Monday, November 18th, 2013

Last night I went to bed at 10:45 woke up to Lionel’s juicer at 6:30 and finally got up at 7:45.

Remember the toenail that turned black & blue back on January 22^nd and finally came off on May 2^nd?  Well, I trimmed my toenails today and the entire rough old nail is gone.  It took about 10 months to grow a complete new nail.

About 9:45 I left the apartment, walked over to Calle 35 and caught a Laureles 191 bus to the Stadium.  It was about a 13 minute ride and I got off at Calle 50 (Colombia) just around the corner from Carrera 74.  I easily found the Keres Chess Club but the only person there was the receptionist/ secretary.  I was happy to see they sell basic chess supplies.  I walked down to Carrera 70 and found where I would catch the bus back to Calle 35.  I continued walking around the stadium area (it’s huge: about 4 city blocks by 4 city blocks).  I bought a slab of pineapple from a vendor for 1,200 pesos (63 cents), took a flyer about a November 24^th bicycle race from a couple of senioritas in American flag t-shirts, bought a large freshly squeezed orange juice for 1,500 pesos (79 cents), and looked into some of the local malls and shops.  (Bob had mentioned a mall called Diamante but I don’t think I found it.  Supposedly they have English products like Skippy crunchy peanut butter.)  I got to Carrera 70 just as the Laureles 191 bus was arriving and I was back at Calle 35 by noon.  I ran into Jhon at the corner store and he informed me he has classes all day until 6pm.

I saw the whistle guy and asked him about the woman that washes clothes.  At first he didn’t seem to know what I was talking about.  Maybe I’ve got the wrong whistle guy?  He seemed to understand after a while so maybe I’ll get the information later or I’ll have to ask Bob.

At 2pm I had a late lunch at Burger King.  I had a coupon for a Hamburger Classic, fries, and 16 oz Pepsi for 8,900 pesos ($4.68).  I still had a ways to go to finish it when Dario showed up.  He waited until I finished so we could play a game.  I think that’s the first time we’ve played in the Viva Mall food court.  I had white and it was an extremely close game but I eventually mated his king for the win.

I stayed a little later reading my Nook book and when I left I saw Margarita sitting with another woman.  I stopped and exchanged “hellos” with her but nothing more.  

Frank told me I was going to lose my iPad if I kept walking around with it out in the open so I bought a nice TechBag (www.techbag.com) with carrying strap in Exito for 39,900 ($21) that has a large pocket for my iPad and a smaller one for my Nook.  

On the way out of Viva a lady handed me a McDonald’s coupon good for a free piece of crispy chicken.  I guess that’s something new they are trying.  Here’s the translation I got from Google Translate:

Crispy chicken. Free one piece of chicken.
Then came the golden chicken, crispy and delicious taste.
Try it for Free!
Promotion valid until December 14 Embre 2013. Not valid for McEntraga. Valid for 1 piece of chicken. Or 20,000 Units available while supplies last. Only McDonald's restaurants in Medellin. Available from 11am until close of each restaurant.

When I got home I found the Nook only fits in the smaller pouch if I remove it from the M-Edge case I normally carry it in but they both fit together in the larger one.  I probably won’t be carrying both of them together very often anyway.  

On the way back to my apartment I ran into “Franklin”.  I asked him his name and he said Augusto.  I had the wrong name for him for how long?  We made a date to play chess Friday morning at Mall de Laureles at 9am.

Just after 6pm, on my way over to Fresco Pan I ran into Beatriz’s daughter’s boyfriend Alejandro.  He was carrying a few things from a trip to the store.  He asked me how I’m doing and I said “fine”.  I should have told him how sorry I was for what happened with Beatriz.  I should have told him I didn’t intend for ours to be a serious relationship and she was just getting too serious.  I don’t know if I misled her; maybe I called her my novia and that means something more in Spanish than just a girlfriend.  I should have told him I see she has a new boyfriend and I’m very happy for her.  Those are all the things I should have said but I’ve never been very quick on my feet; I thought about them too late.

There were 2 new people working at Fresco Pan I’ve never seen before.  I was a little concerned asking for my usual from someone new but I didn’t have any problem at all.

About 6:30 Bob arrived.  I understand today was another day with Peaches.  He says he may have found an apartment near Calle 44 (San Juan) a few blocks south of Avenida Nutibara for about $250 a month.  Maybe Damaris can help me find another apartment for less money.

While I was finishing my coffee & “pizza” an attractive woman came in: petite, dark tan, black hair tied in back in a braid.  She walked north past the church so she must live in that area somewhere.