Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

I slept through the night, only waking up once when Teresa got up at 6am, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

I received the following email from my son:

We went to the hostel today, our rooms were messed up (only one bed) but we hashed that out and have a reservation. Tomorrow we're gonna get up around nine and pack our stuff and check into the hostel by eleven. After that we should be able to meet you at the metro poblado around noon?

We left the finca at 10:30, got past the killer dogs undetected and were on a bus after a 10 minute wait.  We were at the Poblado station by 11:15.  Jim and Michael showed up about 11:45.  While waiting for them I gave directions to Parque Arvi to a couple young ladies with British accents.

We took the metro north to Acevedo station where we switched to the metro cable.   

An hour from when we left the Poblado station we were in Parque Arvi.  First we stopped at a booth where we each had one or two empanadas.   

We walked over to the bus stop and while waiting for it we looked at some handmade jewelry that a guy was selling.  When our chivas bus finally arrived we took it for a ride about 10 minutes to the entrance to another area of the park.   

The charge was 4,500 pesos per person.  First we walked to the right to the fancy hotel and enjoyed the view of the lake.  Then we went back to the entrance and took a lower path to the right to the zipline but it was closed.  We walked back to the left and down to the restaurant where Teresa and I shared lunch, Michael had their tilapia and Jim had ice cream.  There was a young black woman in the food line that seemed to be staring holes in either Jim or Mike.

We walked a little further around the lake and stopped in a small garden.  Teresa found some plant that she wanted to have in the finca so she took a planting of it.  She didn’t have anything to put it in so she stopped at a recycling garbage can and took out a plastic bag.  She asked me to untie it and help her with it.  I untied it and poured out what was in it except something was stuck in the corner.  Teresa reached in and took it out and threw it in the garbage can and we discovered it was a used condom.  Ugh!  We had a good laugh about that.  Of course the first thing she did was go wash her hands.

We decided it was about time to leave.  There was another side entrance with a gate open where we saw the chivas bus but when we got there it was full.  Although I did see the black girl move over in her seat to make room for someone.  Lol.

We walked back to the main entrance and after a 15 minute wait were on the chivas bus back to the park entrance.  There was no line, we paid our fee and took the metro cable back to Acevedo station and the metro from there to Poblado station.

Jim decided to stay at the finca with us so we all took the taxi to their new living quarters – The Pit Stop Hostel at Carrera 43E #5-110 - so he could pickup some clothes and things to bring to the finca.  I was surprised how large it was: when you first walk in there is a large room with bunkbeds, a dog sleeping under the stairs, a front desk, a courtyard with a pool (the water felt cool), several people working on their laptops at a wifi hot spot, and what looked like a place to order food and drinks.  Jim and Michael had a private room with 2 beds and private bath for 60,000 a night (about $21).  There was also a bunkbed which probably served as a waiting area for other ladies.   Lol.  I got the hostel’s business card and they advertise the following services: Private rooms and dorms; hot showers 24hrs; 24hrs reception; comunal kitchen; big private lockers for free; laundry service; TV room and DVDs; free WiFi; micro brew on tap; ping pong table; pool table; lounge – hammocks area; steam room; basketball, football & volleyball court; small gym; irish sports bar; parties.  www.PitStopHostel.com.

Teresa wanted to buy some avocados, ketchup and bread to take back to the finca.  Michael gave us directions to the Exito Express up on Avenida Poblado.  When we got to the corner I started heading up the hill but Teresa wanted to go down.  At that moment a pretty young lady in her middle 20s walked by and Teresa asked her about Exito.  She told her that the Exito Express wouldn’t have avacados and there was another Exito in the other direction that was just as close.  She told us her name was Monica, she was going that direction and she would like to show us where it is and practice her English.  She walked with Jim to the Exito and at the end they exchanged Facebook addresses or something like that.  She was very pretty, slim, about 5’4” with long black hair – and she spoke good English.  Jim said she has visited Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami.  Jim is going to give Michael a hard time about meeting her as soon as he got away from him.  Lol.

I took some cash out of the Bancolombia ATM and was surprised to find there were no 50mil notes.  Yah!  (Try buying an empanada for 1,500 pesos when all you have is a 50,000 peso bill.)  There also weren’t any ripe avocados - they were either green or rotten.  We bought the ketchup, a loaf of bread and a bag of laundry detergent.  We took a taxi to the highway and waited about 30 minutes for a Tratam bus.  In the meantime Jim bought a sausage that a lady cooked on the street.  Forty minutes later we got off at the hill leading up to the finca.  We got past the killer dogs before they detected we were there.  We put Jim in the guest room.  I showed him how the Slingbox works from my laptop and he helped me with a problem I was having with Facebook.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed at 11:15.

T-shirt of the day: Nothing I can’t do.