Friday, February 21st, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, had difficulty getting to sleep (too much soda late in the day), got up 3 times during the night, and woke/got up at 7am.

Jim went down to the Tinto store for coffee while I did my workout, showered, shaved, and dressed.

I met him there about 9:20 and Gonzalo insisted on showing me a new apartment.  It was about 2 blocks south and 3 blocks west in the Bronx building.  They have 2 bedroom apartments on the 3^rd and 4^th floor, but the bedrooms are smaller than what they have in my building on the 3^rd floor, they cost 1,000,000 pesos a month and they want me to pay 6 months in advance.  We told Gonzalo I already signed a contract for my building and I also gave my word I would stay for 6 months.  I confirmed with Margarita later in the day that I don’t need to sign a contract after I gave my word I would stay from March through the end of August.

We caught a bus to Los Molinos where Jim confirmed his flight tomorrow with COPA Airlines but they couldn’t print out his boarding pass because the printer was down.  We caught a bus back to Exito, stopped at the Golden Palermo Hotel and they gave him a business card for a taxi he can take to the airport for 60mil.  We stopped at LM and saw the 2 guys from New Jersey we met there previously.  The one guy introduced us to his brother from Spain. We said hello to the lady working at Gordog’s and then headed back to the apartment.

At the apartment we saw the taxi driver that lives across the street (with his cute wife) and he said he or a friend would give us a ride to the airport tomorrow morning at 6:30 for about 60mil.  His name is John Jairo and his cell phone number is 300 873 2751.

I want to cancel my telephone service (I don’t even own a home phone) but don’t know if my magicJack would work without it.  After reading all the instructions that came with it we plugged the phone jack into the outlet on the side of the laptop instead of the wall outlet and it worked fine.

We took a little nap for about an hour and about 1pm we walked east and south looking for an Italian restaurant Jim saw yesterday near Boongo but we couldn’t find it.  We ended up at a restaurant named Al Gusto on Avenida Nutibara (aka Transversal 39B) and Circular 71-86 across from UPB (University).   

They hadn’t been open very long but we had one of the best meals we’ve had in Medellin.  The owner’s name was George, he lived in Miami, and the place was partially under construction while we were there.  They are going to have rooms modeled after New York, Miami, and Las Vegas.  I had the medium sized order of ribs and 2 Cokes and Jim had the menu of the day and 2 beers for a total of 27,990 ($14).

We stopped next door at KOE (Knowledge of English) but the receptionist didn’t speak English and wasn’t much help but Jim left my name and number in case they might want to contact me.

We stopped at Sport Wings where Jim had a beer and I had a Coke and we watched some Winter Olympics competition.  Christian was there and seemed to be surprised and happy to see me.

We stopped at El Botón and the cute young lady was there and she wanted to know why I hadn’t been back in so long.  (She didn’t see me because I take a short cut through the garage behind their store.)  I think she’s interested in me but with a 7 year old son she’s probably only 25 years old - but damn she’s cute.

We stopped next door at the shoe repair shop and the lady there said I need to leave my fanny pack for 8 days and it would cost 8,500.

I checked the new US movie releases and Pompeii (6.3) and 3 Days to Kill (5.8) starring Kevin Costner look interesting.  In Medellin The Monuments Men starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Kate Blanchett (6.4) is playing.  Instructions Not Included (7.8) would probably be best for a date but I don’t see it playing anywhere with Spanish subtitles.

Jim’s taking a nap while I write up these notes and for his last night here he wants to go back to the Cuban restaurant La Bodeguita Havanera and hopefully hear some more live music while we have a little dinner.

We stopped at El Botón where we found out the cute young lady’s name is Paula and she’s 23 years old.  With a 7 year old son that means she got pregnant at 15!  She’d probably love to have a gringo father to support her and her son.

Beautiful flower on the way to dinner.

We had the same dinner in the same place as last Friday night – arepas rellenas at Maiz Trillao.  Jim had the Mexicana and I had the Ranchera.  We learned that the 20 something daughter is the owner of the restaurant and the mother just works there.  (Jim snuck a picture of the daughter (left in background) and mother.

Mother & daughter

The daughter looked much more impressive last week in dress and heels with her hair down!

We also learned that early next week they are moving the restaurant to a larger space near Ay Caramba!  

After dinner the band was taking a break at La Bodeguita Havanera so we just headed back to the apartment.  We need to be up at 5:30 to catch a taxi at 6:30 to be at the airport at 7:30 for Jim’s 9:30 flight.  I’m going with him to help kill some time during his 2 hour wait and then I’ll take the airport bus from there to downtown.