Saturday, July 13th, 2013

I went to bed at 11pm, slept straight thru until 5pm, used the bathroom, then woke up again at 7:15.  Sweet!

Eddie mentioned yesterday he thinks I should be studying Spanish 2 hours every day.  (The problem is I can’t stay awake that long.  It’s not that exciting.)  And he had already had 4 beers when he said it.

When I told Jhon about the Muslim family that moved in nearby he said he was shocked when he first saw them.  He says he is personally insulted they would force (whether culturally or religiously) a woman to cover herself up like that.

There was an interesting and informative flyer in my communications/utility bill stating that the distribution of costs in Medellin depends on the estrato (stratus or level) you live in.  (The wealthiest area is estrato 6 while the poorest is estrato 1.)

It appears from the 2005 report below the Simon Bolivar area I live in is estrato 5 (high middle class) and the area Reina lives in (Aranjuez) is estrato 3 (low middle class).

For example … “El Poblado is a comuna in the metropolitan area of the city of Medellin, Colombia.  It is the wealthiest district of the city.  A 2005 report from the Medellin municipality estimates that 66.5% of the housing in El Poblado belongs to the richest class in Colombia known as estrato 6; 27.5% belongs to the high middle class (estrato 5); 4.2% belongs to the middle class; 1.3% to the low-middle class and 0.5% to the poor class.  The commune is divided by 22 barrios.”

http://www.medellin.gov.co/ReportesSite/reportes/Mapas_socioeconomicos/Estrato_predominante_barrio_2007.pdf

This is the information (translated into English) in the flyer explaining subsidies & contributions:

“When a member of the public services and belong to strata 1, 2 and 3 have a subsidy of up to 60% compared of invoice value. The layers 5 and 6 contribute 20% to the value of the service consumption (kWh month).

Stratum 1 allowance between 50% and 60%
By law the stratum 1 has a 50% subsidy

Layer 2 between 40% and 50%
By law the stratum 2 has a 40% subsidy

Stratum 3 Grant 15%
By law the layer 3 has a 15% subsidy

Stratum 4 Not applicable grant or contribution

Stratum 5 Contribution + 20%
Stratum 5 contributes about 20% subsidiary at levels 1, 2 and 3.

Stratum 6 + 20% Contribution
The layer 6, as well as the 5, contributes 20%”

If I understand this correctly, my bill is 20% higher (my contribution) and that amount goes toward estrato 1, 2, and 3 (their subsidy).

This month my communications bill is down 5%.  Looking more closely at my Wi-Fi charge it’s exactly the same as last month, which must mean it’s not based on usage.  I’m paying the same thing whether I turn it off every night or not.  The only difference between last month and this month on my communications bill is that last month I paid an extra 4,528.33 for “Identificador Pantalla” for my telephone which translates to “ID Display” whatever that means.

This month my utility bill is up 4%.  My Aqueduct and Sanitation charges are the same as last month.  I’m guessing those are for water delivery and garbage pickup.  Energy is up 22% and Gas is up 17%.  Energy obviously includes electricity, but does it also include water?

11:10 and the Muslim family (husband, wife, and young (2-3 year old) son) walk up the street – maybe to catch a bus.  I heard the husband say “be careful” in Spanish to the son so at least he speaks some Spanish.

I visited with Jhon in his office where he showed me how he explores Chicago using Google maps. 

For lunch I just had a bowl of cereal with a new bag of milk I purchased from the store.

Beatriz came over at 3pm.  Later we went to Exito where originally I was to buy her a new cover for her cell phone but she said she had some things she needed that are more important.  (On the way there she stopped to have a new battery put in her watch that she was going to pay for but the watch still didn’t work so I guess now it’s more a piece of “jewelry” than a watch.)  Most of the things she bought at Exito were feminine products so I guess I kind of share in their necessity.  Lol.  Then we had dinner in the food court – we both had a FriSnack at Frisby.  I thought I gave them enough money – 2 x 8,900 is 17,800 so I gave them a 20mil bill.  What I didn’t know is that Beatriz also ordered a corn on the cob which costs another 5,600 pesos.  She gave them another 5mil to cover the difference.  

She has a manicure/pedicure client due at her house at 6pm so I had her there by 5:45.  She’s going to meet me at my apartment again at 8:15 and we’re going to catch a taxi for the 9:10 showing of The Lone Ranger at Molinos Cine.

I don’t know if I’m going to see her tomorrow as she mentioned she has a client that lives far away.