time.

Luckily, we caught a minibus to Envigado.  Unluckily, I had to sit in the middle of the front seat with my knees almost up to my chin.  So the guy next to me, who was probably 5’6’, got to be comfortable in the passenger seat, while I was wedged between him and the gear box.  

We took a taxi up to the Nueva eps clinic.  

We waited 35 minutes and finally they gave Teresa two more sheets of paper with another address and phone number – Carrera 25a #1a Sur 45, Torre Medica, El Tesoro CC, 448-7644.  Teresa told me the medical system here is difficult to navigate through.  (Canada anyone?)

From there it was a short wait at BanColombia where I took out just about the last of my cash for the month.  I gave Teresa the other 500mil to cover the food expenses for the rest of the month.

We stopped at the closest Gana store where I added another 20mil to my cell phone.

Teresa couldn’t remember when her massage appointment was and she had difficulty reaching the woman by phone to ask.

I told her I had to go #2 so she recommended we stop at Wilson’s bar where I used his restroom.  The only problem was that, for the 2^nd time in Colombia, there was no toilet seat.   Try doing that sometime, it isn’t easy, especially at my age; but I managed.

We walked across the street to her mother’s apartment building where Teresa got a massage from 4:30 to 5:15 for 20mil.

We stopped at a small vegetable stand where she bought a bag of vegetables for tonight and tomorrow morning.

While waiting for a bus, once again she mentioned “verano” which I only know as summer.  It seems she believes because it isn’t the rainy season here that it’s summer.  I told her December thru February is winter, not summer.

We quickly caught a direct bus to the finca and were at the bottom of the hill by 6:45.  At the top, at least it wasn’t a cloudy night so I could see a little better without my flashlight.  As we were approaching the neighbor’s house the killer dogs heard us and came close to the trail but didn’t really approach us.  By then I had my flashlight back on and I saw the puppy approaching us.  I took a second to pet him before turning around and hustling down the hill.

Back at the finca, we watched Preservation (4.8) which, it being a survivor type movie, I liked very much and so did Teresa.  After that I put on Always (6.3), which is more of a romantic movie.

I took my sleeping pill at 10pm and we went to bed at 10:45.