Thursday, August 13th, 2015

We got up at 6:30, left the finca at 7:35, got past the killer dogs undetected, and were on a bus after a 20 minute wait.  

We got to the Poblado station at 8:45.  We stopped at a small store outside where we shared a cheese pastry and cup of coffee (pan de queso and café con leche).

In the station Laura showed up right away (she didn’t have school today).  I bought 5 tickets and Jim and Michael arrived 5 minutes later.

We took the metro to the Caribe station, 

walked a block to the north bus terminal, and went downstairs.  Jim experienced for the first time having to pay 500 pesos to use a restroom.  (I understand the money goes to the lady who keeps them clean and well supplied.)  We went to window 14 where we bought tickets to Guatape for 12,500 pesos.  (For some reason the tickets read El Penol, only cost 10mil and I questioned it with no result.  Later, on the bus when they took our tickets, we all paid an extra 2,500 pesos to go to Guatape.  Go figure!)

We were on a bus by 9:30 and it left at 9:40.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep but did at least rest a bit.  We arrived in Guatape at 11:40 and right away bought tickets for the return trip at 5:30.  I thought I remembered a Charlie Chaplin restaurant in town so we went to look for it instead of our usual restaurant – La Fogata.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t where I thought it was.  (Later I checked and it was last year when we were in Don Matias.)  Teresa asked at the hotel for a good restaurant and they sent us back towards the bus station.  Teresa asked someone else and they sent us down the road parallelling the lake.  We cut through a street side restaurant and a server gave Teresa a real hard sell to have us have lunch in that restaurant – Balcon Paisa.  (Of course he would say the food is good there because he works there.)  As soon as I sat down I noticed that the name of the restaurant we had been looking for was the name of the hotel across the street so I imagine the restaurant was inside.  

Jim ordered the chicken breast, Michael the chicken breast with some type of sauce, I had the ribs and Teresa had some type of Colombian plate.  Jim and I both agreed that our french fries were undercooked and my ribs were too chewy without any special flavor.

I asked Jim about Monica and he said that last night he asked her if she had a girlfriend so the 4 of them could double date.  She said she didn’t have any friends there and she’s staying in someone else’s house.  ???  He asked her to come to the hostel so they could have a drink together.  I understand she went to the hostel and asked for Jim Andresen and was told he wasn’t staying there.  (Even though his name is on the room and they have his passport.)  She went back to her house and contacted him and told him she’s staying in for the night.  What a shame!

After lunch, as we were walking across the street, we spotted the transsexual walking down the street towards us.  I think it was the same he/she that I saw last time I was there.  We took 2 mini cabs, for 10mil each,

to El Penol which reminds me of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.  Jim, Michael, and Laura headed up the rock at 1:20 

and Teresa and I went to do a little souvenir shopping.

They came back at 2:50 and they did a little souvenir shopping of their own.  Michael is a real bargainer always trying to get a lower price than what the vendors initially state.

Btw, the weather there IS a little cooler than Medellin.

We took a taxi back to Guatape and changed our 5:30 reservation to 4:30.  The bus left about 10 minutes late and we got back to Medellin 2 hours later.  I didn’t understand why Teresa was talking about us taking a bus from the station back to the finca and finally I realized that she thought she was at the south terminal not the north terminal.

We all crammed ourselves into a metro car and everyone but Laura got off at the Poblado station while Laura continued on to Envigado.

The guys decided they would rather go back to the Mojitos bar in Parque Lleras tomorrow night instead of the Cuban restaurant in Laureles.

We waited about 10 minutes and took a Fredonia bus which unfortunately makes a 10 minute stop in Caldas before proceeding on to the finca.

On our way up the hill we ran into Don Carlos and Malu.  I gave her a dog biscuit but she wouldn’t leave me alone – I think she smelled the other dog biscuits I had in my fanny pack.  Afterwards, Teresa told me that Don Carlos’ prostate is giving him a lot of trouble.

We got past the killer dogs undetected and were back at the finca by 8:15.

Tonight is the Chicago Bears first preseason game and I was looking forward to watching the 2^nd half.  That’s the only reason I bought the Slingbox that I had sent to my son.  It’s worked every time in the past but tonight after I entered the login information it just said “Initializing”.  I tried reloading it a couple times but nothing changed.  I left it that way for over an hour just in case it was really doing something.  I’m pissed!

Later I found out the Bears won 27-10 but their defense played poorly against the Dolphins #1 quarterback – Ryan Tannehill.

I had one of the ears of sweet corn that my son brought me.  It was delicious and just confirmed that what I had been buying in Merkepaisa tastes like garbage in comparison.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: The world is ours.