Monday, July 14th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up once at 3am, woke up at 6:15 and got up at 6:45.

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava followed by my Spanish lesson.  I went back to the apartment and changed into the nice clothes Teresa had picked out for me to wear today.  As I was waiting for the bus Teresa called and my best guess was that she wanted me to meet her at the restaurant where we have been before.  After the usual bus and metro rides I was about to cross a busy street when a taxi stopped right in front of me and Teresa and Laura waved me in.  The taxi took us to the restaurant and the 3 of us had a nice lunch of soup, salad, potato, rice and chicken.  

We walked about a block north and caught a bus that took us to Calle 10 in El Poblado.  (I tried to get them out at Calle 7 but they insisted we stay on the bus.  I don’t think Teresa wanted to walk any distance in her high heels.)  We took a taxi from there for about 4 mil that took us the last few blocks to Clinica Medellin in Poblado.  It’s the same building with my eye doctor and where I had my blood and prostate tests.  We were a little early so I coaxed them next door where there was a quieter and nicer cafeteria and I had a Coke, Laura had a cupcake and glass of milk and Teresa had a cup of fruit salad for a total of 12mil.  Teresa admitted I know El Poblado better than she does.

While waiting to get in to see the Dermatologist, the receptionist took down Teresa’s basic information so I guess it was her first visit.  Here is where I got my surprise.  I realized she asked Teresa her age and I heard 51.  But she isn’t supposed to be 51 until October.  While we were waiting there was a lot of kidding around by the 3 of us and I asked to see her Cedula which she couldn’t find until the receptionist asked for it.  Then she let me see it and her year of birth is 1958 which means she’s really 55 not 50.  I told her it wasn’t important to me.

The Dermatologist, Dr. Claudia Uribe, spoke perfect English.  She told me that Teresa is concerned because part of her face is darker than the rest.  I told her I’ve seen Teresa put on so much SPF 100 cream she looked like a ghost.  The doctor said the discoloration is probably genetic but she gave her 3 prescriptions: 1 she takes for 90 days and the others indefinitely.

Teresa then brought up the subject I wanted to discuss – her moles.  She has one on her shoulder, one on her neck, and one on one of her thighs.  The doctor said she could remove them on the next visit without any problem and she wouldn’t charge more then a regular office visit – 120mil.  The doctor wants to see her again about her face in 3 months so she made an appointment for October.  We have an appointment to have the moles removed at 2:20pm on Monday, August 11^th.

We walked across the street and caught a bus back to Envigado.  We walked a block past the park where we went upstairs and waited in line for at least 30 minutes for – I don’t know what.  My best guess is Teresa took some money out of some bank account because it kind of looked like a currency exchange.  Then we walked a little further and Teresa treated us all to some fancy ice cream for about 25mil.  Laura left us and Teresa led me to the church where she told me she wanted to attend mass.  We went in about 5:45 and didn’t come out until 7:05.  It was a lot longer than I thought it would be and it was a little stuffy inside.  I did see my first confession boxes – at least that I can remember.  

We stopped at what I will call a $1 store and for 6mil bought a good sized piggy bank to keep 1mil and 500 pesos coins.  

I did see a Davivienda bank a block from the park so I’m pretty sure they have an ATM that I could use.

We met Laura at Wilson’s bar and it was good to see him working again and walking around without any problem.  We all left about 8:15 and I left them at the metro station as they had a little further to go to catch their bus back to the finca.

T-shirt of the day: Just smile and wave.