Thursday, December 26th, 2013

Last night I watched Pi on Netflix.  What a strange movie.  I really can’t recommend it.

I went to bed at 9:15 and even though I didn’t take any chances and put in my ear plugs I believe it was a quiet night.  I got up once at 3:30 and had a little difficulty getting back to sleep finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

I walked over to Panaderia Los Mejores wondering how Damaris would react.  She smiled nicely and served me my coffee and croissant.  I ate it outside as usual while reading my Nook book.  At one point there were no customers so she had the opportunity to come out and talk to me if she wanted but she didn’t so I guess the next move is up to me.

I walked over to Avenida 80 but there was no orange juice stand today; I guess the lady is on vacation like so many others.  

I stopped at Exito and took out some cash.  I think I’m going to have just enough money left this month (including all my savings) to cover my lawyer fees, Visa renewal and still have enough money left for food as long as I don’t have to pay to renew my Cedula until next month.  Hopefully, I’ll have 15 days again after renewing my Visa like last year.  And hopefully, the charge is only 150mil again.  I’ve also budgeted 35mil per day for food and I think I can cut some corners there also.  I also have $60 squirreled away in my Citibank account that I could use in a pinch.

 

At 11am I got a call from Andres from James Lindzey’s office.  My Visa has been approved and now they have to send my passport to Bogota.  I should get it back in a week or less.  If timing works out (“Timing is everything.”) in my favor, I may not have to pay for it and the lawyer until next month when I will have a new infusion of cash.

At 1:15 I was at Viva CC food court planning on having chicken teriyaki but they didn’t have their special sign up today.  At 1:18 I placed an order at Alfredo’s for their special of the day: spaghetti with chicken and tomato and a Coke for 6,900 pesos ($3.63).  I was getting real hungry when finally at 2:10 I went over there to show the lady working there the time on my receipt and she was just serving up my order.  I guess they were really busy.

I then spent the next 2 ½ hours or so at LM playing through more of Bobby Fischer’s games.  

At 3:55 it started pouring rain and of course I didn’t have my umbrella with me.  (Note to self: When you bring your chess set, always bring your umbrella too because there is room for it in the carrying case.)  Interestingly, it only rained for 2-3 minutes and then stopped, and then 2-3 minutes later it started again.  Over a period of about 20 minutes it started and stopped 3 different times.  I guess this is a sign of the tropics.

When I got back to the apartment I found an email from James Lindzey confirming what Andres had told me earlier.

Tonight I plan to leave about 8:15pm in order to be at Patrick’s at 9:30pm to watch the NIU Huskies play the Utah State Aggies in the Poinsettia Bowl on ESPN.