Friday, June 1, 2018

I was awakened about 4am by the loudest thunder I think I’ve every heard.  I woke up at 6am and got up at 6:30.

Well, it’s a new month and I get to start over – financially.

Teresa headed to the finca early to start work on painting.  The worker wants to stop working by June 14^th when the World Cup begins.

I left the apt at 7:45, picked up a free Adn newspaper outside Exito, bought a Q’Hubo newspaper from the corner newspaper boy, and picked up a free Gente newspaper in a store.  I walked over to Carbon de Leña where I had calentado with a café con leche for 8,500 pesos ($3).  On the way I saw a line outside Bancolombia waiting for it to open.  There were even a few people waiting outside the ATM I usually use.  I read in the newspaper that a 20-year old North Caroloina girl, hallucinating on meth, went into a church and literally clawed her eyes out and now she’s blind.  Yikes!  The newspaper also included a little card with the dates of Colombia’s World Cup matches in Group H: June 19^th at 7am against Japan, June 24^th at 1pm against Poland, and June 28^th at 9am against Senegal.

After breakfast I went back and there were only 2 people waiting to use that same ATM.  It was only 8:30 so I waited 10 minutes and withdrew some cash.  I was back at the apt in plenty of time to watch the first 20 minutes of the Today show.

At the gym I completed all my exercises in an hour and 55 minutes.  Interestingly, there’s a guy there that looks like Juan (now married to Laura) but slightly taller and with a full beard and moustache.

After my shower Laura and I walked down to Deli Hoy where we had the menu of the day which was Bandeja Paisa but as usual I got chicken breast.

We walked up to Bancolombia and were given the number S529 and they were serving S507.  That didn’t sound too bad and the chairs weren’t all full either.  Fifteen minutes later they were still serving S507.  I told Laura that I have another location we can try that’s only 1 or 2 blocks away but she wanted to stay.

At the 40 minute mark we went to the cashier and I picked up the cash from my World Remit transfer.  We went outside where we put it in the payment machine for my health insurance and the apartment.

To reward her for her help we walked to the other side of the plaza where I bought her an ice cream cone.  By this time it was raining slightly.  We walked back to the apt in the light rain.  I even receive an email from World Remit that the money has been picked up.

Among new US movie releases I would like to see Adrift (6.6), Upgrade (7.6), and maybe American Animals (7.1).  Locally, I would like to see Jungle (6.7) but it’s not playing at any convenient times in English.

I received the following email from the US embassy:

Location: Colombia, areas downstream of the Hidroituango dam on the Cauca River in the Departments of Antioquia, Cordoba, Sucre, and Bolivar.

Event: There is substantial landslide and flooding risk near and downstream from the Hidroituango dam in Ituango, Antioquia.  The Colombian government has ordered the evacuation of a number of communities below the dam, and placed other municipalities under “Red Alert.”  In the event of a dam failure, communities downstream are at severe risk of flash floods that may occur with little or no warning.  U.S. embassy employees are not permitted to travel to this area without advance permission.

Luckily, that’s a different river than goes through Medellin.  The Cauca River is much farther west near Santafe.

Laura borrowed 200mil from me for her “shoe business” she’s partnering with her friend Ana.    I asked her directly if this is a gift or a loan and she said it’s a loan, although she might need another 100mil on the 15^th.  She left at 5pm to meet with a friend.

We had a light rain most of the afternoon.

Chuck called me from Louisiana.  Apparently he has an acquantance named Bob who just moved to Laureles with his 30-something son Gray.  He has been to Colombia before but he has some questions.  He has both my cell phone number and email address.  Next week would be a good time to meet him since Jose Cruz is traveling.

Teresa didn’t come back until 7:30.  She says that John will give her 4 million pesos so she can build a fence with a gate and we will pay him back out of the monthly rent.  She needs to return to the finca to supervise work that is being done as they want to move in as soon as possible.  He also says he needs to shower in hot water – I don’t blame him because that mountain water in the finca is cold.

We called La Casita Parilla and had them deliver 2 orders of ribs with sodas.

I finished reading Ryan Lockwood’s paperback What Lurks Beneath.

T-shirt of the day: Worst job in the world.

(I’m getting real low on t-shirt sayings.  When I run out I’ll have something new to share with my readers.)