Thursday, March 28th, 2013

I asked Reina if she had any money left from yesterday.  She said 2mil, just enough to buy a package of arepas for Saturday.

There is a beautiful full tree next door near our side of the property line.  Its leaves are large – as long as a horse chestnut though not as wide and dozens of them are shed every day; the owner is often out raking them up.  There must be a number of nests in there as I have noticed different species of birds flying into it at different entrance points and I have seen a number of birds chase other birds away.  This morning I saw 2 of those yellow birds on top of the tree and when a third bird approached they both chased it away in a high speed chase and all 3 of them came my way.  I don’t think they saw me sitting on the balcony until the last second because they all got within about a foot of me before turning away.  It all happened so fast I didn’t even have time to react.

The neighbors next door often get small food deliveries during the day.  That “Peapod” van for example often stops there.  This morning there’s a man on a bicycle with plastic milk crates attached to both the front and the back with 2 large metal milk cans in the back crate and one in the front with a plastic cooler.  The house next door is the only one I can see him stopping at on our street.  Today he has no luck as he leaves right away.  My best guess is the milk cans contain something hot like soup.

I emailed my tax accountant requesting to file my federal tax return in May instead of April.  (I understand expatriates have an additional 90 days to file beyond the traditional April 15^th deadline.)  That would give me the month of April to get caught up on paying back my Colombian debts and May to pay off my American debts.

After lunch Reina wants to take a walk to the mall to see the pets in the pet store.  They have a cute little kitten we might adopt if it’s still there next week.

12:15 A van drives down the street playing some repetitive tune on its loudspeakers.  The back of the van is open and you can see rows and rows of donuts they are selling.  First time I’ve seen that.  Reina says they aren’t good; she knows a place where we can get good donuts.

Right after lunch we spent a couple of hours at the Laureles Mall.  As mentioned previously it is just on the other side of Viva! Mall.  Laureles Mall is laid out like 3 long parallel rectangles.  One of the outside rectangles contains small shops including 2 which are pet stores.  The middle rectangle is mainly an open air food court with about a dozen small restaurants.  The other outside rectangle is a grassy area with a couple of small playgrounds.  A lot of owners walk their dogs there.

Some of the stores and restaurants are closed; probably just for Easter Week.  At the pet store we saw that the free kitten was no longer there.  I hope it went to a nice home.  We walked into the food court area and who did we see but Jesus having a beer alone at one of the tables.  We sat down with him for about an hour.  We didn’t have any money but he was kind enough to buy each of us a soda and a slice of chocolate cake to share.  Reina’s soda was named “tutti frutti” which I thought was interesting for some reason.  One of the dogs there was a full sized Great Dane.  It was interesting to see him play with the smaller dogs especially when he approached a Chihuahua.  The little dog raised itself up on its hind legs and tried to push the Great Dane’s head away.  What really surprises me is you never hear any barking or growling.  Colombia has a bird similar to our dove but sometimes smaller like our sparrow.  They walk around the food court looking for crumbs.  They walk right under your feet with no concern.  I took a piece of cake and laid it at my feet and they ate it without looking at me.  I put a piece on my finger and one of them ate it right off my finger.  I could feel his beak “bite” me.

We cut through Viva! Mall on the way home and a young lady handed us a flyer from Burger King.  It was the same flyer I mentioned weeks ago.  I no longer think it’s a special, I think it’s their regular price - $5.50 for a Whopper, fries and 16 oz. Pepsi.  I wonder how this compares to US prices.  Maybe about the same?

Reina asked me and I agreed to pay 70mil so Dylan and Laura could go away to a finca (country home) this weekend.  I’m going to reimburse them next week.  About 3pm they showed up with 3 small dogs – a Scottish Terrier and 2 Chihuahuas.  The Chihuahuas never stopped barking and growling at me.  I’ve never liked Chihuahuas.  The Scottish Terrier was nice and would go with me with no problem.  I loaned Dylan my small suitcase to hold their things.

My tax accountant informed me that her fee is $138.  And she informed me that the IRS charges: 5% for failure to file; .05% for failure to pay plus interest which varies with the prime rate, about 3% now.  I decided I’ll pay her fee this month, file on time (April 15^th), and pay the IRS no later than the 1^st week of June.

5:30 and there’s a bunch of kids playing noisily in the street outside.  This being unusual, I’m guessing they are visiting relatives for Easter.

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

I woke up at 3:15am with a light headache.  (Could this be because I had one scoop of ice cream yesterday?  I’ll have to monitor that in the future.)  At 4am I took an aspirin and it went away in about 20 minutes but still had difficulty sleeping after that. (When I say aspirin it’s really Walgreen’s Migraine Relief the generic version of Excedrin Migraine.)

I got up about 8am.  Reina had already showered.

I appear to have a cold.  I have been sneezing all morning and my nose is running.  Maybe I shouldn’t be sitting out in the 66 degree weather in my shorts and flip flops.  Lol.

9:15 Reina left for downtown.  (Look back to Monday’s posting for her plans downtown.)  She took the last of our money.  She also mentioned her mother might need some type of female surgery.

BTW, Colombia lost last night 1-0 to Venezuela.

A current comment from an Expat living in Colombia: “I think you will laugh at this: As I sat in a movie matinee today, I was amazed to see that you have to select your seats. The movie theater was, of course, lacking movie patrons. And yet, a couple in front of me had to find her seats and not sit where they were not supposed to and kept searching for their movie seats. If I didn't know any better, I would assume that this country is full abiding law citizens. However, knowing better, I find this startling, as I can't cross the street using the cross walk and not get run over by Colombian drivers. They don't stop! What a colorful country. File this under things that make you go huh?”

10:15 The worker showed up and starts sanding the cracks he spackled yesterday. 

10:45 and he is finished repainting the cracks.

1pm and the cleaning ladies show up.  Probably to continue working upstairs.

5:45pm and the religious parade comes UP the street this time.  Same as yesterday and again they stop right next door for a couple of minutes.  This time I could see the purpose for the “staffs”; they rest the statues on them whenever they stop.

It looks like I’m going to have to pay a little more than $1000 to Uncle Sam this year.  (Not to mention what I’ll owe the tax accountant.)  With everyone I owe money to it looks like it’s going to be another tight month.  Only this month I’m determined not to go into debt again!

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

For a quiet neighborhood it seems there is often some noise going on.  Taxis honking their horn when they are waiting for someone, garage doors opening and closing in the building, guys walking or riding their bike on the street hawking their wares, cars or trucks with loudspeakers on the roof blaring out some advertisement, the whistle guy, car alarms, etc.

And the building is not what I would call quiet.  The floors are all tile not carpeted like in America.  There is a “shaft” like an elevator shaft that goes from the 1^st floor all the way to the roof.  This is what I showed earlier in my pictures like a 1^st floor courtyard.  There are “louvers” that open up to it from high on the wall of our bedroom hallway.  There are also “louvers” from high on the wall of our main hallway that open up to the stairwell.  While it appears the majority of the construction is finished, soon we will have tenants upstairs.

Reina informs me she is going downtown tomorrow as it is more important for her to be here today when the workers arrive.

7:45 and workers arrive to fix our recurring toilet problem. 

8:10 and the garbage men come through.

9:30 and the workers leave and things appear to be much better.  Time will tell.  Reina tells me they are going to come back and replace the drain cap in the bathroom because it apparently smells.

10:30 and one of the workers comes back and spends 15 minutes replacing the drain cap.

I finished my latest Nook book - Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.  A very good read.  In places it even dovetailed with The 9/11 Commission Report.

Next book is The Concrete Blond.  It’s been a while since I read a book of fiction.  This should be a nice change.

12:15 and another worker arrives to patch some cracks in the walls and ceiling.  Interestingly, instead of a step ladder he perches himself on top of 7 large upside-down plastic buckets and just scoots himself along to change position.

2pm and Reina and I went for a walk.  When my brother was here we walked a few blocks west and then north to Calle 44.  This time Reina and I walked a couple of blocks west, then south to Calle 33, east to Avenida 80, and then north to Laureles Mall.  There is a cute little kitten there that is for sale gratis but we don’t have money for its food, bed, or litter box.  We’ll see if it’s still there next week.  We stopped at Almibar and we splurged and each had a small ice cream cone for 2mil each.

When we got home I went to the toilet and found an unpleasant surprise.  What is it about Colombians just flushing the toilet and walking away without checking?  I told her I am tired of finding these little surprises.  Yes, I know it should always go down on the first flush but that doesn’t mean it always will.  I gave her a little spanking so she will remember in the future.  Lol.  

A few minutes later I used the same toilet and didn’t have any problem.

6:05 and a small religious parade comes down our street and stops next door for about 5 minutes.  It consisted of a priest, an amplifier with speakers, singing, and they were carrying 11 small statues and many people were carrying small “staffs” that might have been used to prod sheep.

7pm and Colombia is playing soccer against Venezuela.  After checking Google it appears this game is part of the 2014 World Cup.  From what I can see by the standings Colombia should be the better team.  On the other hand they are playing in Venezuela.

Monday, March 25th, 2013

Every morning from about 7-8am I’m sitting out on the balcony in my shorts, short sleeve shirt and flip flops reading the online Chicago Sun-Times, checking my email and having a cup of coffee.  According to my iPad it’s 66 degrees at that time.  I don’t know if it’s really that cool out, and while I feel fine, if it was any cooler I don’t think I would be able to take it.  (Neighbors probably think I’m crazy!)

We only have 63mil left but we’re out of meat so went to Exito to buy some.  We spent 29.784mil on: 30 eggs (6.878mil), spring bread (2.95mil), arepas (1.35mil), chicken breast fillets (6.942mil), and breast tenderloin (5.174mil), and  (RU, Percept Ekono, whatever that is) for 6.49mil.  So now we have 33mil remaining until about this time next week.

Reina tells me that at 2pm we’re going to walk to Angela’s and she will pay for the taxi to Reina’s mother’s house.

Tomorrow Reina is going downtown to: 1) talk to the university about paying for Dylan’s monthly tuition late, 2) talk to someone about Dylan’s military documents, and 3) go with Aunt Helen for her eye examination.  Dylan will be playing a soccer game at the Stadium from 7-9am.  Upon his return, Dylan and I will be left alone with Martha and Guillermo (who are expected about 10am) to fix the bathrooms.

11:30 and a man with one hand comes limping down the street selling pineapples.  The neighbor across the street bought one for what looked like 2mil.  (The Colombian bills are of different color so you can sometimes tell visibly the value of each certain bill.  Me, I’m always looking for the numbers.  Lol)

12:15 and a man comes down the street selling brooms, dustpans, and mops.  (Interestingly, the dustpans here have a long handle attached to them perpendicularly so you don’t have to stoop to use them.)

I’ve been trading emails this morning with my tax accountant from Virginia.  So far it looks like I owe about $1000.  But first I have to compare this return to the previous year’s return.

1pm and the same man comes down the street selling pineapples again.

We’re going to her mother’s for the afternoon so I guess I’ll take my nook and continue reading the Pat Tillman book.  

About 4:30 in Reina’s room at her mother’s she introduced me to an attractive young lady.  If I understood correctly she’s Dylan’s ex-girlfriend, she’s 28 years old, has breast implants, has 4 kids, one of them is 5 years old (I didn’t understand if he was the oldest or youngest), and she has a 70 year old boyfriend.  (Of course any of this is subject to translation and I'm especially weak on the larger numbers. lol)