Friday, July 31, 2015

Joke



HER DIARY
Tonight I thought he was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a bar to have a drink. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment.

Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed but he kept quiet and absent. I asked him what was wrong; he said nothing. I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry. 

On the way home I told him I loved him, he simply smiled and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say I love you too. My heart just sank. 

When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there and watched T.V. He seemed distant and absent. 

Finally, I decided to go to bed. About 10 minutes later he came to bed, and to my surprise he responded to my caress and we made love, but I still felt that he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster. 
  
HIS DIARY 
I shot the worst round of golf in my life today, but at least I got laid.

Thursday, July 30th, 2015



I slept well despite getting up twice very early in the morning finally waking at 8am and getting up at 8:30.

I Googled Dristan to discover how many times I can take it safely each day.  I kept finding all the dangers of taking too much and who can’t take it at all and what other medicine you can’t combine it with.  Finally I found a site that stated that you can’t take it more than 12 times a day so I guess it’s ok to take it more than the one time I’m now taking it at night.  Lol.

I took a nap from 12:15 to 1:30.

I was scanning the TV stations and I found that my Chicago White Sox are playing the Boston Red Sox tonight at 6pm on channel 1682.  The Sox have won 7 games in a row and tonight I believe their best pitcher, Chris Sale, is pitching.

At 4:30 it started raining.  At 4:39 the TV picture froze so I unplugged everything.  It stopped at 5pm.

At 6pm I turned on the game and it’s the Kansas City Royals vs Toronto Blue Jays.

Every few days I get an email from Facebook that I have a message but when I log in I don’t see anything new.

I received an email from Jhon with another translation.  I did my best considering I’m not familiar with the company’s industry (roller blades) and terminology and of course I don’t understand the original Spanish.

Well, Chris Sale just didn’t have it tonight as the Whites lost to the Reds 8-2.

So, I was watching Criminal Minds and I recognized the bad guy was George Costanza (Jason Alexander) of Seinfeld.

I watched most of In a World (6.7).  Boring!

I took my Dristan with my sleeping pills at 11:30 and went to bed.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Joke



When I was 13, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend with big boobs.

When I was 16, I got a girlfriend with big boobs, but there was no passion, so I decided I needed a passionate girl with zest for life.

In college I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide.

So I decided I needed a girl with stability.

When I was 25, I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a girl with excitement.

When I was 28, I found an exciting girl, but I couldn't keep up with her. She rushed from one thing to another, never settling on anything. She did mad impetuous things and made me miserable as often as happy. She was great fun initially and very energetic, but directionless.

So I decided to find a girl with some real ambition.

When I turned 30, I found a smart ambitious girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground, so I married her. She was so ambitious she divorced me and took everything I owned.

I am older and wiser now and I am looking for a girl with big boobs....

Wednesday, July 29th, 2015



I fell asleep quickly and didn’t awaken until 6am when the dogs were having a barking contest.  At 6:30 the fireworks testing started.  I woke/got up at 8:45.  It’s been a while since I’ve had a good night’s sleep.

Laura left just before 4pm to join some of her school friends.

She came back at 7:30.

I watched more episodes of Criminal Minds.

I took my sleeping pills and a Dristan tablet at 11:30pm and went to bed.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Tuesday, July 28th, 2015



I had another bad night.  I slept for an hour from 11pm to midnight.  I slept a few more hours from around 4am finally waking/getting up at 9:15 still feeling tired.

I immediately took an Excedrin Migraine to relieve the discomfort in my head and soon was feeling much better.  I’ve recently discovered that for me taking one tablet usually works as well as taking two.

My son sent me his flight itinerary.  He’s arriving on Friday, August 7th at 7:30pm.  If his flight lands on time he’ll probably be through customs and baggage claim by about 8:15.  (We’ll probably have him withdraw some cash from an ATM while still at the airport.)  We’ll take a bus to Medellin and arrive about 9:30 (estimating a 15 minute wait before leaving the airport).  We’ll take a taxi to the hotel and drop off his suitcase.  If he isn’t too tired we can head to Parque Lleras so he can begin exploring the Medellin nightlife – it will be Friday night so things should be jumping.  Fiesta de las Flores will be going on so there will be more people in Medellin than usual; and probably more partying.

His friend Michael is arriving several days earlier and Jim told me that he has a friend here so maybe we won’t be seeing him until we take Jim to his hotel.

Teresa told me she really liked the quality of the ground beef (carne molida) that we got at Carulla.  It’s probably also more expensive than Exito or Merkepaisa but that’s okay.

I saw a couple butterflies outside with wings that looked like leaves.

We left the finca at 3pm and got past the killer dogs undetected.  We only had to wait 5 minutes for a Tratam bus.  Teresa said this is the 3pm bus out of Amaga so I guess they come by every hour or maybe half hour.

The taxi driver dropped us off at Todo Drogas where I bought a package of Isoklon for 60,900, a package of Imodium for 12mil and 8 Dristan tablets for 4mil.  The total came to 76,900 ($27).  

I think we took a different route to Exito than ever before because first we saw a Cosechas juice store where Teresa had a nice juice and I had the special juice to treat colds which contained ginger, honey, lemon, and orange juice.  Boy was it bitter!  I tried to tell myself that it’s for medicinal purposes.

A little further away Teresa stopped and looked at some costume jewelery.  Next to it was a store called Almacen Borneo – Borneo Warehouse and it advertised Accessories for Men.  There were a lot of knives and things.  I was very surprised to see a large container of pepper spray for 42mil ($15).  I wonder how much it will cost in the US; I asked my son to bring 3 bottles from the police supply store in Chicago.

Teresa walked further between the two stores, I followed her and found it was the entrance to a small mall.  There were some interesting stores including one selling Super Nintendo cartridges.

We walked a couple more blocks and then entered what I can only describe as a Hookah store.  They were everywhere with prices from 30mil ($12) to as much as 170mil ($68).  Teresa found 3 little bracelets she liked which I bought for 24mil ($9.50).

We walked a few more blocks to Exito where we bought packages of granola, a bag of powdered milk, Raid for cockroaches & spiders, a bar of soap, 2 packages of arepas, hot dog buns, and a loaf of bread for 60mil ($24).

We stopped at the tailor’s (maybe seamstress would be more appropriate) where Teresa talked to her for about half an hour.  I gave her 20mil towards blouses she’s making for Teresa.

We took a taxi down to the Envigado metro station.  Teresa walked across a side street to a Coltejer warehouse store.  I saw a lot of what looked like sheet sets for beds, Teresa asked them a question, didn’t apparently get the right answer and we left.

After a short wait we were on a Fredonia bus back to the finca.
Unfortunately, the bus made a stop at the bus stop in Caldas.  They usually stay there for about 10 minutes and a lot of people get out and buy snacks in the store.  Teresa asked me to go in the store and buy her a Coke Cero.  I did but they didn’t have one so I got her an apple juice drink with zero calories and a small regular Coke for myself.  When I got back on the bus she wasn’t happy with my selection.  I told her next time she should go buy the drinks.  She wanted me to return hers but I had already partially opened it.
Thankfully tonight there was almost a full moon so I didn’t need my cell phone flashlight.  We got past the neighbor’s house before the killer dogs knew we were there.  We returned to the finca at 7:30; still plenty light in the US but its already dark here.

I took my sleeping pills at midnight and went to bed.

Video Joke


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHyRCeKxhss

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Joke



Jane was a first time contestant on the $65,000 quiz show. Lady luck had smiled in her favor, as Jane had gained a substantial lead over her opponents. She even managed to win the game but, unfortunately, time had run out before the show's host could ask her the big question.

Jane agreed to return the following day.

Jane was nervous as her husband drove them home. "I've just gotta win tomorrow. I wish I knew what the answers are! You know I'm not going to sleep at all tonight. I will probably look like garbage tomorrow. "Relax honey," her husband, Roger, reassured her, "It will all be OK."

Ten minutes after they arrived home, Roger grabbed the car keys and started heading out the door.
"Where are you going?" Jane asked.
"I have a little errand to run. I should be back soon."
After an agonizing 3 hour absence, Roger returned, sporting a very wide and wicked grin.
"Honey, I managed to get tomorrow's question and answer!" "What is it?" she cried excitedly.
"OK. The question is 'What are the three main parts of the male anatomy?' And the answer is 'The head, the heart, and the penis.' "

The couple went to sleep with Jane, now feeling at ease, plummeting into a deep slumber.

At 3:30 a.m., however, Jane was shaken awake by Roger, who asked her the quiz show question.
"The head, the heart, and the penis," Jane replied groggily before returning to sleep.
And Roger asked her again in the morning, this time as Jane was brushing her teeth. Once again, Jane replied correctly.  So it was that Jane was once again on the set of the quiz show. Even though she knew the question and answer, she could feel butterflies. The cameras began running and the host, after reminding the audience of the previous days' events, faced Jane and asked the big question.

"Jane, for $65,000, what are the main parts of the male anatomy? You have 10 seconds."
"Hmm, uhm, the head?" she said nervously.
"Very good.  Six seconds."
"Eh, uh, the heart?"
"Very good! Four seconds."
"I, uhh, ooooooohh, darn! My husband drilled it into me last night and I had it on the tip of my tongue this morning..."

"That's close enough!" said the game show host, CONGRATULATIONS!!"


Monday, July 27th, 2015



It took me about 3 hours to fall asleep and then I got up at 4:45 for a trip to the bathroom.  I woke up at 8am and got up at 9am.  I think my cold is breaking up.

The muchacho, Leonard, showed up just before 9am and I understand he can’t fix the back sink with the tube Teresa bought last week.  I gave him 20mil and he left about 10am to stop in Caldas to buy the correct size.
I received an email from Jhon asking for help with a translation.  It was a pretty easy one; just a one page warranty statement.  He’s pretty good at translating but not so good at interpreting, if you understand the difference.

Laura came back at 1:30 with a couple Dristan tablets for my cold. 

Leonardo returned about 5pm.  He fixed the sink and gave Teresa 5mil refund; he didn’t charge anything for his labor just for the part.  Teresa wants to have the kitchen fixed.  Leonardo said he could do the whole job, materials and labor, for 1,500,000 COP (less than $400).  Teresa wanted to have it done next week but I explained to her that I don’t want any extra expenses until after my son leaves.

I watched Magic in the Moonlight (6.6).  Boring!

I watched a couple more episodes of Criminal Minds.

I took one of my Dristan tablets at 10:30pm and went to bed.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Joke



In the Amazon rain forest, three explorers were walking. One was Irish, another English, and the last American. Soon, they came across a tribe, and the leader of the tribe told them that if they wanted to pass through this territory, they had to pass the three caves test. The explorers agreed and asked what the three cave test was.
The leader of the tribe took them to the caves, where he said, "Inside the first, there are three bottles of rum, each 100 years old and said to be toxic. You have to drink one each. In the second is a lion with a thorn in his foot. You must remove the thorn. In the third is a woman who has never been satisfied, and she must be satisfied."

The three men were hesitant but could not back out, so the American went into the first cave, drank the bottle, and died soon afterward. The Englishman was second. He went into the first cave, drank the bottle, then went into the second cave. There was a lot of commotion and roaring. No one emerged from the cave.

Lastly, the Irish man went into the first cave and drank the bottle. He went into the second cave. At first, there was a lot of commotion, and then there was a soft purring sound. Then he entered the last cave. Two minutes later, he came out puzzled and asked, "Where's the thorn in the woman's foot?"

Sunday, July 26th, 2015



I got up 6 times during the night.  The 3rd time there was a large spider (tarantula?) in the bathroom.  It didn’t move allowing me time to get the spray; three sprays killed it and I covered it with the toilet plunger just in case it might recover later.  It didn’t.  After my 4am trip to the bathroom I wasn’t able to get back to sleep.  I finally got up at 7:30.

Teresa might have caught my cold as she seems to be sneezing a bit.

I took a nap from 10:30 to 12:20.

I finished season 3 of House of Cards.

I watched more episodes of Criminal Minds.

I didn’t have any more sleeping pills so I took the Passiflora drops at 11:15 and went to bed.  Boring day, huh?

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Joke



One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each buy a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, a fly landed in each of their pints, and were stuck in the thick foam. 

The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. 

The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it as if nothing had happened. 

The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink, but then held it out over the beer and yelled, "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!!!"

Saturday, July 25th, 2015



I slept pretty well despite getting up 6 times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 9:15.

My cold is still pretty bad so we’re not going anywhere today.  I didn’t even take a shower today – ick!  I’m wearing my pajamas with a scarf and sweater to stay warm and Teresa keeps giving me hot tea.

I took a nap from 11am to 1pm.

I watched more episodes of House of Cards.

It seems like my cold is breaking up; hopefully it will be over in a few more days.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Band of lovers.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Joke



A woman sees an old man sitting on a park bench, sobbing. She comes up to him and asks what's wrong. "I recently married a young woman. She's beautiful, she takes incredible care of me, and we have the most unbelievable sex!"

"Then why are you crying?" the woman asks.

"I don't remember where I live!"

Friday, July 24th, 2015



I slept well, only getting up once about 6am, finally waking/getting up at 8:30.

I definitely have a cold.  Teresa called Laura and asked her to pick up some medicine for me.  Teresa calls this gripe although my translator says that means flu and I know this isn’t flu.  She put a scarf around my neck to keep me warm.

Among today’s new US movie releases there isn’t anything I want to see.  Locally, Ant-Man (8.1) is playing in El Tesoro.

There is a new wasp nest near the door to the finca.  Teresa mixed up some Fab detergent with water and threw it on it, stepped on the stunned wasps and then knocked down the nest.

A few minutes later Teresa showed me a wasp caught in a spider’s web.  It was interesting to see the wasp struggle to get out of the web and the spider manuevering back and forth towards and away from the wasp and its stinger.

I took a nap from 2:30 to 3:30.

Teresa’s been making me hot lemonade to drink for my cold.  She went next door to the neighbor’s house to get more lemons from a tree.  I thought they were small oranges.  When she came back she gave me pieces of the fruit.  It wasn’t sour enough to be a lemon but it wasn’t sweet enough to be an orange.  Some type of wild local hybrid I guess.

I watched more episodes of House of Cards.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Thursday, July 23rd, 2015



I had a bad night, getting up 5 times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8:40.

It seems like I might have a cold because I can’t seem to clear my nose.

We left the finca at 12:10 and got past the killer dogs undetected.  Malu and another smaller dog came out from Don Carlos’ house.  I gave Malu a dog biscuit and the other dog seemed confused; did I just give Malu something to eat?

At the highway there were 3 buses, one right behind the other, that could take us to Medellin.  The first didn’t stop so I assume there weren’t any seats.  The second one picked us up and there were lots of seats.  At El Poblado we took a taxi to Santafe CC.

We stopped at Zara where Teresa found a dress for 59,900 ($21) and a blouse for Laura for 39,900 ($14).

We stopped at a nice restaurant named Cazuelitas in the food court where I ordered the lasagna for 23,950 and Teresa ordered the Paisa plate for 24,900.  Add 2 mango juices and the total came to 61,250 ($23).  That’s expensive for a Colombian meal which probably explains why they only have 4 tables.

We stopped in Carulla for a box of pasta, a package of ground beef, a package of Extra gum and something else I forget for 36,171.

We took a taxi down to El Poblado station and after a 10 minute wait we were on a direct bus back to the finca.  We had to sit over the transmission until a couple people failed to show up for their saved seats.

On our way up the hill Malu came out and I gave her another dog biscuit.  As we got even with the neighbor’s house the black dog came out and hassled us a little.

The daily close was 2833.83 Colombian Pesos per US Dollar which is a new high and the first close over 2800.

I took my sleeping pills at 11:15 and went to bed.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015



I slept well despite getting up 2 or 3 times during the night.

We left the finca at 12:40, got past the killer dogs undetected and caught a bus after only a 5 minute wait.

We took a taxi from El Poblado and he took the side streets instead of Calle 10 and we were at the Habitacion mall 35 minutes early.  We had a light lunch of Ajiaco from La Hacienda for Teresa for 10,900 and a Frisnack from Frisby for 9,300 for me.

At 2:20 Teresa walked across the street to the beauty shop while I waited in the mall.  She told me her hair work would take 3-4 hours.

I added 20mil to my cell phone.

At 4:30 I stopped at Colsechas and ordered a large juice (banana, mango, and papaya with ice cream) for 6,400 ($2).  I thought Teresa might be ready for a cold drink.

While I was standing there a young lady who had previously ordered was giving me looks.  

A minute later her boyfriend joined her and he said “hi”.  His name is Dave and he is from Arizona.  The lady’s name is Claudia and she is Colombian with family in Medellin.  They were just heading to the same beauty shop so I went with them.  Dave and I talked a bit until Teresa was finished.  He says he liked Cartagena and the Rionegro area of Colombia.  I gave him my “business” card with my name, cell phone number and email address and he said he would contact me when he gets back to the States.

Teresa and I walked to Zona Dos where we picked up a few things from Carulla.

We had to wait about 15 minutes for a taxi to take us to the El Poblado station.  After only a 5 minute wait we were on a van back to the finca.  A man on the bus handed everyone a large package of wafer cookies and a small package of peanuts.  For a change I bought them for 3mil ($1.20).

Walking up the hill in the dark we were surprised by Malu.  She probably heard us goofing around on our way up the hill.  I gave her a dog biscuit and soon we got past the killer dogs before they heard us – too late for them.

I tried to make arrangements to meet with Neil again tomorrow for lunch but he’s busy most of the day.  Maybe next week.

I watched more episodes of House of Cards.

I took my sleeping pills at 11:15 and went to bed.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Apartment Rental Guide - Medellin Living

Apartment Rental Guide: Searching for an Apartment

Apartment buildings in Sabaneta Last year I covered my experience in renting three different unfurnished apartments in Medellín in a popular four-part series.

After living in the same apartment in Belén for past two years I thought I would be able to renew my lease for another year. But, unfortunately, the owner of the apartment wanted his apartment back as he wanted to live in it.
So I found myself searching for an apartment in Medellín last month with my soon to be Colombian wife. We fortunately found the perfect apartment for us in Sabaneta.

Finding the perfect apartment in Medellín (for us)

Medellín has a variety of options for apartments available in a broad range of prices (from less than $200 to well over $2,000 per month) to meet the needs of renters.
In many neighborhoods, you can also find two-story attached row housing. You won’t however find in Medellín many single-family detached homes that are common in the U.S. You have to get outside of the city to find these.
I have already lived in Medellín for four years, and I know the city very well, so I know what type of apartment would be perfect for us.
I also have researched the unfurnished apartment market in Medellín, which was covered in two articles on this website (Apartment Rental Costs in Medellín and 4 Inexpensive Neighborhoods for Apartment Rentals in Medellín), so I know the neighborhoods in the city well.
We wanted an apartment in a high-rise with 24×7 security on a higher up floor with a balcony with an excellent view. In addition, we wished to find an apartment within walking distance to a grocery store and close to the metro.
We also wanted to find an apartment in a building that is not close to a major street to avoid noise from traffic. We also wanted to be in an Estrato 4 or 5 neighborhood.
Also, we wanted the apartment to have Claro Internet/TV/phone service available and for it to have a kitchen with an oven.
We also wanted to find an apartment that was larger than the 78 square meter apartment we were moving out of. We were looking for an apartment with at least 90 square meters of space.
Kitchen in our new apartment in Sabaneta
Kitchen in our new apartment in Sabaneta

My fourth apartment search

We used a combination of methods to find an apartment in Medellín. We found some apartments ourselves by walking around and finding rental signs in windows and using the Espacio Ubano website.
We also used my real estate agent in Medellín, who I have rented from over the past three-plus years.
Since I already know the market in Medellín very well, we limited our search to just a few neighborhoods. We did not want to look in popular neighborhoods for foreigners like El Poblado or Envigado as we want to live in a less expensive area.
There were two apartments available in our existing building in Belén, which we looked at but decided they didn’t meet our needs, as we wanted to move to a larger apartment. We looked at a few other apartments nearby in Belén, but we didn’t find one large enough that we liked.
We also looked at a few apartments in Bello in the Niquia barrio near the Puerta del Norte mall. We like this area, which is convenient to the metro and a large shopping mall as well as Exito and Euro grocery stores.
Niquia has several inexpensive apartments, but we didn’t find any larger apartments that we liked.
We also like the Sabaneta area. Sabaneta has many new apartment buildings that have been built over the past few years, so it has many apartments available to rent. We looked at seven apartments in Sabaneta with my real estate agent and found one we liked.
We signed a lease for this apartment, but, unfortunately, the owner changed his mind and was unsure about renting it, and we didn’t have time to wait on this owner to make up his mind, so we looked at more places in Sabaneta.
My real estate agent said he wanted to show us an apartment in Sabaneta that he thought we would really like based on our comments about other apartments, and he was right. We signed a year-long lease the next day.
The apartment we found is located in a building that is less than a 10-minute walk to Parque Sabaneta and less than a 10-minute walk to the Aves Maria mall with a large Exito grocery store.
The Sabaneta metro station is located about a 20-minute walk away, and an inexpensive bus route (1,700 pesos) to the metro station runs right in front of our apartment building.
We also have found that three grocery stores in Sabaneta offer domicilio (delivery) services: Euro, Supermercado Sabaneta and Merkepaisa.
Parque Sabanta, located less than 10-minute walk from our apartment
Parque Sabanta, located less than 10-minute walk from our apartment

Moving to the new apartment

We have some big pieces of furniture, plus a fridge and wash machine to move, so we wanted to use professional movers.
My real estate agent recommended a moving company, which we called. This mover showed up as scheduled with a crew of three, and they took about three and a half hours to pack up, drive to the new apartment and unload.
The move was painless, nothing was damaged, and the cost was only 300,000 pesos ($112).
My fourth apartment specifications:
  • Brand new, never been lived in before
  • Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, about 110 square meters (1,184 square feet)
  • Kitchen with granite countertops, oven, and gas cooktop
  • Gas water heater (tankless)
  • 10th floor in a high-rise building, with two balconies
  • Pool, sauna and small gym in building
  • 24×7 security
  • Estrato 4 neighborhood
  • Cost: 1,350,000 pesos per month, which is $503 per month at an average exchange rate of 2,685 pesos per USD
My real estate agent has offered to rent the apartment for another year, so we plan to sign another lease to lock in the price for the apartment another year.
View from one of the balconies in the apartment
View from one of the balconies in the apartment

The Bottom Line

With the recently improved exchange rate our new apartment in Sabeneta costs less in terms of USD than the rent we paid over the past two years for a 41 percent smaller apartment in Belén.
I fortunately have exchanged sufficient funds at an average exchange rate of 2,685 pesos to the USD to enable paying another year of rent to lock in $503 per month in rent for two years.
A similar sized (110 square meters) and similar quality unfurnished three-bedroom apartment in El Poblado would likely rent for at least 1,800,000 pesos ($668) per month based on my earlier research and confirmed by my real estate agent.
In El Poblado, a similar apartment would be at least 33 percent more expensive. The bottom line is if you want to save money on apartments in Medellín, you can save substantially by looking outside of El Poblado.
My other living costs will also be less expensive than if I lived in El Poblado. Groceries are less expensive in Sabaneta and utilities are less expensive compared to the mostly Estrato 6 neighborhoods in El Poblado.
Plus pretty much everything else in Sabaneta we have discovered is less expensive than in El Poblado, including restaurants, items in the drugstores, and clothing and other items found in nearby stores.

Medellin's annual Silletero parade - Medellin Living

Colombian city of Medellin gears up for Flower Festival honoring traditional farmers

Colombia's second city is gearing up once again for its annual Flower Festival, an emblematic event that pays homage to traditional small farmers and their dedication to the land and whose colorful parade attracts nearly 1 million people each year, organizers said.
The centerpiece of the festival, which will be held from July 31 to Aug. 9, is the "silleteros" parade, in which men, women and children carry "silletas" (derived from the Spanish word for "chair") with elaborate flower arrangements on their backs.
"The inhabitants of this part of (northwestern) Colombia are proud rural dwellers. That's why the festival honors their legacy and traditions; the idea of the silleteros parade, which is the main event, is to make the world aware of their work and creativity," the fair's director, Natalia Martinez, said Friday.
The silletas tradition dates back to the 19th century, when people in rural areas used these chair-like contraptions to carry the sick and elderly on their backs.
Flower-growers from the mountainside village of Santa Elena, in Medellin's outskirts, were the first to use the silleta to carry flowers to the city's markets.
These silleteros gradually came to symbolize Antioquia province, which according to the Colombian Agricultural Institute, is home to 26.18 percent of the nearly 6,956 hectares (17,175) of flowers grown last year in the Andean nation.
Indeed, "there's a common saying: 'when the silleteros walk past, it's Antioquia going by,'" Martinez said.
Their emblematic status in the region explains why the silleteros parade, which will take place this year on Aug. 9, is expected to draw nearly 1 million spectators.
On that day, "500 rural farmers - 420 adults, 50 adolescents and 30 children - will walk down from Santa Elena with their silletas," the director said.
The preparation of the silletas, which weigh between 70-100 kilograms (155-220 pounds), begins more than a week before the parade with the task of making the chairs.
"The flowers are placed on the last three days, with a minimum of 20 varieties (decorating) each silleta," the Medellin Citizen Culture Secretariat's city events coordinator, Luis Marin, said.
This year's 58th edition of the Flower Festival will highlight the components of "tradition, the relationship of man and work to the land, and a vision for the future," the silleteros parade's artistic director, Carlos Guisao, said.
"We want the spectators to see the event from this perspective, as (a festival) that honors silleteros culture because it speaks to their past, their present and their future, because it's a culture that is changing and is as alive as the flowers," Guisao said.

Joke



A Wal-Mart greeter one day sees an ugly woman come into the store with 2 kids.  He asks her “Are those kids yours?” 

She says, “Yes, why?” 

He replies “I can’t believe someone actually fucked you twice!”

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015



Despite getting up twice at 1:50am and 4:40am I slept very well, finally waking up at 8:05 and getting up 20 minutes later.

I took a nap from 11am to noon.

I watched more episodes of Homeland.  One problem is that when they speak Farsi, the subtitles are in Spanish instead of English.

I thought I would get a haircut tomorrow while Teresa is having her hair done but now I understand she really liked the haircut I got last month in Oviedo so she wants me to get it there.  She wants me to get it just before my son arrives so I guess it’s going to be really short.

It started raining at 3:45 and had stopped by 4:15.

So, at 6pm I was watching episode 1, season 2 of a show called El Socio which translates to The Partner.  It stars Marcus Lemonis which sounds like a Greek name to me.  He was trying to help a struggling car dealership named Athans Motors in Morton Grove, Illinois.  That’s real close to where I used to live outside Chicago.  I googled it and the show is called The Profit and the owner is Peter Athans (sounds Greek again) and the dealership is located at 9040 N. Waukega Rd (just south of Church street) in Morton Grove.  I’m sure I drove past the place hundreds of times.  When I looked at a few of the google results I found one of them contains a summary of that episode.

I found a reference to something called FilmFanatic.com where you can download 100s of movies - which doesn’t sound like a lot.  I googled the name and found FilmFanatic Toolbar is a browser hijacker, which is promoted via other free downloads, and once installed it will add the FilmFanatic toolbar, change your browser homepage to home.tb.ask.com, and set your default search engine to search.tb.ask.com.
That’s enough for me, I’m not going to download it.

I finished season 3 of Homeland and started season 3 of House of Cards.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Joke



Two avid fishermen, Jim and Jack, buy the same identical new fishing boat.

Every day for about a week Jim catches a lot of fish while Jack doesn’t catch any.  Finally Jack asks Jim “how it is that you’re catching so many fish when I can’t catch any?” 

Jim says “It’s easy.  When I wake up in the morning if my penis is lying on the left side of my body then I fish from the left side of the boat.  If my penis is lying on the right side of my body then I fish from the right side of the boat.” 

Jack asks “And what if it’s standing straight up?” 

Jim says, “Then I don’t fish!”

Monday, July 20th, 2015



I slept through the night, getting up once at 7am, finally waking/getting up at 8:30.

It rained a little bit overnight.

Laura left at 9am looking cute in her Catholic school outfit.  I understand she’s going to be marching in a parade today.  I checked my blog entry for last year and I see that today is Colombia’s Independence Day.

My ex emailed me that she received my driver’s license renewal form.  I asked her to send it to my son in Chicago and he can bring it with him on his visit next month.  That will give me a couple more months to decide what to do.

I finished watching Margin Call (7.1).

Teresa told me Laura threw up in school today.  She came back about noon.

We had a little rain in the afternoon.

I watched West of Memphis (7.9).

Teresa and I watched Lila & Eve (6.0) starring Jennifer Lopez that Laura found online on PeliculasFlv.co.

I thought we were going to go to Caldas tomorrow to pick up more food but Teresa informed me we would pick up a few things at Carulla on Wednesday after Teresa’s hair appointment.

We had a little rain in the evening.

I took my sleeping pills at 11:15 and went to bed.  It was raining lightly but got a little heavier before I fell asleep.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Sunday, July 19th, 2015



I got up at 2am and 5am and 8am finally waking/getting up at 9:15.

I got an email from my son Jim that he booked his flight and will be here August 7th through the 15th.  Yay!  I’m excited!

When I was uploading the picture of the tarantula for yesterday’s post I found the pictures I had taken at the waterpark.  I added them so you might want to go back to June 28th and take a look at them.

In blogger.com I received a message that “Karen, Neil, Scott added you to their circles” but I’m not sure what that means.  Lol. It sounds nice though.

Today I received the following link from one of the expats
The US dollar opened trading at more than 2,723 Colombian pesos on Friday, a level not seen since 2004.  According to experts, the dollar could appreciate even further and exceed a value of COP3,000 within a year.
The peso has been in free fall since the third quarter of last year when crude oil prices began dropping.
Oil makes up more than half of Colombia’s exports and 20% of government revenue.
Over the past year, the value of the dollar compared to the Colombian currency has gone up 48.5%.
Oil prices have dropped to under half the value they had a year ago.
According to the director of Colombian branch of Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual, Armando Montenegro, the current value of the dollar “will maintain and probably even rise a little towards the end of the year.”
According to Montenegro, the dollar could reach COP2,900 before the end of the year.
The expected lifting of economic sanctions on Iran, a major oil producer, and a possible increase in US interest rates could push the Colombian currency’s value are likely to push the value of the dollar even further.
“The condition of the economy of Colombia and the rest of the world is probably going to push the dollar to COP3,000, or even COP3,250″ in 2016, Montenegro was quoted as saying by economic newspaper Portafolio.
Other economists said that the dollar is likely to stabilize in the course of 2016 and could then again drop below the COP3,000 barrier.
Colombia’s central bank is also expecting the US dollar will continue to increase in value and warned the country’s economy is going to feel the “shock” of collapsing oil prices and an increase in the price of the dollar.
“We presume that these currency exchange levels will maintain for a while. The fact that we are talking about a persistent exchange rate, shows a new reality we will have to live with for a relatively long period of time. The economy is going to have to make an adjustment,” said Central Bank vice-president Ana Fernanda Maiguashca.
Colombia’s Finance Minister announced earlier this week that the country’s 2016 budget will grow less than the country’s inflation, forcing austerity measures to avoid a major deficit.

In addition, a recent related article stated:
Almost 20% of the Colombian government’s revenue comes from oil, for which global prices have fallen by as much as 60% since last July. Iraq and Saudi Arabia are producing record quantities, and shale oil extraction in the United States has further increased supply, putting downward pressure on prices.
Since July the Colombian peso has fallen over 40% from under 1900 per US dollar to over 2700.
Oil prices fell 3% on Wednesday on news of a nuclear deal with Iran which would remove sanctions on the oil-producing country which looks to produce a million barrels per day by the end of this year, almost as much as Colombia’s production.
Over the past year, the dollar went from 1861 pesos on July 8, 2014 to peaking at 2697 pesos just after midday on Tuesday, a 44% loss in value.

That’s not good news for Colombia but it’s good news for me and any other Americans living or visiting here.

At 1pm it started raining and we unplugged the TV.

It was about 1:30 and I was having a nice lunch of soup, 2 fried chicken legs, salad and the ever present white rice.  As usual I put my rice in the soup and had just finished it.  I was eating one of the chicken legs with a little BBQ sauce and I felt I wasn’t going to be able to finish all the food.  I tried to give the other chicken leg to Teresa but she wouldn’t take it.  I started coughing, then gagging, then I realized I was going to throw up.  I dashed into the bathroom but didn’t quite make it and got vomit on my poncho, the bathroom floor and the rest in the toilet.  I have no idea why that happened; something that bothered me from breakfast?  I also didn’t really feel hungry at lunch time.

At 4pm it started raining again and we unplugged the televion again.  Teresa let Luna and Tony come inside the finca because of the storm.  Tony was in a corner and Luna was under my table.  I told her to sit and Tony came over and put his paws on me looking for a dog biscuit.  That’s the wrong type of conditioning.

This is one of those rare afternoons where it feels a little chilly in the finca; but then we’re probably a thousand feet or more higher than Medellin.   Because I puked on my sweat suit I only had my pajamas on so I added a sweater.

I watched Conviction (7.2) on Netflix and then I started watching Margin Call (7.1).

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.