Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

Last night I watched episode 2 of Lie to Me.

I went to bed at 10:15 but once again had trouble getting to sleep.  The last time I looked at my watch it was 1:55am.  I woke up at 5am but was able to get back to sleep, finally getting up at 8am.

At 8:15 I saw a woman across the street walk by in a winter coat, boots, and a scarf.  The temperature then was probably about 68 degrees.

I decided to talk to Jhon and then buy milk but Jhon’s office was still closed at 9:15.  City workers were repairing the street almost directly in front of Jhon’s office.  I found Bob and Harry at the Tinto store so I had a quick cup of coffee with them and we got caught up on recent events.  It’s been several days since I saw Bob – he said he and Peaches were making Christmas plans.  I called Jhon from there and he said he would be in his office by 10am.

I walked up to the store by Bob’s hostel - Salsamentaría Bolivar – and bought 200ml of milk.  After my cereal I met Jhon at his office and we made plans to go to El Poblado to rent a box at Mail Boxes Etc.  I had him call MBE to just make sure they would be open between noon and 2pm.  That is when I learned you can call a landline phone from a cell phone if you precede the number with 034.  

At 11am I met Jhon at his office, we took the Circular 302 bus and got off at EAFIT (Jhon says it’s a local university and a good one), and walked up the hill to my dentist’s office.  A couple of times on the bus we passed buildings that I always thought were insurance offices and he told me they were hospitals.  I made a payment on my 2^nd tooth and told him I would be back next month to make another.  I still owe 770,000 pesos ($405.26).

Our next stop was at Mail Boxes Etc.  Jhon helped me sign up for one of their post office boxes.  It cost 10mil to sign up and 27mil to cover this month.  The monthly charge is $14; exactly how much I pay in pesos depends on the exchange rate in affect at the time.  Today it’s at 1930 pesos to the dollar so $14 = 27,020 pesos.  There is no extra charge for all packages totalling no more than 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) each month.

MBE’s hours are Monday thru Friday 8:30am-6pm and Saturday from 9am to noon.  Payment is due on the 1^st or 2^nd of the month.  If there is a customs charge on the item I must find out how much that will be (?) and pay MBE before the item arrives.  

They gave me 2 addresses in Miami, FL; one for packages another for letters.  They also gave me a code I have to use with my mailing address.  The mail initially goes to Miami and from there they forward it to Medellin.  They are supposed to email me when a package arrives.  I can also email them because sometimes they have someone there who speaks English.

We had lunch at the Flip Flop Sandwich Shop.  I asked Chris and he told me they usually close at 6pm.  I had the sloppy Joe and Jhon had the BLT.  I paid for lunch as a thank you for helping me at MBE.  He enjoyed seeing all the ladies there in Parque Lleras – especially the gringo laides.

We took the bus back to Laureles.

I caught a 3:45 bus back to Monterrey.  Monterrey is obviously getting ready for Christmas; they even have a large Christmas tree.  The theater is upstairs and in the back in a separate wing.  The movie only cost 2,750 ($1.45) and since I thought it would be more expensive I gave the lady a 50mil bill.  Of course she had to go to the concession counter for change.  I bought a small popcorn for 5,900 ($3.11) and a medium (32oz) soda for 4,500 ($2.37).  It’s obviously an older movie theater with only 5 screens and when another screen let out you could hear talking from the back of the room.

The movie was a good English romantic time travel movie.  It ended about 6:45 and I walked around the mall a bit, sat and read my Nook for a while and finally about 7:20 headed for the NIU game.

I got to Patrick’s Irish Sports Pub about 15 minutes early and right at 8pm Patrick put the game on.  I met a guy there named Doug from New Jersey and he recommended a couple of books for me - Dispatches and City of Thieves.

The game was a close one.  My 15^th nationally rated NIU Huskies and Ball State basically traded scores most of the game.  The owner said he has Slingbox back home in Minnesota that he was connecting to.  Every once in a while it would go out and he would need to do a “reconnect”.  He thought that the previous manager he had, Michael Patrick, might have stolen his codes and was using it.  When it was 27-27 in the 4^th quarter NIU finally went ahead by a touchdown.  With less than 2 minutes left in the game NIU scored another touchdown to go up 41-27.  That’s when I felt comfortable enough to leave without Ball State making a comeback.  The next day I learned that the final was NIU 48, Ball State 27.  Somehow NIU must have gotten the ball back and scored again.  I had the Beef Stroganoff for 23,900 and 2 Cokes for 3mil each.  The total was 31,900 ($16.79).  Their next game is next Wednesday against the 7-3 Toledo Rockets in Toledo.  That game might be worth watching just because it is an away game and Toledo often gives the Huskies problems.  I left about 11:25 and was home in bed before midnight.   The taxi ride was just under 12mil.