Wednesday, December 31st, 2014

I got up once about 2:30, again about 5am, finally woke up at 8am and got up at 8:30.

My social security and most of my pension deposits are already in my checking account which is a very good thing because I only had something like $50 remaining for the month.

I received a text message informing me that the minimum monthly salary for a Colombian in 2015 has been deemed to be 644,350 (about $325).

We left the finca at 10:20 and got past the killer dogs undetected.  After a 10 minute wait we caught a bus – a new one – to Envigado and took a taxi to downtown.  

Teresa forgot her sunglasses so I told her we could pick up a cheap pair for the day.

I had Teresa call Natalia and we found out my monthly medical insurance premium for this year is 110mil.

We stopped at Nohelia again and then stepped across the street where we bought a pair of flip flops for Teresa at La Feria del Calzado for 10mil.  

Back at Nohelia I waited for 95 minutes while Teresa got a fancy manicure and pedicure for 32mil.  I was real happy I had my Nook with me.

We stopped at BanColombia and I took out some cash.

We had lunch once again at Carbón de Leña for 32mil – chicken breast, French fries, salad, and juice for each of us.

We stopped at Optica GMO where Teresa bought 2 nice pairs of sunglasses (one for her, one for Laura) for 139mil.

We stopped at BanColombia to pay my medical insurance but found the bank closed – probably early for the holiday.

We stopped at $efecty where we paid 150mil for my Direct TV bill for January.

We stopped at Exito where we bought a few groceries for 76,290.

Teresa said she wasn’t interested in stopping at her mother’s apartment so she called Wilson and then we took a taxi back to the highway where we caught a bus back to the finca.  At one stop a mother and daughter got on carrying their chihuahas.  I thought the bus would be an express but it stopped in Caldas where a few people got off and a few people got on.  For some reason, Teresa and I got up and gave out seats to others, I guess because we were so close to getting off.

The killer dogs caught us as we were approaching the neighbor’s house.  The doberman was aggressive once again and the other two kept their distance – possibly because of my Dog Repeller.

We made popcorn and watched Cape Fear which Teresa liked very much then we started watching Cube.  We stopped at 11:30, I took my sleeping pill and we went to bed.