Saturday, October 27, 2018

I got up 3 times during the night, finally waking at 6:30 and getting up at 7:30.

Teresa told me a man is coming over at 10:30 to take the vertical blinds (or just their measurement?) to the new apt and add additional blinds if necessary.  She said I will be on my own for lunch.

Teresa went around the apt and showed me light switches (4) that have cracks in them.  I understand she thinks we should replace them.  How should I know, maybe they would charge us some exorbitant amount for them to replace them.

She asked me to go to an electrical store by the La Vaquita supermarket.

I left the apt just after 9am, made what I hope is my last ATM withdrawal for this month, and found La Bombas right across the street from La Vaquita.  So far, so good.

I told a man working there I don’t speak much Spanish but I showed him a photo of the light switch and told him I need four.  I understood they don’t have them but he was trying to tell me where to go to get them.  He finally said wait a second and got a man who spoke English.  He told me to go to the end of the block, turn left and after 2-3 blocks I would find a small park and Electricos de Itagui will be across the street.

I followed his directions and at the 3 block mark I thought I saw a small park a block away.  But I continued on my way another couple blocks and finally stopped and turned around.  I stopped at a small store called “Wow!” where I asked a lady if she knew where Electricos de Itagui might be.  The best I got out of her was “well, electrical” in Spanish.

I continued a couple more blocks and then headed towards where I thought I saw the small park.  It was a small park, very small.  I checked out all the stores around it but couldn’t find Electricos de Itagui.

I walked back toward Parque Envigado.  I stopped at Cotrafa where I waited 15 minutes in line to pay the Une bill.

At city hall I got an internet connection, I googled Electricos de Itagui and they only gave a phone number with no address.  I texted Laura and asked her to call that number and ask for their address.  She answered in about 60 seconds gave me the address of Calle 35 Sur #39-26 and I headed out again.

I ended up at the same park and Electricos de Itagui was right across the street on the corner.  I don’t know how I missed it the first time; I must have been practically standing under their sign.  I showed the photo to a young lady and she pointed to a display on the wall behind me.  There were about 20 different light switches but not exactly like what we had.  She said if I wanted exactly the same thing I would have to go to…wait for it… Home Center.  Exactly the place I first thought I would try until Teresa derailed me with this trip.

On the way back to the apt I stopped at a health food store where I bought a bottle of 30 1000mg L-Arginine softgels for 25,400.

Back at the apt the ladies were gone…of course, and so were our vertical blinds.  I couldn’t wait to get out of my jeans and heavy t-shirt.

I called Chuck and asked if he was free for lunch.  He finally called me back at 11:40 and we agreed to meet at Bartolos at noon.

I logged out of my computer, changed into shorts and sleeveless t-shirt and met Chuck at the park at noon.  He was already sitting at a table talking to a guy named Byron, a black guy who I believe I’ve met before.  We all started with coffee and then Byron and I had lunch as Chuck had had breakfast not long before.

Sitting a table away we met David from Florida, who was a little secretive about where he was from, and his younger Colombian wife whose name I don’t recall.  (He claims we met before but I searched the last 2 years of my blog and I don’t see mention of it.  He’s probably one of those gringos who are hiding from the CIA.)

We talked for sometime then Byron left and Chuck and I walked back to my apt.  I exchanged a few things and while there I got a text from Laura to please bring her iPhone charger.  We walked down to the mall and inside entered Home Center through their new 2^nd floor entrance.

I found the light switch area and after checking dozens of them came to the realization that none were exactly the same as what we had – it didn’t appear that any of them were even the same brand.  I asked at the electrical desk and the young man said that those are old switches and you won’t find them anywhere.

I received a text message from Laura to please buy a bottle of glass cleaner and Chuck led me directly to that section and I picked up a bottle of Mr. Muscle.

Chuck was looking for a toilet plunger and believe it or not we couldn’t find a “plumber’s friend”.  He also wanted to look at futons which I thought were temporary beds that you had to blow up somehow.  What we looked at were more like sofas that convert into beds.  While looking we met a couple from Miami – he spoke English and she didn’t.

I paid 7,900 for the bottle of glass cleaner and Chuck wanted to go for coffee and something sweet so I took him upstairs to my favorite place Café Arangos for carrot cake.  He agreed it’s the best he’s had in a long time.

I got some texts from Laura like “where are you?” and “why aren’t you at the apt already?”.  After a few minutes Chuck returned to his apt for a nap and I walked the few blocks (8 minutes?) from the mall to the new apt.

The portero (doorman/security guard) let me in with no problem.  In the apt a cleaning lady was busy doing what they do and soon would be cleaning windows.  Also, the vertical blinds were in the master bedroom instead of the balcony and they were obviously 4” or so too long as they were scrapping the floor.  Teresa said that they balcony window is too long so they will only work in the bedroom.

Now, some background information.  There is something like 40 yards between out building and the one facing us.  So, there’s our building, a patch of grass, fence, sidewalk, 2 lane street, their sidewalk, their fence and then their building.

The previous owner of this apt had a cat so they had this netting put up around the balcony and the master bedroom windows.  They were installed using slightly open eye hooks drilled into the brickwork.  Juanita was there and she had already removed the netting for the balcony.  Since I’m taller and my arms are longer I helped her with the one in the master bedroom.  Interwoven into the netting was cord that they then attached to the eye hooks.  I easily removed the cord from the eye hooks except for the corners.  The cord was so tight there wasn’t any slack to move it off the eye hook.  Finally, I got the idea to untie the two ends of the cord which were tied with 3 half hitches (I was a boy scout).  I got 2 of them off but had difficulty with the 3^rd.  Juanita tried to use a Phillips screwdrives to lossen it (don’t ask) and I went to take care of something else for a minute.  When I came back she had finished untying it.  Now all we had to do was remove the cord from the eye hooks on the other side but the other window pane doesn’t open.

I was leaning out trying to hold onto the window without falling, to reach the eye hooks.  My arm wasn’t long enough.  Juanita gave me the screwdriver but I still came up short.  Someone handed me a broom handle and that got me to the required distance.  I managed to remove the cord from the upper eye hook but the net itself was caught.  I worked on that for awhile then something across the street caught my attention.

There was a woman dressed in a red sexy costume, with long hair coming down her back and the only thing covering her ass was 2 strips of red material.  A man was visible in the doorway with a fancy camera taking photos of her.  (Btw, I never saw her except from the back.)

I heard simultaneously from Teresa and Laura “no mirando” (no looking).  I said “Estoy occupado” (I’m busy) and “Estoy trabajando aqui” (I’m working here) while Juanita was laughing her head off.  (Welcome to the neighborhood.)

Juanita and I finally got the cord and webbing off the hooks and the couple were gone.

We sat around waiting for the cleaning lady to finish, I gave her 50mil and we all left.

Juanita jumped on her motorcycle and Teresa, Laura and I walked back to the old apt.  On the way Teresa mentioned that the couple I saw across the street are bisexual.  A minute later she said they were transsexual.  (I’m not sure how she is privy to their sexual proclivities.)

Back at the old apt we did some more packing.  Teresa called some guy she knows from the finca and I heard repeatedly “car” so I didn’t know how she expected to get 6 suitcases and multiple huge full plastic bags into one car.  Multiple trips?  He finally showed up at 7:30 and (surprise #1) he had a good sized truck.  And you wonder why I’m confused?  His wife stood guard outside the truck while we carried everything down and packed it in the truck.

Laura got in the cab with them and Teresa and I stood in the back of the truck.  Surprise #2: Teresa hoped the police wouldn’t see us because standing in the back of the truck is illegal.  At the new apartment surprise #3: the guard wouldn’t let the truck on the grounds so we had to park just outside the gate.  Surprise #4: I thought we would take everything straight to the elevator but Teresa headed straight for the storage room.  Surprise #5: Teresa couldn’t find a key to open our storage room.  Once we had everything set down outside the storage area Teresa found the correct key, opened the door and we started loading Christmas stuff into the storage area.  Then we started taking stuff to the elevator and up to the apt.

After everything was upstairs I paid Don (I think his name was) 50mil and they left.

I quickly emptied my suitcase, hung shirts in my new closet, and put some books in the closet.

I was done and we were waiting on Laura to put on makeup as she’s going out later.

Sitting on the balcony (in the dark) I noticed the windows of the apt across the street have their windows soaped over so you can’t see in – but no drapes or blinds.  Also one of the bedrooms was very brightly lit like a photo studio.  Hmmm!

When Laura was ready we went downstairs and the portero called us a taxi which arrived in about 2 minutes.

We took the taxi to our usual Antica Pizzaria in the Mesa neighborhood.  I felt quite cool standing outside in my shorts and sleeveless t-shirt.  After about a 15 minute wait we were inside and soon were guzzling down our pizza.

We took a taxi back to the apt and Laura continued on to Parque Lleras.

We were both exhausted and we soon went to bed.

Joke of the day

For several years, a man was having an affair with an Italian woman.

One night, she confided in him that she was pregnant.

Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he paid her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to secretly have the child.   If she stayed in Italy to raise the child, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18.

She agreed, but asked how he would know when the baby was born.

To keep it discrete, he told her to simply mail him a postcard, and write 'Spaghetti' on the back. He would then arrange for the child support payments to begin.

One day, about 9 months later, he came home to his confused wife.

'Honey,' she said, 'You received a very strange post card today.'

'Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later,' he said. The wife obeyed and watched as her husband read the card, turned white, and fainted.

On the card was written: 'Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.  Three, with meatballs, two without.  Send extra sauce!!!!!