Saturday, January 25th, 2014

Last night I had a small bowl of beans at Comedor de Chava and a mango juice for 6,500 pesos ($3.25).  I saw Jim and Ruby at LM and I told them about my results thus far in the chess tournament.  I only had to wait about 5 minutes to catch a Laureles 191 bus to the stadium and once again I got there about 15 minutes early.

This time I had white against a man with a rating of 1933 – another 200+ difference.  I was able to play my opening and we had a good game but I eventually resigned on the 50^th move.

It was 8:45 so I hustled out of there hoping to catch a bus back to my apartment because I thought they only run until 9pm.  Finally exactly at 9pm I caught a Laureles 191 bus; maybe they run later on weekends.  This is the beginning of the Colombians party weekend as I observed a lot of people sitting outside in the open cafes and restaurants.

When I got back to my apartment I watched Persons Unknown (6.8) “Seven strangers disappear without a trace and wake up together in a hotel room. The suspense is in finding out why they were taken -- and by whom.”  It turns out it’s a series – to be continued!

I went to bed at 11pm got up once during the night and woke/got up at 7:25.  I had just enough time for a quick breakfast at Los Mejores and then I caught a bus to the stadium at 9:25.

Traffic was very heavy as we approached the south end of the stadium.  I could see why when we turned the corner – all traffic was merging into one lane and then they had the street we normally take on the west side of the stadium blocked off.  Uh Oh!

The bus went up a couple more blocks and then turned left away from the stadium.  Then it turned left again and was heading east parallel to the road we were just on.  I was tempted to get off and walk around the stadium but I figured as long as it wasn’t going further away I would stay with it.  It passed the street east of the stadium because it’s one way the other direction so I stayed hoping the bus would turn north at the next intersection which it did.  It went up several blocks until it was even with the north end of the stadium but then it turned right - away from it.  I leaned on the button to get off but he waited a couple more blocks before stopping.  On my walk back I saw Los Mejores II.  Instead of being at least 20 minutes early I got there just 10 minutes before.

I wanted to ask the cute receptionist/secretary to lunch but her desk was surrounded by people needing her help.  I checked with the little store nearby to make sure they had bottles of cold water which they did.  If they hadn’t then I would need to buy a bottle coming back from lunch. 

Because I had 1 win and 2 losses I played against a weaker player – a 10-year? old boy with a rating of only 1481.  But he was a good player and gave me all I could handle until I won in the endgame.  I had black but I was able to play the opening I use with the white pieces - but in reverse.

I went inside and asked the secretary if she would like to join me for lunch.  I thought I made myself perfectly clear but finally an attractive woman who lived in Ohio for a time came to our assistance.  (I wonder if she’s married?  I wonder if she plays chess?)  The secretary’s name is Brenda – that’s easy for a gringo to remember and her time to go for lunch is from 12:30 to 2pm so I told her I would be back at 12:30.  

A closer inspection of the results table showed that the man with the 1902 rating that I beat didn’t play any more games – he dropped out of the tournament.

Since there was going to be about an hour wait I bought a bottle of water and read some more from my Nook.  I was back in the office at 12:30 and I waited another 15 minutes for her to come out.  She took me on a shortcut from the league office to the bus stop where I normally catch my bus back to my apartment and then we continued down the street to just about where I got dropped off earlier.  On the way we passed a lot of outdoor restaurants with people having lunch.

I had Bandeja Paisa and she had Sancoche (sp?) in the restaurant of the Sauces del Estadio Hotel (Carrera 69 #49A-30) for 10mil each.  Of course we floundered around trying to converse but I did learn she doesn’t have any children.  I usually use the age of a woman’s children as a guide to how old they are by just adding 20 years.  Jhon tells me how impolite it is to ask a woman here her age.  She’s cute, petite and has a pretty dark “tan”.  If nothing else I learned of a short cut and where a restaurant is where I can have lunch.

I got her back to the office before 2pm and read some more from my Nook until the next round started at 3pm.  Because I’m now 2-2 I played a man with a rating of 1854.  I had the white pieces and got into my opening and was really holding my own working towards a king side attack until I realized he had a way to break through the center which he did.  It was all downhill after that and I resigned after the 56^th move.  We were getting down to the last couple of minutes on our clock and I was hoping to beat him on time but that’s harder these days because every time you make a move another 30 seconds is added to your time.

I left at 6pm and caught a bus right away thanks to my new shortcut – even though it probably only saves something like 2 minutes.  I had the chicken shish kebab at SanJote with a mango juice for 12mil.