6 days and counting!
I slept through the night.
Yay!
I got up about 7am when I heard the workers digging outside.
The veterinarian, Felipe, showed up and Teresa talked to him
for some time.
Leonardo showed up with a new wheel for the old
wheelbarrow. Now they won’t have to
carry away dirt in 5 gallon plastic pails.
8am came and went.
At one point Teresa was on the phone talking to someone
while Leonardo was sitting in the kitchen and Felipe was sitting in the living
room. Felipe knows a little English and
I learned he studied for 5 years at the University of Antioquia
(EAFIT doesn’t have a veterinarian school) and he has been working as a vet for
about 5 years.
Felipe told me we could put a small camera in the corner of
a room that would record everything (hmmm; no more sex on the kitchen table;
lol) and send it to a remote location for recording. (I guess that way they could get good video
of us getting our throats slit.) Not
exactly a deterrent. He told me putting
a loud horn outside would not be a good idea as they would exact revenge on us.
I gave Leonardo 60mil for the wheelbarrow wheel and Teresa
gave him 500mil for work done thus far.
9am came and went. I
understood that we’re waiting for a phone call from her cousin Nidia, who owns
the El Rancherito restaurants, and
they’re going to pick us up and go to the police department.
A neighbor, Geraldo, came by and apparently got into an
argument with Teresa. Later she told me
that the thieves visited him – does he think we could have possibly stopped
them?
Teresa made me wear my new leather shoes even though they
are painful to my heel when I walk uphill.
I took my iPad so I could email my brother, my Nook so I could read my
book and download other books should I not have anything else to do, and a
measuring tape so I could measure the size of the apartment rooms and the
hallway stairs leading up to it.
We finally left the finca at 10:45, I gave each of the dogs
a dog biscuit but when we got to the top of the hill Teresa realized she forgot
her sunglasses. Sigh! She wanted me to go back with her to help
with Guillermo’s dogs. As soon as we got
past Guillermo’s house I waited in a little shade while Teresa retrieved he
sunglasses. We managed to get past the
G-dogs without paying further toll.
Nydia was waiting for us in their Kia Sportage SUV. She was with her husband and who I figure was
her son driving. It was an automatic
with air conditioning which was nice.
They drove to Caldas but when we arrived at the Caldas police station
for some reason they said we had to go to the Envigado station.
On the way there Nydia was talking on her cell phone. At one point they pulled off the road onto a
shoulder and Teresa asked me to get out of the car. Teresa looked like she was going to get out
also but remained in the car. I think
Nydia was talking about some sensitive information, but hey, I have a small
hearing loss, Teresa was sitting between us and I DON’T UNDERSTAND
SPANISH! How rude! After 5-10 minutes I was invited back into
the car. I was surprised when they
turned around and headed back in the other direction. I asked where we were going and was told the
Caldas police station. I laughed out
loud – loudly. Driving downtown Caldas
we stopped at a Tienda Natural Health store which was called Azahares at Carrera 49 #131Sur-50. It sold natural products (vitamins and such)
and included a bakery with a restaurant in the back. Teresa ordered for me and I got a large bowl
of frijoles with pieces of mango inside, a slice of avocado and about 6 small
french fries on top (?). Then they
brought me a plate with tomato slices and what looked like cous cous (they said
it was natural rice). I didn’t care for
the rice. I also had a glass of
strawberry juice. The others had
something similar and Nydia’s husband paid 38,600 (about $13) for all of
us. Afterwards we went outside where
there were a few umbrella tables and an unusually nice breeze. After 5 minutes Nydia said it was too cold
out and we went back inside. ? Unfortunately, the restaurant did not have
wi-fi so I still couldn’t email my brother.
For some reason they were in no hurry to leave and we were
there for about 2 hours. Maybe the
police station closes down for lunch from noon to 2pm? In the meantime I ordered one of their little
muffins I saw in the bakery. It had
raisins inside but was as dry as anything – so much for health food. I learned that Nydia and her 3 children own 7
El Rancherito restaurants in the
area. That probably keeps her on the
phone all day.
A quote from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot that I’m currently reading “Massive mudflows from the
eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985 killed more than 25,000
Colombians.” I recall seeing a 30th
anniversary rememberance on TV last year.
I was surprised when again we changed directions and drove
to the Envigado police station on the edge of downtown - it didn’t look much like
a police station. They took Teresa and
Nydia upstairs so I understood they didn’t need me. They said they had wifi and I found the
network but the signal was so weak it was worthless. After about an hour and 15 minutes I figured
I’d wasted enough time and told Nydia’s son I’m going to Carbon de Lena to send
an email and I would return here when finished.
I think that shocked him a little.
At the restaurant I sent my brother an email and while waiting had an
iced tea. After checking the rest of my
emails – maybe 30 minutes – I returned to the police station and the ladies
still weren’t back. That’s when the policeman
mentioned that it takes 2 hours. I told
the son I was going to the internet café where I called the US and
cancelled my 2nd debit card and ordered a new one. There’s no real rush on this one and it
probably won’t arrive for 4 weeks or so.
Back at the police station they finally came out 2 hours and
15 minutes after they went in. We walked
across the street where they entered this little store for a drink. When asked I was told they didn’t have wi-fi;
the owner pointed to an outlet on the floor but that wasn’t going to do
it. I insisted to Teresa that we go to
Carbon de Lena because I needed wi-fi.
We said goodbye to the others and walked the 2 blocks to the
restaurant. I had another iced tea, she
had a juice and we shared some type of cheese pastry called pan de queso. Teresa asked me if I wanted to sleep in
Envigado tonight. I asked why and she
replied that she’s afraid to go back to the finca. (I wonder if she learned something more at
the police station.) I told her not to
worry because it’s too soon for the bad guys to return.
After about 30 minutes we left and took a taxi to the
highway. After about 10 minutes we were
on a Tratam bus back to the finca.
Teresa informed me that she left her flip flops in the SUV. After passing Guillermo’s house the black dog
came charging down the sideroad and cut in front of me with its tongue
salivating so I gave him a dog biscuit.
We got back to the finca at 6:30 just as it was getting dark. I think we’ve decided not to put the dogs
away at night because we would rather have them for security. Tomorrow we head back to Envigado to sign the
documents (I guess). I saw that I
received an email from my brother probably right after I closed my iPad. I’ll try again tomorrow. We certainly wasted a lot of time today that
I could have used had I just known what was going on.
I think Teresa asked me if we should list the finca with the
real estate agency. I first suggested
she talk to her friends and relatives and let them know it’s available and
maybe she can rent it without having to pay an agency.
She got a phone call that Une is coming to fix the internet
connection tomorrow. So now the plan is
to have a quick breakfast, go to Envigado to sign the papers, call my brother
and hightail it back to the finca in time to be here for Une.
T-shirt of the day: Lovers help
each other undress before sex. However
after sex, they always dress on their own. Moral of the story -- In life, no one helps
you once you're screwed.
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