Tuesday, March 17th, 2015

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

We left the finca at 7:55 and got past the killer dogs undetected.

At the crossroads to Caldas, just before where police have stopped our bus for a Cedula check, there were 4 policemen on the other side of the road and 9 others in what looked like full riot gear with 4’ long shields and helmets with visors.  (I think this has to do with the current truck strike.  A couple weeks ago we observed dozens of trucks stopped at the side of the road and the following weekend there were dozens of trucks in the right lane moving at about 5 miles per hour.  I heard that this strike is beginning to affect the price of food in Bogota and Medellin.)

We got to Torre Intermedica 45 minutes early so we stopped at Il Capuccino for coffee.  Teresa got in line while I took out a little cash from the ATM.  This time the Bancolombia screen not only offered an English option, but assisted me visually in entering a number that was more than the options shown.  Using that I entered 500000.00 to withdraw 500mil; in the future I guess I have to remember to enter 7 zeroes.

When I met Teresa in the restaurant she had a couple of pan de quesos (cheese pastries) for us but I noticed muffins in the display case.  I had to point them out to the saleslady 3 times before she picked the right item for me.  Together with a small coffee for me and hot chocolate for Teresa the total was 12,500 (about $4.70).  It turned out to be a spice cake muffin.  They had another that looked like it might be chocolate chip.

While we were having coffee Teresa told me she forgot to bring her previous mammography records for her 3pm appointment today.  Not only that but she didn’t have their telephone number in order to cancel the appointment.  She never gave it to me so I didn’t have it in my cell phone.

We went up to room 1603 for her appointment with the vascular surgeon.  While in the waiting room I noticed a diploma on the wall from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh so I asked the receptionist if the doctor spoke English.  She informed me that not only does he speak Spanish and English but also German and French.  His name is Heinz Hiller so I guess him speaking German made sense.

He spoke very good English and informed me that he studied in England not Scotland.  The good news is Teresa’s vein problem is near the surface and can be repaired by a visit at a little over 100mil.  He said he had an opening on Friday but I said we had better wait until April when I get a replenishment of cash so we made an appontment for Monday, April 6^th at 3pm.  The consultation cost 100mil.

We went across the street where I bought another package of sleeping pills for 63mil.

We walked down the street and Teresa stopped at a smaller pharmacy because she thought the sleeping pills might be cheaper there.  They told us their price was 69mil, so nope!

We stopped in at Banco de Bogota (ATH) where we paid the quarterly Caldas municipal tax of 122,511.

We walked across the street to MBE where I picked up my March issue of Chess Life magazine.  There was no extra charge for it.  After showing them what I thought were 2 payment receipts for the month of February, I was reminded that the “Recibo”s are payment receipts and the “Factura” is a bill.  Apparently in February when I paid the 36mil it was just an estimate.  I guess with the increase of the COP to USD I’ll be paying more next month.

We went around the corner to an internet store where I printed one of my math lessons for Laura.  It was actually a test because it wasn’t a Word file it was an Open Office file that I wasn’t sure would print at all.  There were some problems with it, my fault, that I’ll have to correct in the source file.  (Later I found that the Open Office codes didn’t print at all.  For example, with Word one ninth has to be specified as 1/9 but with Open Office you can actually put the 1 over the 9 separated by a horizontal line.

Teresa waited outside in the shade while I went across the street to Parque Poblado to use their free Porta Potty.

We took a bus to Envigado and walked down to La Bahia where we had lunch for 18mil.  This is what I had for my $3.38 – a bowl of frijoles, chicken breast, rice, a small salad, a patacon (I really don’t care for this fried bread) and a glass of juice.  A very filling lunch for very little money.

We walked across the street to Exito where Teresa looked at some clothes while I walked a block away to Home Center where I looked for a few things.  As expected I didn’t find any hanging files or a storage box for them.  They had a large number of plastic boxes but I’m sure they are not intended for hanging files so I don’t know if they would work.  I did find a window latch that I bought for 2,900.

Back at Exito Teresa found 4 pairs of “leggings” that cost 43,800 or only $4.11 each.  (They are made of very thin material but I think they are mainly for wearing around the house.)  She tried to pay for them with my Exito points but I guess she has yet to learn that they can be used only for select merchandise.

We bought a few food items including eggs and arepas that Teresa paid for out of her food budget.  She also bought 2 beers for herself and a Coke for me; all refrigerated.

We went outside to catch a taxi and after I opened the door and opened the window part way another man (probably another taxi driver) opened it the rest of the way.  Then he went to the other side of the car and opened the other door to open that window but Teresa had already placed the bag with the beers and Coke against the door and they fell out.  (I didn’t know what exactly fell out.)  A minute later Teresa asked me if I wanted my Coke now and I said yes.  I started opening it slowly to vent the fizz but it exploded all over me and a little on the side door of the taxi.  We apologized to the taxi driver.

At the expressway we quickly caught a bus but it took the side road and we sat again in Caldas for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime at least 4 different guys came on board selling snacks – usually things like packages of rolls (bread) or homemade potato chips.

At the side road to the finca we took our time climbing the hill in the heat.  About halfway up Don Carlos’ dog came around the bend from below and I gave him the last small dog biscuit I had with me.  A minute later Don Carlos came up on his horse with his grandson on the back.

We got past the killer dogs undetected.

Laura called and cancelled her mammography appointment for today.

Laura came home at 6pm.

I received this week’s edition of Medellin Living and posted a couple of interesting articles.  The Jerico article reminded me of the name of the town I couldn’t remember – I think I called it billybong in my post – is really Bolombolo.

We finished The Silence of the Lambs which Teresa really liked a lot.  I see they also have Birdman on Cuevana 2.

On TV I saw that the peso to the dollar closed at 2,677 COP.

T-shirt of the day: Kill em all.