Thursday, February 5th, 2015

I fell asleep after maybe 30 minutes and didn’t wake up until 4:15.  After a trip to the guest bathroom, because Laura was showering in the main one, I took another sleeping pill before going back to bed.  I woke up at 8:15 when I heard Teresa getting up.

It’s raining lightly so we decided to get ready to leave at 10am but if it’s still raining we won’t leave until 11am.

On my iPad I saw a video about a barber who gives “old man” haircuts to kids who misbehave.  Lol.

I checked the MBE website and I see my vitamin supplements and documents are now In Transit.

It appeared to stop raining about 9:30 but it doesn’t look like Teresa is in any hurry to leave.

I see quite a few TV commercials offering to teach you to speak English – EnglishNow for example.  I even see them with booths in the shopping malls.  Of course the universities teach English and there are independent teachers like Jhon.

We left the finca at 11am and the killer dogs heard us.  The doberman came out and I tossed him a dog biscuit which at least gave us time to get away.

We waited about 15 minutes for a bus to Envigado and took a taxi up to the downtown area.  Teresa called Vicky and learned her husband Albero will meet us in Envigado at 3pm to return 250 of the 500 mil that she owes me.  On the way Teresa talked to the driver and we learned there are no hotels in Envigado but there are near the park in Sabaneta.  First I took some cash out of the ATM and we went to Nohelia where Teresa and I got haircuts for 47mil.  That took about 90 minutes.

We walked over to Carbón de Leña where I had a hamburger and 2 glasses of Pepsi and Teresa had their fish for 23,500.  We stopped a block away where I had a laminated copy made of my Cedula and I bought a large notepad for a total of 6,900.  We paid the Direct TV bill of 59,400 and the Une bill of about 64mil at $efecty.  I think Teresa didn’t believe the amount we paid to Direct TV so she called Elisa and talked to her about the amount.  

Teresa and I stopped at Felicia Travel where we talked to a lady there that spoke a little English.  She told us about a 5 day, 4 night All-Inclusive trip to San Andres, including airfare, transfers, 3 day tours, hotel, food and drink, all for about 1,200,000 pesos per person.  She pointed out two hotels - Calypso & Bahia Sardinas - on the beach.  

We went back to $efecty where I paid 79,983 for the electric bill.

Teresa talked to Vicky a few times and the latest meeting time we got was 3:30 to 4pm at BanColombia in Envigado.  Since it was only 3pm I asked her why don’t we meet at Exito Envigado instead.  She called her back and we made that arrangement.

On the way to Exito we stopped at a fabric store and Teresa bought a few yards of cloth that she paid for.  (Back at the finca she quickly made it into a simple blouse.)

At 4:15 we decided to go into Exito and pick out the few things we needed.  We gathered vinagrete (sp?) dressing, arepas, and coffee and at 4:30 Albero finally called to say he was waiting for us at Mimo’s.  We left our basket with an employee and went out to meet him and he gave me 250mil.

We went back into Exito where we found our basket and picked up a pound of ground beef (carne molida) and Teresa paid 91,768.  For the first time I noticed on the bill that they separate the cost of supermarket items from the cost of textiles and varieties.

We took a taxi to the highway with our 3 bags of groceries and after a short 10 minute wait we were on a direct bus with seats in the back.

As the bus approached one spot I saw a police car, 5 regular policemen and one in a Smoky Bear hat.  The bus stopped and the latter got on the bus.  I questioned Teresa what this was about and she said it was probably to check IDs (Cedulas).  I felt fortunate I had not only a copy but the original with me today.  That’s when I noticed the large dog come ahead of him down the aisle sniffing the floor.  Two aisles before us he turned around and headed back out of the bus.  The whole process, most likely checking for drugs, only took about 2 minutes.  I saw a similar checkpoint about 100 yards further down the road but we didn’t stop at that one.

I thought more about a trip to San Andres and decided that it would take all my available savings and I don’t want to do that now.

As we approached the top of the hill I saw the doberman and he threatened us as we approached.  I tossed him the other dog biscuit I had with me and we walked past him as he started consuming it.  We met the neighbor and maybe his wife and I told him I want the dog to be my friend.  I think he said we’d better get out of the area before he finishes the dog biscuit.

We were back at the finca with the ground beef 90 minutes after we picked it out back in Exito.  I don’t think they would find that amount of time without refrigeration to be safe in the US.

Master Chef was interesting tonight.  One at a time the chefs were given a bowl of borscht (Russian soup) and they had to identify the ingredients and what it is.  

T-shirt of the day: I love you ice cream.