Sunday, September 27, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1:15, woke up at 5am, couldn’t fall back asleep, finally getting up at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 8,310 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 5 hours and 34 minutes for a sleep score of 68.

After breakfast I returned to bed and slept another hour and 45 minutes, now feeling much better. I guess my Fitbit didn’t increase my sleep score because its out of my declared sleep schedule of 10pm to 7am.

I finished the movie Blood Work on Netflix.

We left the apt at 1:30 and took a Didi to El Correo in Provenza. I ordered their ribs with BBQ sauce and a Coke and Teresa surprised me by ordering the same. The waitress soon returned and informed us they didn’t have any BBQ sauce. ☹  I didn’t know that was even possible. We went ahead with our order but when we started eating them we both agreed they were too dry without the sauce. We each ate a couple ribs and got the rest to go. The check came to 198,415 pesos ($60) and we returned to the apt by Didi.

Another Annie James photo:

I started watching a series called Seal Team (7.9) on Netflix. Over 100 episodes, this should keep me busy for a while.

About 4:30 Teresa asked me what time San Marcos church has mass. I googled it and told her 5pm and 6pm but at 5:15 it started raining hard so Teresa nixed that idea.

For supper, I had two more of my very meaty ribs.

I finished reading James Patterson’s Cross my Heart (Alex Cross #21).

 

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Saturday, September 26, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2:15, again at 5:30, finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 4,189 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 8 hours and 9 minutes for a sleep score of 82.

Hmmm. Did I sleep so well because I didn’t have coffee in the afternoon? I’ll have to keep an eye on that. Maybe I can substitute some non-caffeine drink for my coffee and sleep better that night.

I spent some time moving photos from my cellphone to my laptop.

Just before 9am I took a Didi to Daniel’s barbershop. After my haircut I walked to Todo Drogas where I purchased a few medications and supplements (again refused from purchasing zopiclone) for 163,400 pesos ($53). I walked to the copy center near the park and asked if they sell the notebook I’ve been using for the gym the past 3 years.

They didn’t have it nor anything similar. I walked a couple blocks away (past the new city hall) to an office supply store where I bought it for 5,400 pesos.

I also found this interesting dictionary – not sure why its title includes the word Chicago.

I asked the clerk and he gave me a long-winded answer but then when I asked again so I could translate it, it was simply

I walked to Los Porteños where I had a latte while going through my cellphone.

Work continues outside the old Ganso y Castor.

Mikael965 finally resigned our 25-move game, increasing my rating to 1567.

I left at 11:15 and returned to the apt.

Teresa informed me the heater guy was there and it needs to be replaced or lots of new parts so we’ll first need permission from the owner. TBC.

Annie James with my daughter Jeannie. Is today Daughter’s Day?

We left the apt at 2:30 and walked to Teresa’s hairdresser and I continued on to Fika café. I asked the waitress if they had any drinks without caffeine. She didn’t seem to understand so I tried again using my translator. She seemed confused then suggested a drink with chocolate instead. I informed her that chocolate contains caffeine and a young couple sitting nearby agreed. I just gave up and ordered my usual latte.

We had a downpour but it only last 5 minutes.

I completed another 12 chess puzzles, getting 3 of them wrong. I played a 10’15” game on Chess.com ending up with a 72-move draw.

Teresa returned at 4:45 and we moved to Eduardo Madrid where she had a latte and an asparagus quiche. Then we shared a chicken pastry. We had some more rain and we waited for it to lessen. I paid for that with my 16 English muffins and we walked to Ara where we picked up a few more groceries before returning to the apt.

The plan for tomorrow, since the Bears game is on Monday night, is to go to El Retiro for the day.

I found that Netflix doesn’t have the 3^rd season of La Brea so I started watching Blood Work (6.4) then started my pre-sleep routine and went to bed at my usual 10pm.

 

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Friday, September 25, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 11:15, again at 2:30, finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,534 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 10 minutes for a sleep score of 77.

I had a short nap after breakfast.

I left the apt just before 9am and found Smartfit busier than usual. I completed my workout by changing the order of my routine, completing 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 125bpm.

Work continues on Avenida Poblado by the gym:

and work continues inside the old Ganso y Castor location.

While having a latte outside Los Porteños I met a guy from Switzerland, who spends half his time here and half his time there, with his Colombian friend. We had a light shower but it didn’t last long.

I left at 10:45 and stopped in a busy Eduardo Madrid and ordered 16 English muffins for pickup tomorrow afternoon.

I stopped in Ara and bought carrots, tomatoes and a head of broccoli for out lunch.

Teresa reported a guy might come this afternoon to fix our hot water heater.

Did I mention the 3-week trip to Chicago cost us about $7,700?

$3300 – Airbnb

$2000 – Budget rental car

$1400 – United flights

$1000 – Food, clothing and other expenses

We’ll see if I can afford such a long trip next year. (Jeannie’s best friend Joanne told me we could borrow their 2^nd car so we’ll see.)

Since my return to Colombia, I get multiple spam calls every day (which I never answer); I had none while in Chicago.

I see this morning I received this email from USAA, “Your transaction on September 25, 2026 at ETOLLBGT U272940765 *800-4820159 IL didn’t go through because the information entered for your card …6623 didn’t match what we have on file. Check your card details before trying again.”

I logged into my USAA account and found these 2 transactions:

Sep 25, 2026September 25, 2026	ETOLLBGT U272940765 Pendinghelp text for Pending, opens popup	Category Pending	$17.70
Sep 25, 2026September 25, 2026	ETOLLBGT U272940765Declined: $17.70

It didn’t look that messy online, but that $17.70 sounds like Budget trying to pay the 2 Illinois Tolls I incurred on our vacation.

I tried calling USAA but MagicJack didn’t seem to work even though I just extended my subscription

I chatted with a USAA rep and told them that’s a valid transaction so they okayed it and unblocked my credit card.

I watched a couple more episodes and finished season 2 of La Brea on Netflix then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

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Thursday, September 24, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up at 5:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,114 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 45 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

Hmm, am I seeing a pattern here? I sleep better when I walk more the day before? I’ll have to monitor that.

I had a 47 minute nap after breakfast.

I had coffee with Marcos outside Tostao. Since I last saw him he’s now officially diabetic and taking a Metformin tablet daily and has lost 15 pounds. He complained about not being able to eat his favorite foods including pizza and ice cream and I told him he shouldn’t have been eating that so often anyway. He says he’s walking a lot but I recommended he return to the gym and start lifting some weights. I left at 10:30 and returned to the apt.

A minute of Annie James’ swim lesson yesterday:

AJ 9-23 VIDEO

I agreed to a draw with Chesswiz98, lowering my rating to 1565.

I left the apt at noon and walked to the mall. I bought a ticket for the 1:25 showing of Coyote vs ACME for 8,000 pesos. In their waiting area I solved another page of 11 puzzles getting 2 wrong. Fifteen minutes before showtime I made my last trip to the restroom then bought a Combo Pro (hotdog, small popcorn and soda) for 37,000 pesos. The condiments they offer for their hotdog are: mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, pineapple, and I forget the even weirder 5^th ingredient.

I was one of four people in the theater. I enjoyed the movie especially seeing cartoon characters I haven’t seen in years.

After the movie I bought a container of wax paper and a new wooden spatula in Dollar City for Teresa.

I walked back to the apt.

I renewed my MagicJack Home subscription for another 3 years.

I chatted with USAA and got my debit card unblocked.

My new shoes

Aren’t very comfortable. They feel like they are a size too big so tonight I replaced the old laces with 120cm laces and hopefully they will feel better.

The old shoe is on the right and the one with the full-length shoe laces is on the left.

I watched another episode of La Brea on Netflix then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

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Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1:45, couldn’t fall back asleep, got up and started to read but after a few minutes my eyes were too tired so I returned to bed, finally waking/getting up at 6:45.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,556 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 27 minutes for a sleep score of 76.

I left the apt at 9am and found Smartfit busier than usual. I had to change the order of my routine but finished including 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 123bpm.

On Avenida Poblado they are in the process of installing curbs and I see they still have a lot of underground pipes to deal with.

I forgot to bring a peanut today to leave for the squirrels so I just had a banana and coffee outside Los Porteños.

I see some outside work is being done on the old Ganso y Castor site.

I was having my latte outside Los Porteños when a truck backed up on the street and 3 men took out what could be a large refrigerator. They wheeled it up the street and maybe its for the new tenant of the Ganso y Castor space?

But they turned left so obviously it’s for someone else.

I left at 11am and returned to the apt.

I found a room available in Casa Verano Beach Hotel in Santa Marta on Booking.com but they want $2,823 for 10 nights (free breakfast) from December 23^rd to January 2^nd and it’s non-refundable. I discussed it with Teresa and we decided that was a little too pricey, especially in these days of high inflation and low value of the US Dollar.

Teresa informed me that Alcala contacted the owner of our apt and we’re waiting on him to take action to fix our hot water heater. (I’m getting tired of taking sponge baths.)

We left the apt at 2:30 and walked to Fika café where we had drinks. I had my usual latte while Teresa had a Te Matcha but it wasn’t the same as she had in Chicago. She left at 4:30 for some class at the cultural center while I left at 5:30 and returned to the apt.

Teresa called me at 6:40 and asked me to meet her in Ara. I brought our recyclable bag and we bought 122,000 pesos of groceries.

I watched a little news then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

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Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1:45, fell back asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 6:15, ahead of my 6:30 alarm.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,425 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 8 minutes for a sleep score of 74.

I took a Didi to Unicentro mall arriving 14 minutes before opening which gave me just enough time to eat a banana and walk 1 ½ times around the outside of the mall.

Jose joined me at Parmessano where we had our usual breakfast.

We moved to the food court, near side this time and I had the Black pieces in the first game. On his 49^th move he queened a pawn and on my 49^th move, I checkmated his king. 😊

I had the White pieces in the second game and on our 44^th move we agreed to a draw.

It was 2:15 when I ordered a Didi to take me to Viva Envigado. I had the chicken teriyaki with a Pepsi in Sarku’s (can’t believe the restaurant was completely empty when I arrived)

I bought 2 bags of garbage bags in Dollar City then went down to Urbania where I had a latte while solving 12 puzzles, getting 6 wrong. ☹ I played a 15’10” game on Chess.com, winning on time in 44 moves.

Teresa left me a voice mail message to pick up some green apples for her. I stopped in Exito and bought 4 apples for her and a small bag of prunes for me.

I returned to the apt by taxi. I watched some news then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

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Monday, September 21, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2:45, took a little while to fall back asleep, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,614 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 58 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

Teresa got up at 7:15, made my breakfast and returned to bed. (She said she woke up at 4am and couldn’t fall back asleep.)

Troyclough resigned our game increasing my rating to 1568.

I left the apt at 9am and found Smartfit as busy as usual. I completed my workout lowering the weight by 10# on half of the machines. I’ll keep them that way for the next 2 weeks then increase them by 5#. I completed 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 125bpm.

I see the roadwork has really progressed in the 3 weeks I’ve been gone.

Outside the old Ganso y Castor I saw this inside work going on.

I was having a latte outside Los Porteños when Brit came out. He informed me he heard the new establishment will be a hotdog or hamburger place. ☹ Hmm, maybe I’ll be able to get my coffee to go from Los Portenos then drink it outside the new restaurant if they put chairs out early enough.

I left the apt at 2:15 and walked to Gardenia where I noticed they poured a patio slab out back. I had a latte while doing another set of 12 chess puzzles, getting only 3 wrong this time. I played a 10’15” game, was way behind on time and barely won in the endgame when my opponent blundered his rook. I spent a little time going through my new chess book then left at 5:30 and returned to the apt.

I used FixIt to glue the master bedroom faucet back to the sink. Not knowing any better, I think Vicky probably loosed it when she was here for a visit. We’ll see if it holds.

I watched some news, got back to my 8pm pre-sleep reading routine and went to bed at 10pm.

 

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