Monday, November 4, 2013

Monday, November 4th, 2013



I went to bed at 11pm and had difficulty getting to sleep, first from the hard rain and later from what sounded like drums from a marching band, faint but I could still hear them.  I got up only once at 5am to use the bathroom but finally woke/got up at 8am.

I forgot to mention yesterday I met another gringo at the Tinto store.  His name is Mike and he is from just north of San Diego.  I understand he has a girlfriend here and spends 2 weeks here then 2 weeks in the States, repeating throughout the year.  (On a tourist visa the maximum stay is 180 days in a year.)

Today is a holiday here in Colombia.  I’m not sure if that will impact being able to see the game tonight or not.

On my way to the corner store to pick up milk (1 liter bag) I passed Beatriz on the street.  I was walking down the center of the street and she was on the opposite sidewalk.  She didn’t react or look at me at all.

Since I’m nearing the end of The Hunt for Red October, I downloaded Tom Clancy’s Patriot Games.

It took quite a while this morning but I completed Level 2 Unit 1 - Travel and started Level 2 Unit 2 – Past and Future in Rosetta Stone.  But studying Spanish is very tiring – I took a nap from 11am to noon.

Lunch was a waffle and glass of milk with my milk leftover from breakfast.

From 2pm to about 3pm I was having a bottle of water at the corner store and reading my Nook book.  From 3:15 to 5pm I was in Viva Mall outside Exito looking for the mystery woman.  Again I had no luck.

About 5:30 I was at Fresco Pan having a café con leche and a pastry called a rojo (sp?).  About 6pm a young lady sat down at a table near mine.  She had a pretty face and possibly a nice figure although it wasn’t easy to tell because she was bundled up a little in a hoodie.  She wasn’t black but her skin color was pretty dark.  Was she with someone?  A few minutes passed and I figured she was alone.  Was she waiting for someone?  At 6:30 she walked across the street and entered the church.  From where she sat, wearing her while hoodie she was easy to spot.  So, now I know she wasn’t waiting for anyone.  If she came back to the bakery I decided I would invite her to sit with me at my table.  (A couple of tunes I recognized coming from the church: “Hey Jude” and “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah”)

By 7pm I couldn’t wait any longer – I had to pee something fierce so I headed home (in the rain now and me with no umbrella).  I changed into a long sleeved shirt as it was getting pretty cool, grabbed my umbrella and headed back to the bakery.  I was there by 7:20 but the church was empty and no senorita for me at the bakery.

I had another café con leche and at 7:45 I walked down to Avenida 80 and caught a taxi.  I was at Patrick’s Irish Sports Bar by 8:10 and it cost me 11mil for the taxi.  I talked to the owner and he said the restaurant and the kitchen closes at 11pm.  (Same as on Sunday nights.)

He put the Monday night game on and this time there was sound – although it’s all in Spanish.  In the 2nd quarter a “mariachi”? band showed up consisting of 2 guys with drums and 2 guys with trombones and they headed upstairs for a birthday party.  The owner came by later and apologized for them being so loud.  I don’t know how they can consider that to be music – it sounded like 3rd grade band practice to me – but the owner confirmed that people upstairs were actually dancing to it.

Today I ordered the Irish Stew and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.  My total bill including 2 Cokes, tax and tip was 24,200 ($12.74).

The good news is that my Chicago Bears defeated the Green Bay Packers 27-20 on Monday Night Football.  They are now back in the mix for the divisional championship.

It's 12:45 am now and it's still raining!

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