Wednesday, July 1st, 2015

I slept pretty well, getting up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8:15.  As soon as I got up I took an Excedrin Migraine for the little pain behind my right eye.

I put my towel out back to dry and as soon as I came back I found a new bite on one of my knuckles.  It looks suspiciously like my wasp bite of the other day.

Dr. Montoya’s office called to inform me that the actual amount for the clinic will be 171,600 ($68.64).

Teresa spent most of the morning on the phone.  She finally got in touch with Nueva eps and I understand we have to return for yet another piece of paper.

Laura returned to the finca at 11am.

Today is the day we go to Envigado to pay bills.

We left the finca at 12:40 and got past the killer dogs undetected.

We had to wait 15 minutes in the hot sun, no shade, before catching a bus to Envigado.  We had the taxi take us directly to Carbón de Leña for lunch.  I thought we should have stopped quickly at Nueva eps to get a number but Teresa was very hungry.  We each had the special of the day with 2 mesa moras (sp?) for Teresa for 30mil.  She says it is very special at this restaurant.  To me, it’s just kernel corn in milk.  Btw, where’s Hector?  I haven’t seen him in weeks.

We got to Nueva eps just before 2:30.  I gave Teresa my cedula and I went out to pay bills.

After withdrawing a little cash at Bancolombia I got in the preferred line.  The regular line was packed, probably an hour long, but there was no one in my line, just 2 guys presently talking to the teller.  Ten minutes later, when it was my turn, the teller told me I have to get in the main line.  I told her I’m over 65 years old but that didn’t help.

I walked about 4 blocks away to the Bancolombia across the street from Exito where there were just as many tellers but the line was shorter.  After a 15 minute wait I made my July health insurance payment of 110mil ($44).

I walked up to $efecty where after a 15 minute wait I paid the Direct TV and Une (wifi) bills.

I stopped at Todo Drogas where I bought the eye drops I need for next Wednesday’s eye surgery for 43,900 ($17.60).

Back at Nueva eps at 3:30, Teresa showed me her number was 63 but they were serving number 80.  I asked her did she miss her number and she informed me they are serving A80 and her number is B63.  Sigh!

The upstairs area was like a sauna, without any fans on, so I asked her if she would like some water or juice.  She said water so I searched a few local stores before finally finding a Bunuelo store with bottles of cold water.

When I got back to Teresa she was deep in conversation with a couple ladies sitting around her.  I gave her the water and told her I’ll be sitting downstairs – where it’s cooler.  Still, I spent a lot of time standing outside trying to catch what little breeze there was.  Now I know why Teresa asked if I wanted to wear shorts this morning.  I have to remember to do that for every trip to this Envigado Nueva eps.

At 4:30 I went back upstairs and asked Teresa if she would like anything.  She said juice so I walked down to Cosechas (sp?) where I picked up a large mango, banana, & papaya juice with ice cream (no sugar added).  On my way back I stopped at the local billiard parlor where I saw about a dozen chess games going on, in addition to billiards, and guys playing cards and dominoes.

I gave Teresa her juice and went back downstairs.

About 6pm it looked like they were closing as I noted some workers leaving and only about 6 people still in the waiting room.  Teresa finally came down at 6:10 (more than a 3 ½ hour wait) with another woman.

We walked a block away where Teresa made a couple copies of my Cedula and bought a large envelope and gave them all to the lady along with 5mil.  I understand somehow she is going to help get me my doctor’s appointment.

We walked over to Exito where we picked up a few things for 23,710.  As we were leaving Teresa saw some clothes in a store she wanted to look at.  I told her I would wait outside.  I sat near an older woman with 2 french poodles.  I took out a dog biscuit and asked if I could give it to them.  (I was going to break it in half.)  She told me she doesn’t like the dog food here in Colombia and she gets it all from the US.  Teresa came out and joined in the conversation.  I understood she lived in New York for a few years but has been back in Colombia for the last 27 years and she lives alone with her two dogs.

We took a taxi to the highway.  While waiting for a bus I heard a sound from the phone booth behind me.  I turned around and stuck my finger in the slot and withdrew 200 pesos (about 4 cents); my lucky day!

We quickly were on a direct bus back to the finca.  We were challenged by the killer dogs until Guillermo came out and yelled at them.  When he went back inside the rottweiler started coming at us again.

Back at the finca I understand we ran out of liquid propane gas so Felipe will bring more at 7am tomorrow.

I had a little tension headache behind my right eye so I took my sleeping pills at 10pm and went to bed at 10:15.