Sunday, February 17, 2019

Last night I woke up once about 4:30, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

I had oatmeal for breakfast, waited 30 minutes then headed downstairs to the pool.  The gate to the pool was locked but it was open.  I closed it and as I suspected I wouldn’t have been able to get out.  I asked a young man working out in the gym if he knew how to open the gate.  He checked it then dialed ‘100’ and asked the guard to open it.  He arrived 5 minutes later and I entered the pool.  I was the only one there so it was easy to do a dozen laps in the pool.

After dressing, Teresa went to mass and I walked down to the mall.  Crossing the street they had tape separating the sidewalk area from the road.

I stopped at Exito and picked up a couple things for Teresa then bought some expectorant at a health food store.

I was having a café con leche at Habia Una Vez when at 12:03 I heard a commotion outside.  I stood up and saw police motos, a bicyclist, a car with bikes on top, another bicyclist, more motos and then a long stream of bicyclists.  It was all over in about 3 minutes.  I asked a waitress standing next to me and she said that they go to Sabaneta then turn around and return to Las Palmas.  Yikes!

Time for the big news:  Laura is switching families from Massachusetts to Michigan.  It appears the 2-year old girl in Mass. can’t live without grandma so I guess she’ll be staying with them and they won’t need Laura.  The family in Michigan is in the lower peninsula and the husband appears to be a doctor working long hours and she is a stay at home mom.  They have twin 3-year old girls and they just had a baby boy.  She flies there (Southfield, Michigan) tomorrow.

I received a text from Alex that he and Alba are visiting Cartagena next month for a film festival (on business) and then on March 11-19 they will be in Medellin looking for an apartment.

Atletico Nacional (the local soccer team) is staying at Jim’s hotel so we will meet after the team leaves (about 6pm) for their match tonight.

We met Jim, Joan and Airin at Ay Caramba! at 7pm.  I had chicken fajitas with a limonada de coco and Teresa had a half order of breaded fish and a glass of water for a total of 60,610 ($20) including tip.

We tried to get into the Charlee hotel to visit their rooftop bar but the security guard outside told us it’s full.

We walked a few blocks and I showed them a little of Parque Lleras.

All of a sudden I took a tumble and was lying on the sidewalk.  I had stepped in a gutter that I couldn’t see because it was exactly the same size as a shadow.  I had a slight pain in my right wrist but otherwise I and my clothes were unscathed.

They took a taxi back to their taxi and we to our apt.

Joke of the day

After 30 years of marriage, a husband and wife went for counseling.

When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the years they had been married. On and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable – an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.

Finally, after allowing this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and after asking the wife to stand, he embraced and kissed her long and passionately as her husband watched – with a raised eyebrow.

The woman shut up and quietly sat down in a daze. The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?"

"Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays I play golf."