Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

It took me more than an hour to get to sleep, got up once at 2:45 and again had trouble getting back to sleep.  I finally got up with the alarm at 5:30, took my shower, and we left the finca at 6:35am.  It was very overcast and foggy but Teresa informed me we didn’t need an umbrella.  We got past the killer dogs undetected and after a 10 minute wait we were on a bus to Envigado.  

We took a taxi to Carbón de Leña where Olga met us after a short wait.  She gave Teresa some information for which I gave her 20mil.  (Teresa told me she’s poor, doesn’t have a house and I don’t know what else.)  We checked the local internet café but it was closed.  We took a taxi to Itagui where I paid 2,500 pesos to have my biopsy analyzed.  Teresa told me the results would be ready early in September.  Having seen a Servibanca ATM across the street I took out some cash hoping to get mainly small bills.  Not!  But this is the first withdrawal I’ve made where I got more than 3,000 pesos to the dollar.  In fact, it was more than 3,100 pesos to the dollar.

We walked around trying to find an internet café and finally gave up and took a taxi back to Envigado.  We got to the internet café at 9am just as it was opening.  I gave the lady 19 pages to fax to the mortgage company in the US.  While she did that from about 9:10 to 9:50 I printed out a copy of my flight iternary from my email account.  I also noted that the internet café is on the corner of Calle 38 sur and Carrera 43.  She charged me 66,500 pesos (about $22).

We walked a block away where Teresa bought some nail polish remover.

We walked down towards the Exito by the highway and since Teresa said she was hungry we stopped at El Bahia but it wasn’t yet open for lunch.  We went next door to De La Barra but no luck there either.  It was only 10:30 in the morning.  We walked across the street to Exito and stopped at Juan Valdez where I had a muffin and she had a pastry and we shared a cup of coffee.

I couldn’t find dill pickles for my hamburgers but we picked up a number of other things.  I noticed while waiting in line that cigarettes sell for about $1.25 a pack (Lucky Strike & Kool) compared to $11.50 in Illinois (probably more in Cook County (Chicago)).  The US allows me to bring in 200 cigarettes without paying customs so that’s 10 packs.  If I sell them in the US for $9 a pack I make more than $70.  (Maybe they’re even cheaper if I buy a carton; maybe I can buy Marlboros.)  Maybe this trip I’ll just buy one pack and see if it sells.

We took a taxi to the highway and right away we were on a van back to the finca.  Interestingly we were the only ones in the van.  On the way I noticed a service station (not sure if it was for cars or trucks) advertizing it’s open every day from 6am to 10pm.

Malu met us, with another small dog, as we were coming up the hill.  I gave her a dog biscuit and while she was distracted I broke a dog biscuit in half and tossed it at the smaller dog but he reacted like he was afraid of it and Malu had time to get it.  I also gave her the other half.

We got past the killer dogs undetected and were back to the finca by 12:30.

On the news, I saw a long line of cars and motorcycles in Venezuela waiting for gas tankers to arrive so they can fill up their tanks.  (Similar to what happened in the US in the 1970s.)  They also showed Colombians crossing the border back into Colombia because their houses in Venezuela have been marked for demolition.  I guess the US isn’t the only country with border problems.

At 3:05 it started raining hard but stopped 3 minutes later.

I found some information regarding the PT and PTT blood test I underwent:

Prothrombin time (PT) is a blood test that measures how long it takes blood to clot. A prothrombin time test can be used to check for bleeding problems.

Thromboplastin is a plasma protein aiding blood coagulation through catalyzing the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin. It is a complex enzyme that is found in blood platelets and that functions in the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin in the clotting of blood.

The partial thromboplastin time (PTT) or activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT or APTT) is a medical test that characterizes blood coagulation. Apart from detecting abnormalities in blood clotting, it is also used to monitor the treatment effects with heparin, a major anticoagulant.

I finished watching A Knight’s Tale (6.9) and then I watched A Thousand Words (5.9).  

I finished my Fritos (thanks son) with a bottle of Coke.  Teresa wanted to cool it for me but she left it in the freezer for an hour and ice formed inside.  Of course that changes the taste somewhat because it removes the carbonation.

I started watching A Perfect World but it didn’t have any sound.  I started watching Addicted to Love (6.1) but the audio was in English and German – at the same time.  I watched Airheads instead (6.0) – good cast but pretty dumb plot.

I took my sleeping pills at 10pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Be your own kind of beautiful.