Sunday, January 16, 2022

Last night I went to bed about 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once to use the toilet, and was awakened by my 7am alarm.

I got up showered, shaved, dressed, and headed down to the lounge to work on my blog with the idea of meeting the ladies for breakfast when they are ready.

We all had the buffet breakfast together in the hotel. I went back three times for a few items.

Laura told me we’re going on a boat tour to an island this morning.

About 9:30 we took a taxi and it was a short trip to the port. I could see the ticket windows but outside the entrance men were hawking tickets. We bought tickets for about 110mil each. Later I tipped the guy 2mil per person.

We had about a 20-minute wait, with lots of others, in the shade. When our boat, the El Nino Jorge H, was ready we got on and put on life vests. There were about 50 of us seated in rows of four separated by an aisle. On our way the driver hit a number of waves that sprayed those near the sides.

I felt sorry for the young men who had to sit in the sunny aft section.

A young man had a cooler filled with beer and a few other drinks. I personally saw him drink 3 beers on the way out. Another man had a bottle of Buchanan’s Scotch whiskey that he drank heavily from and passed around.

It was a 2-hour trip to the island and I was feeling pretty nauseous by then. (For breakfast I should have eaten mainly fruit like the ladies.) I was happy to get my feet on a non-moving object and sat down to rid myself of the nausea; it took a while. I learned this isn’t our island, it’s just a stopover for those who want to see the aquarium.

Laura said the island with our beach is five minutes away. About an hour later we cast off again.

Five minutes later we arrived at another island but it was just to drop off a few people from our group.

It was another hour to our island and by then I was feeling much better. 

To get off the boat we basically slid/jumped over the side into the sand at the water line. There were umbrellas lined up near the water and a restaurant with picnic tables under a thatched roof. We got the last available table just outside the restaurant. 

There were quite a few flies around mainly because the end of our table was dirty from leftover food scraps. Men came by trying to sell their wares. Finally, a waiter came and cleaned off our table which improved our fly situation. A few minutes later we were able to move inside under the roof. 

A cat with kittens was lying under one of the tables and from time to time the kittens would venture out and explore. A few dogs were around sitting patiently next to tables hoping to get lucky.

The ladies had fresh fried fish that looked just like the fish they had the past few days.

 I was brought a chicken leg with thigh, rice, and slices of avocado and one of tomato. I ate the avocado and tomato but my stomach didn’t feel like eating anything else.

Laura asked if I brought a swimsuit and I replied, “no, because you didn’t tell me to bring one.” I also forgot to bring my sunglasses that might have kept my eyes from feeling tired.

I saved our table while the ladies went out looking for chairs under an umbrella. Laura soon returned and I followed her to a busy spot. Teresa was sitting with a woman and the whiskey guy. He offered me his chair in the shade and offered me a variety of drinks which I declined as I still had some of my Coke left from lunch. Teresa pointed out his pregnant 21-year-old wife and asked me how old I thought he was. I guessed 45 and she thought that was low.

When we left they had a metal ladder they held in the sand next to the boat and we just had to go up a few steps and step over the side into the boat. We left at 4:20 and I was just hoping we would return before dark – about 6:30.

This time the boat driver went a lot faster than before which 1) made for a steadier ride, 2) we were back at the dock by 5:10. This time I didn’t feel sick at all. The whiskey guy was now plastered, slurring his words and stumbling around.

Back at our hotel I looked around and asked if anyone had seen my sunglasses. Laura finally found them in her beach bag, believing Teresa put them there. (They were there all the time I needed them, I just had to ask Laura to look in her bag.) We showered and cleaned up and took a taxi to the Plaza Santa Teresa Charleston Hotel (Carrera 3 #31-23) downtown. At one point I went inside to user their restroom and it was a beautiful colonial style hotel.

Per google, its Located in the heart of the walled city, offering luxury rooms, services and exclusive facilities.

The ladies shared a bowl of seafood soup while I had the chicken wok plate:

I guess I chose well as both ladies tried my dish, declared it excellent and even took 2^nd and 3^rd helpings. It was basically a Chinese chicken fried rice dish common in the States but it was delicious.

We walked around downtown and the ladies stopped in one store and I thought for sure Teresa was going to insist on buying one particular purse. Like she really needs any more. I bought a package of band-aids in a pharmacy and Teresa bought some SPF cream and something for her upset stomach. In a while my feet in flip flops couldn’t take it anymore. (I had rinsed the sand off my sandals and left them in our window to dry.) I returned alone to our hotel. I took my sleeping pill and while waiting for it to kick in the ladies returned.

I received an email from the US embassy about planned protests in Cartagena tomorrow.

I figure I went to bed about midnight.

My correspondence chess rating on Chess.com is 1611.

 

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 806,157 ð 805,069 ð 806,851 new cases and 1,928 ð 1,984 ð 1,962 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 34,923 ð 35,575 ð 32,317 new cases with 106 ð 129 ð 136 new deaths. Medellin has 3,298 ð 2,896 ð 1,751 new cases from January 15^th to 16^th. Envigado has 261 ð 126 ð 155 new cases from January 15^th to 16^th.

 

T-shirt of the day

Welcome to paradise.