Saturday, December 24, 2016

It’s Christmas Eve - day!  Teresa surprised me by informing me that today is Christmas Day.  (Not where I come from.)

Today’s a sunny day with just a few clouds.

I didn’t sleep well last night due to a variety of noises.

We left the apt at 9:45 and caught a taxi right away.  On our way to Mayorista I saw a man sprawled out on the sidewalk next to a bicycle.  Two policemen were standing a few feet away looking at him.  I only saw everything for a split second so I have no idea what happened next.

At Mayorista I helped Teresa pick up a few things and then went to the deli for a café con leche.  I’m pretty sure I saw another gringo there (he was about 6’2” and was wearing shorts and sandals) but I didn’t bother him.  I finished Carl Sagan’s Demon-haunted World and downloaded Chesley Sullenberger’s Highest Duty. 

I paid for groceries and a “cash” car took us back to the apt for 10,000 pesos.

I took the lunchmeat (ham) out of its package and separated it into 4 pieces each, wrapped each in plastic wrap and then put them all together in a plastic freezer bag marked jamon (ham).

Teresa sent me to the corner store for 4 bags of milk.  They were out so I had to walk to Exito.

First I stopped at the ATM and took out the last of my cash for this week/month/year – 600,000 pesos (about $200).

I picked up the milk and then got into one of the long checkout lines.  Just as I arrived another man, holding only a bottle of rum, arrived ahead of me, in either my line or the one next to us.  A minute later another woman came up and said something and stood with him.  I thought it was his wife.  She said something to me and I said “I don’t speak much Spanish but you’re first.”  As we approached the register she was clearly in my line and he was in the other.  I thought they were playing that game – whoever gets to the cashier first – but he never moved to our line and she wasn’t holding anything.  A minute later a young woman who I assumed was her daughter joined her with a shopping cart.  What was worse was that there were clothes in her cart.  I imagined hearing “price check on register 7”.  I think I was in line for 20 minutes for my 4 bags of milk.

The Colombian Peso closed for the week at 2,991 to the Dollar.

I made microwave popcorn and watched my Chicago Bears lose to the Washington Redskins 41-21.  Today, especially in the first half, I had some problems with buffering.  Next year I’m going to increase my Wi-Fi speed from 5mb to 10mg and see if that helps.

I watched Episode 1, Chapter 1, Part 1 and Episode 2, Chapter 1, Part 2 of Ascension (7.2) on Netflix.  (It seems like this series has a strange numbering system.)  There was a big plot twist at the end of this 2^nd episode.

Laura went out somewhere and came back a few minutes later.  She presented me a book – Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson.  I told her I’d start it after I finish my current Nook book.

Laura went out again and brought back a cake for tomorrow’s party for 38,000 pesos (about $13).

I watched Season 1, Episode 3, Chapter 2, Part 1 and Season 1, Episode 4, Chapter 2, Part 2 of Ascension.

T-shirt of the day: Today has been cancelled.  Go back to bed.