Saturday, September 17th, 2016

I slept well, not waking up until 7am, getting up at 8am.

Today is Dia de Amor y Amistad – Day of Love and Friendship – sort of their version of our Valentine’s Day.

I put my iPad and Nook in my tech bag and we left the apt at 9:05am.  We walked a block away where we quickly caught a taxi.  Driving on the highway downtown today was the first time I’ve seen signs that said “No” to the peace agreement.  We got to Laureles by 9:35, I paid the 17mil taxi fare, and checked in at the office for Dia de Sol (Day of Sun).  We wrote our names and cedula numbers in his book and paid the 120,000 pesos for the day.  We had a few minutes so we walked down to El Comedor de Chava where we said hello to Lucas.

There was only another couple in the van with us.  Both Colombian, she was in her 40s or 50s with blond hair and a pretty face and he was in his 50s or 60s.  I learned he was in a motorcycle accident and had lost his memory; he doesn’t even remember the names of his sons.  Apparently he was crossing a street and was struck by a motorcycle.

We made our usual stop at the roadside restaurant where I had calentao with coffee for breakfast.  Including Teresa’s pastry the total came to 11mil. 

Our bus was stopped once by police on the road and again by the army but the police just checked the driver’s papers and let us go on.

As usual it was a hot sunny day at the resort.  We started by one pool and Teresa said she wanted to move to the other.  I remember picking up the towel and my swim suit and carrying them to the other pool.  Teresa soaked her towels in water to put on the hot deck chairs.  She asked me where my towel was and darned if I could find it.  It just disappeared somehow.

While Teresa worked on her tan I sat in the shade and played 10 games of chess on chess.com.  I won 7 and lost 3 and one of my losses I was about to go up a queen when I lost on time.  I increased my rating to 1135.  Now I did swim in the pool a bit and spent a few minutes in the sun getting dry again but soaking in the son isn’t my thing.

Lunch was soup, salad, pork, yucca strips and juice.  The pork was a little tough so neither of us finished it.

At 3:30 dark clouds came overhead and by 4pm it started raining.  Teresa talked to the other couple while I read some of my Nook book.

We left just before 7pm, made the usual stop at the restaurant where I had an almohabana, a pan de queso (cheese bread) and coffee.  The driver dropped the other couple off a block from the Floresta metro station and we were back in Laureles mall by shortly after 9pm.

We quickly caught a taxi back to Envigado.  On the way, on Calle 33, we were stopped at a red light and I saw a woman walking in our direction on the sidewalk.  She was very slim, in high heels, shorts and a top that exposed a slim midriff.  I nudged Teresa, indicated her direction, and was about to ask her if she was a prostitute when I saw her face and I asked Teresa if that was a man.  She asked our drive and he turned to look.  In the meantime another taxi pulled up blocking our view of her/him.  The other driver obviously saw her and turned and looked at me.  I put up my hand and dangled a finger down and we all laughed, including the other driver.  Yep, obviously a transsexual.

We were back at the apt before 10pm.

The peso closed for the week at 2,947 to the dollar.

Apple has announced the release of the new iPhone 7 but the iPhone SE still lists at $399 in the States.

T-shirt of the day: I am strong because I know my weaknesses.