I got up at 8:15, took my shower, had some cereal and we
left the finca at 9:45am. I had 3 dog
biscuits left after giving Peter one so we could catch him and put him in the
shed.
I paid my 2 dog biscuit toll to the doberman. At the top of the hill Teresa saw a bus that
would take us directly to Medellin
so she started running down the path. I
tried to keep up with her but I don’t know why she thought the bus would still
be there when we arrived 5 minutes later.
It wasn’t. On the way I was
surprised by a brilliant green snake about 3-4’ long curled up in the middle of
the path. Teresa said it wasn’t
dangerous.
We waited about 20 minutes to catch a bus and in the
meantime Teresa changed from her flip flops into her nice sandals. Again the bus was stopped by the police and
this time they took my Cedula along with everyone elses. We had to wait about 15 minutes for them to
give them back.
At the El Poblado station we took a taxi to MBE for the
minimum fare of 4,600 pesos (less than $2) where I paid 15mil for 3 envelopes:
2 change of address notifications from CSC and Vanguard (Zurich) and a 1099-R from CSC.
We took a bus down the road to the Office Depot store. I saw
legal sized hanging files but I didn’t see a storage box for them. I waited in line about 10 minutes just to ASK
for someone who speaks English. A lady
in line served as interpreter for me and a Spanish speaking man showed me where
they were – against the wall and above our heads. One looked like a simple inexpensive storage
box so I was happy with what I saw. I
told him we would come back later in the afternoon to make the purchase.
Since we had an appointment with the lawyer in 15 minutes
and James had moved we took a taxi to the correct building. Not only was he in a different building but
he had recently changed apartments (different floor) but the guard sent us to
the right one.
James’ wife opened the door holding a puppy. She had 2 3-month old puppies and I asked if
I could give them a dog biscuit. She
approved so I took my last one, broke it in half and gave it to them. I was really their friend after that.
Here’s what I learned from the lawyer:
·
He should have my real estate documents
apostilled within 2-3 days for 60mil per signature: (60,000 x 7)/2500 = appr.
$168.
·
He didn’t agree with the Union Libre information
my brother and I got from Dr. Maria last week. He said we could get one without waiting for 2
years but it would cost about $400.
(Later Teresa told me that’s too expensive so she wants to talk to the
lawyer by the Immigration office.)
·
He said we had about a 50% chance of getting a
visitor’s visa for Teresa and Laura but if we got the Union Libre it would
increase our chances to about 80%.
·
Teresa had put the finca in her mother’s name
when she was afraid her husband might try to take half during her divorce. Later she put it back in her name only.
I took some cash out of the ATM at Santafe mall and then we
had lunch at Frisby for 46mil.
Teresa told me that this Friday is Women’s Day so she
kiddingly told me that means dinner, flowers, chocolates, etc. I suggested dinner at Mu in Parque Lleras but she said we can meet Laura for lunch at Wilson’s Bocados Bar.
She called someone again about her purse but I understand
the issue has yet to be resolved.
Teresa mentioned something about returning to the mall for
her to look at clothes so I asked her why not today. We went into Falabella where we finally bought the spatula I’ve been wanting for
24,900 and saw that they have a large selection of toasters. I’m reading James Michener’s Space and while walking through the
store I heard over the PA system “Houston.
Tranquility Base here. The Eagle
has landed.” Lol.
After looking through a few other stores, on our way out of
the mall Teresa commented that all the stores in Santafe are too expensive.
We went across the street and a couple blocks down to return
to Office Depot. I had them take down the storage box (caja
para archivo) but the hanging legal file was too large sideways and too small
lengthways. I left very disappointed.
We stopped next door at Cosechas
where we each had a fresh fruit drink for 14mil.
On our bus to Envigado Teresa realized that she left her
flip flops by the highway back at the finca so we stopped at a store where she
bought another pair for 10mil. I can’t
imagine her trying to climb that hill in her nice high heel sandals.
She stopped at a cloth store where she bought some material
for 26mil so she can make her own blouse.
We took a taxi down to the highway and quickly were on an express bus
back to the finca.
We found her old flip flops in the plastic bag right where
she left them next to the highway. Any
people nearby probably thought it was a bag of garbage.
I wanted to take my time on the road so as not to raise a
sweat but Teresa told me she had to pee so we had to keep moving quickly. We got past the killer dogs undetected. I took a shower after I had time to cool
down.
I had my brother send me the pictures he took on his visit
here and I downloaded them all to my laptop.
I thought they would be in order but I see I’m going to have to do that
myself. I think I’ll separate them more
by category rather than date. After I get
that done I should be ready to start posting to my blog.
I gave Laura 10mil which I understand is for her to buy
lunch tomorrow.
Tomorrow we are going to call the Lawyer in Belen and Friday
we will go to Caldas to buy food.
I took my sleeping pills at 10:30 and we went to bed at
11pm.
T-shirt of the day: Oh my God. As hot as hell. Oh yeah.
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