Monday, January 5th, 2015

I fell asleep quickly and didn’t awaken until 5:50am.  After a trip to the bathroom I fell asleep again and finally woke/got up at 7:50am.

I made waffles covered with vanilla ice cream.  I want to try them with chocolate chips inside, my brother’s suggestion, but so far haven’t found them in the two stores I’ve tried – Merkepaisa and Exito.

Don Carlos stopped by and Teresa contracted him to trim the garden for 150mil.  

Teresa mentioned we should be able to get an hour’s massage for about 20mil but she still hasn’t been able to get in touch with the woman.

I’m not sure how much we owe Direct TV, Teresa has to call them to find out for sure.

I told Teresa I had NO cash and she said that wouldn’t be a problem.  But several times after that, she wanted to do something, lunch for example, before I had the chance to visit the ATM machine.  Eventually I just kept telling her “nada es nada” and we would have a good laugh.

We left the finca at 11:15 and this time we were confronted by 5 killer dogs.  An additional one is very small about the size of a chihuaha and the other is larger than any of the others – maybe a golden labrador retriever.  The lab and the doberman challenged us on the trail and I had to use the spray to keep them away.

For some reason Teresa put us on a bus to Caldas and then we got off and got on another to Envigado followed by a taxi ride to the clinic.  

We got there 20 minutes early for my 12:40 appointment.  We went upstairs and sat down outside the consulting room.  It only took a minute for me to notice there was no light coming from under the door and I pointed that out to Teresa.  She went back to the front desk where we found out the doctor we had an appointment with isn’t in today.

We paid 2,400 pesos and after a short wait we went into another consultation room.  The young lady there said she spoke English so after talking to Teresa I asked her what’s happening and she told me I have an enlarged prostate but I need to see an Urologist who will probably prescribe some medication for me.

We went outside and down the block where we made a copy of the information the doctor gave us and then went back to the clinic.  We got an appointment for Tuesday, January 13^th at 2pm.  I understand it won’t be at the Envigado clinic but on Avenida Oriental in Medellin near Natalia’s office and there will be a 13mil charge.

We finally stopped at an ATM in BanColombia where I took out some cash followed by a typical lunch for 19mil at Carbón de Leña.

We stopped at a Gana store where I added 50mil to my cell phone.

We went back to BanColombia where I stood in line for about 30 minutes to pay my medical insurance for January.

We went to $efecty where I paid 62,900 for my Une bill for January.

Teresa called Direct TV and I was happy to find out I don’t owe anything more for January and only 89,900 in February.

We stopped at Nohelia again because Teresa wanted to have some work done on her eyebrows but the lady wasn’t in today.

It was 3:40 and Teresa wanted to stop at a store for a blouse she saw in a store window that she liked but I suggested something different.

We took a bus to MBE where I picked up, not one, but 2 letters from Social Security.  (I guess the other document that is “in transit” must be my Chess Life and Review magazine or a monthly pension advice statement.)  I also had the expected package – my magicJack GO which was actually free although I had to pay them $5.39 to ship it to Miami and I was surprised to find I had to pay MBE another 195mil (about $82).  I wonder how much it’s going to cost me for the moccasins I ordered which should come in a much bigger box.

They also gave me a receipt for my December expenses: 35,678.40 for basic rent and 147,851.29 for excess weight for a total of 183,529.69.  If I understand the receipt correctly it looks like I am allowed 12 pounds a month and in December I exceeded that by 10 pounds.

We took a taxi to the highway and after waiting 30 minutes for an express bus Teresa sent me to a small store for a package of peanuts.  I think the girl liked my accent – all I said was “2 packages of peanuts with salt” but she gave me a warm smile.  Back at the bus stop we only waited 5 more minutes and took a Caldas bus instead.  Teresa got what I thought was the last seat in the back but another man went past me and squeezed in next to her.  In Caldas Teresa spotted a Jerecho bus so we got off the Caldas bus and hurried right on to the other.  We were at the side road by 6pm.

At the top of the hill I took out my pepper spray and Teresa took it from me so since I had only the Dog Repeller I grabbed a branch to defend myself with.  The killer dogs were waiting for us and Teresa didn’t hesitate to “fire a shot across by bow” at the dogs and I got a little wiff of the stuff.  This can is almost empty and Teresa told me I should order more.

I took my sleeping pill at 10pm and we went to be at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: Remember today, target tomorrow.