Saturday, July 1, 2017

I slept well despite getting up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8:20.

I left the apt at 9:15 and walked down to Citibank.  I picked up an adn newspaper on my way.  I tried to withdraw cash but was told “not at this time”.  I walked to a nearby Servibanca where I was luckier.

Back at the apt I separated my cash into separate bundles for the apt, my health insurance and the gym payment.

I returned to Bancolombia where I soon completed all 3 payments.  (The new machine is still out of order.)  Guards were filling the ATMs then suddenly all 3 of them lit out and left the machines and their trays open.  What is that about?

On my way back to the apt I printed out a couple pages at the local copy center.  This time he printed one of my pages for me back to back.

Teresa and I left the apt at 10:15 and walked down to Avenida Las Vegas.  On our way to the bus stop a bird pooped on my head and my sunglasses.  Teresa told me its good luck.  I told her it would be better luck had he missed me.  A man was watering out front of a small clinic and Teresa talked to him, he switched his hose spray to more of a mist and rinsed my head along with my sunglasses.  Now that was good luck!

We quickly caught a bus and Teresa arrived at Stella Duran at 10:45 for her 11am appointment.  I headed to Casa Blanca Hostel where I had a couple bottles of water and read my Nook.

Teresa didn’t come out until 2:15.  I was hungry so we quickly caught a taxi to Santafe mall.

We ate at J&C Delicias – surf & turf for her and penne pasta in a delicious sauce for me.  I also had a coconut lemonade and she had a mango juice.  While we were finishing Laura called.  She was in San Diego mall and wanted to know where we were.  I told her to meet us at Zara.  The total check with tax and tip was 62,300 or about $21. 

Teresa went to check out Zara and I went across the street to Oviedo mall where I withdrew some cash from the Citibank ATM.  I was hoping for a lot of small bills like last time but I wasn’t so lucky this time.

Back at Santafe I waited outside Zara for Teresa.  Laura showed up with MT and then Teresa.  MT went back inside Zara with Teresa and I went upstairs with Laura so she could get something to eat.  She had a burger and Coke from some fast food place next to Frisby because the line at the latter was too long.

Back at Zara Teresa found 3 blouses she liked that were on sale so Laura and I waited in line for about 30 minutes to purchase them.  The total came to 180,000 pesos or $60.

We walked into Arturo Calle to exchange a shirt Teresa gave me for Fathers Day but we couldn’t find anything good in my size.  I understand we have 3 months to exchange it so we’ll try again another time.

We walked across the street to Oviedo where Teresa and MT did some more shopping.  Finally, Laura had the good idea and we went upstairs to where they have 4 nice comfortable leather sofas and we could relax completely.  I think I fell asleep for a few minutes and when I woke up Teresa and MT were sitting in the next sofa.  Laura said something about a little dog and that’s when I saw a young lady sitting on another sofa with a cute little black & white dog of about 6 weeks.  It looked like one of those sheep dogs.

We all stopped at an Italian gelato place called Prego.  Teresa and MT had a cup of gelato and Laura and I had something that looked like home made popcicles.  Ours were coconut lemonade.  The total cost was 20,800 pesos or about $7.

We quickly caught a taxi back to the apt and MT continued on to hers.

Back at the apt I took photos of my bank deposit receipts and emailed them.  I showed Laura the receipt for 150,000 pesos for the gym and then she informed me that MT wants to continue at the gym for one more month.  Sigh!  So, I have to deposit another 50,000 pesos in the bank.

The adn newspaper mentioned that the Guatape accident is the 3^rd catastrophe Colombia has experienced in less than a year.  The others were the plane crash and a mudslide.  Also in the news the ELN (similar here to the FARC) is close to a cease fire.

The Colombian Peso closed at 3,044 to the US Dollar.

Teresa tells me one of her blouses doesn’t fit so she wants to go back tomorrow to return/exchange it.

Now my son tells me they’re going to Guatape tomorrow.

T-shirt of the day: Having a dirty mind makes ordinary conversations much more interesting.