Monday, January 6th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11:15, woke up just before 4am, had trouble getting back to sleep and finally woke/got up at 8am.

The fruit vendor at the corner wasn’t there today and from the lack of traffic at 10am it’s obviously a holiday.  (I think my house cleaner got confused and thought tomorrow was the holiday but now she’ll just have to wait another week to make some money because I’m going to be busy tomorrow.)  I walked past the bakery across from the hotel and then south to the bakery Paisas Pan but I didn’t see any churros.  I asked the lady working there when they would have some and she told me tomorrow.

I stopped at the hotel and checked out their Colombiana newspaper (Sundays) but I didn’t see any classified ads.  Maybe it was a separate section and somebody took it?

I had my usual breakfast at Bunuelo Express only their sign advertising it for 4,900 is gone and the price has gone up to 5,400 ($2.84).  It’s just another indication of being under new management.   

I saw Harry (aka Dirty Harrry, aka not Dirty Harry) there and after I finished my breakfast we had chatted for an hour or two.  (Yes, his English is near perfect but he said his German is better.)  He had been in the import/export business in Germany and Guatemala and wants to do something similar here.  I told him about my desire for a different apartment and he said he’s looking for one also and would keep an eye out for me.  He said I should look for a furnished (amoblados) apartment (apartamentos) in Laureles with 1 or 2 bedrooms (dormitorios) for 1,200,000 or 1,500,000, respectively.  (He’s currently living with his inlaws a couple blocks away by the park on the way to Avenida Nutibara.)  It started getting chilly (the high is supposed to be only 79 degrees today), then it started raining and it felt downright cold.  I gave him a free chess lesson and then I was getting hungry and he had to leave anyway to go home for his own lunch.  I had the ribs at Gordog’s which comes with French fries and a small salad for 10mil and a Coke for another 2mil.  They were a little messy, but pretty tasty.

Then I started reading my September issue of Chess Life magazine.  I noted an annual membership which includes the magazine costs at least $40 and a lifetime membership is $1,500.  I’m sure glad I bought a lifetime membership back in the late 70s when the Bobby Fischer bubble burst, they were in need of funds and I was able to buy a lifetime membership for something like $75 or $100.  Now I get the magazine for free the rest of my life.

Today is the last day for the ESET Smart Security protection on my laptop so I have to choose a new supplier.  Tommy recommended Bit Defender and AVAST and I will most likely install one of them tomorrow.

For dinner I just had the small bowl of beans and a mango juice at El Comedor de Chava for 6,500 ($3.42). 

I ran into Gloria on the way back and she mentioned she saw me with Reina the other day, holding hands even, and she asked me if she is my girlfriend and I said “maybe, I don’t know”.

Upstairs in Viva CC I had a small decaffeinated Tinto at Restcafe S.A.S. for 2,100 pesos while I read some more of my Nook book.  Remember I can get a medium coffee and a croissant at Panaderia Los Mejores for 2,000.