Monday, February 3rd, 2014

Yesterday I left the apartment about 4pm, caught a Circular Sur 302 bus after a 10 minute wait, got off at the top of the circular bridge where the bus goes from south bound to north bound, walked about 10 minutes to the Aguacatala metro station, got off 2 stops south, walked to the north end of the station, caught a taxi and for about 5 mil I was at Villa Grande CC.  It’s on Avenida El Poblado (Carrera 43A) and approximately Calle 25S.  I was expecting a large shopping mall but Envigado doesn’t have any of those – this was more like a small strip mall.  My total travel time was about an hour, maybe an hour and 15 minutes.  

The restaurant is “La Vaca Y Yo” or “The Cow and I” and is owned by an American named Ryan and his attractive Colombian wife.  Juan was there with 2 of his amigos and their wives.  Juan’s wife and 19 month old daughter arrived a little later.  I thought 3 out of the 4 ladies were attractive and in my taste.

Juan told me he knows a man in the Chess League that made his own chess table and would build one for each of us.  We will probably meet with him next weekend at the Stadium to see it and learn more about prices, etc.

The game was pretty boring as Seattle dominated Denver 43-8.

I had a burger and fries and 2 Cokes but I don’t remember how much it cost.

One of Juan’s friends gave me a ride as far as Avenida 80, I caught a taxi from there for about 7mil and was back at the apartment by 10:35.

I went to bed at 11pm, got up twice during the night and finally woke/got up at 7am.

I walked over to Fresco Pan but all tables were taken and I didn’t see the new lady working there.  I walked down to the Tinto store and I saw Gonzalo sitting there with 5 men.  Surprise, surprise, they are all Americans visiting from Florida.  I told them a little about my experience here thus far and gave one of them my blog address.  They are staying in the apartment building around the corner and one of them mentioned he would like to retire here at the end of the year.  I told them their timing was pretty good because the 2 lovely young ladies that work in the store weren’t here a week ago.

After they left I asked Gonzalo for more details of the lady that now works at Fresco Pan – Is she married?  How old is she?  Does she have children?  He doesn’t appear to have any details but would find out for me.  I might be able to find out before he does.

After 2 cups of coffee I stopped at Salsamentaría Bolivar and bought a small bag of milk for my cereal.  I like this new cereal with the almonds.

On the way back to my apartment I ran into the Colombian man I’ve run into before.  I don’t remember when and where I met him for the first time or his name but now when I asked him I think he said his name is Sergio.

For “lunch” I had a pastel with arequipe inside and a coffee for 2mil at Fresco Pan.  I enjoyed talking to Andrea – Juliet Andrea I learned - and the young man working there - Alfred.  I kidded them about being Romeo and Juliet which she denied.  I mentioned there are 5 new gringos visiting in the area.  I starting quizzing her about the other woman that works here and I learned her name is Maria not Luiza, she’s 29 years old, with no husband and no children and she will working here today from 1pm to 9pm.  Now Juliet probably is sure or at least thinks I’m interested in Maria.  Maybe I am.  Alfred knows a little English.  Juliet wrote “I miss you” on a piece of paper and I pointed to her and myself and she said “no”.  She wrote “te extraño” which is Spanish for the same thing.  I think she wants me to teach her English and she will teach me Spanish.  She said something I didn’t understand so I had her write it down – “giros” which as I understand it means “turns” but I don’t know the significance of that.

I bought a small roll for 300 pesos and was able to feed one of the pigeons by hand near the entrance of the bakery.  Unfortunately, other birds started coming in to pick up the dropped pieces and soon there was a whole flock, Juliet wasn’t very happy so I just threw the remaining pieces outside the seating area of the bakery.

Maria showed up at 1:05 but she got busy in the back and suddenly there were a lot of customers so I left without actually talking to her.

I left the apartment at 2:30, caught a Circular 302 bus after a 10 minute wait, got off just down the hill from Oviedo and was at Cine Colombia by 3:20 – showtime.  My general ticket cost 11mil and I had my small popcorn and medium Pepsi for 10,500 and was in my seat by 3:25.  The movie started 5 minutes later and I sat through the same short about the woman winning a raffle for a camera, the same advertisements for the opera and ballet, and the same coming attraction for Instructions Not Included.  Boring!  The movie American Hustle (7.7) was good but I had to make 2 trips to the bathroom because of my enlarged prostate.  It’s getting a little embarrassing so I’m tempted to give up drinking during the movie.

The movie was over at 6pm and I walked across the street to Rio Sur only to find that the restaurant Aribba! Aribba! was closed.  Now it’s even more likely that the Gary I met at Sport Wings was the same owner of this closed restaurant.

I walked down the hill and caught a Circular 303 bus at 6:30 and was back at Exito Laureles by 7:10.  BTW, we passed a Texaco station clearly displaying the words Food Mart in English.  Some guys got on the bus with a tape recorder and performed some rap song – they didn’t get any of my money!

Back at LM I had the chili for 12,500 at El Comedor de Chava.  Exito now has 2 of those rooms built out of drywall just outside their entrance.

I stopped at Fresco Pan and Maria was still there but she was talking to some man sitting nearby.