Monday, July 9, 2018

Last night I fell asleep relatively quickly, got up once at 1:30, again at 4:30, took a while to fall back asleep, finally woke/got up at 7:30.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym.  Who did I see standing outside our building but Andres.  He said “Terry” and I said “hola” and that was it.  At the gym I completed all my exercises in an hour and 45 minutes.  My hamstrings are feeling better but I’m still going to be careful with them for awhile.

Back at the apt I made plans to meet my son for lunch at 1:30.

Teresa asked me if the US has a $1,000 bill.  I told her “yes” but I’ve never seen one.  Why would anyone walk around with a $1,000 bill – they would put the money in the bank.  She told me one of the guys working on the finca showed her one.  I told her I remembered him showing me one years ago and it was fake.

I left the apt at 12:40, stopped at Cotrafa and paid the epm bill.  I was going to also pay the Direct TV bill but I underestimated the cost of the epm bill so I didn’t have enough cash with me.

I caught the next bus to Poblado.  On the way I noticed the Citibank building on the Gold Mile is now Colpatria.  (Yesterday I was surprised to see the Citibank ATM in El Tesoro is now Colpatria.)  I was at Parque Poblado by 1:20 and Jim arrived a few minutes later. 

We walked over to restaurant Aguacate and took an outside table.  He had a Coke and I had a mango juice while we decided what to order.  Jim first ordered what I would call corn fritters that came with a slice of cheese on top that were pretty tasty.  He also ordered the menu of the day - chicken breast - and I ordered their ribs.  They brought me a good sized slab of ribs that were a little on the chewy side.  Also included were French fries and a small salad.  I only ate something like 4 ribs so there was a lot “to go” along with Jim’s salad and some of his corn fritters.  (Later Teresa told me they are called “torta de chocolo”.  That sound familiar.)

After lunch we walked across the street to Tostao where we had coffee.  One drawback with this place is there’s no A/C or even air flow so it gets pretty stuffy especially after drinking hot coffee.  And they don’t have wifi.

We said goodbye and Jim’s going to call me later about meeting him and Sean for dinner at Mercado del Rio tonight.

I stopped at Envios Market where I picked up a small package.  It turned out to be the lanyard that will help keep me from losing my step counter – when it arrives.

I took a Sabaneta bus back to Envigado.  Again I saw Andres hanging out outside our apartment building.

I asked Laura if she was free now to help me with my SIM card.  We walked to Claro and on the way I noticed that our Citibank across from Exito is now Colpatria.  First we paid for Teresa’s unlimited cellphone minutes for July then we talked to one of Claro’s reps.  In the conversation the rep asked me if I’ve ever put a different SIM card in my phone.  I remember some months back when Teresa and I were moving the chess table a drawer came open and we noticed an old SIM card that was sitting there.  Some weeks later, probably 3-4 weeks ago, I remembered the SIM card and put it in the phone to see if it worked.  So I told the lady “yes, I did do that once”.  Now for some reason I understand that my current SIM card has assumed that old phone number.  Strange!

I bought Laura an ice cream cone and then I went across the street and added 20mil to my “new” number.  We stopped at $efecty where I paid the Direct TV bill.  Now I think all bills have been paid for the month.

We made plans to meet Jim and Sean for dinner tonight at Mercado del Rio at 7:15.  I understand the others in their group left today for a few days in Cartagena before returning to the States.

We left the apt about 6:50.  I managed to call an Uber car and even though he made a wrong turn at one point he arrived in about 7 minutes.  The 16 minute trip to Mercado del Rio cost 9,100 pesos.

Jim and Sean were already there waiting for us.

We decided to have a sit down dinner at the Italian restaurant Parmessano.  We had a nice dinner for 5 for only 181,698 pesos (about $65) including tip and tax.

I made plans to go with Jim and Sean to the airport tomorrow.

There was a long line of taxis outside so we took one back to the apt for 12,100 pesos.

We were back by 8:30 and just before 9pm Andres rang our doorbell.  Teresa appeared to give him hell.

T-shirt of the day: Take me to the ocean.