Monday, August 31, 2015

Sunday, August 30th, 2015

I had great difficulty getting to sleep, got up once at 6:30, finally got up at 9:45.

It was an overcast day which helped to keep the heat down. We left the finca at 11am, got past the killer dogs undetected and were on a Fredonia bus after a 5 minute wait.

We arrived at 12:15 55 minutes after we left. All small towns seem to have a public square (park) with a large church (usually on the east side for some reason). (One of my readers commented that In Latin America the main church almost always is located on the east side of the plaza central in the town so that during morning mass the sun, as it rises, shines in thru the rose window above the altar.

I may be wrong, but I suspect that this has something to do with honoring the glory of the Ressurection.) We went into the church obviously a little late and left about 25 minutes later. When we came out Teresa informed me this wasn’t Fredonia it was Venecia. I understand Fredonia is a little further up the hill. I saw 5 soldiers with semi-automatic weapons standing nonchalantly in the square. We walked around the square a little and finally settled on a small restaurant for lunch. I had soup, chicken breast, salad, French fries, and mango juice and Teresa had something similar for a total of 28mil (about $9). We both thought that was a little expensive for Colombia, especially for a small town. Teresa wasn’t impressed with the town at all (should have gone to Fredonia) so we had some ice cream and decided to head back to the finca.

The next bus was full and I didn’t want to stand for an hour so we waited about 45 minutes for the next one. When we finally got on the bus and were waiting for it to fill so we could leave, one of the soldiers came in and gave everyone a business card. It said “To you your freedom is paramount. For us, it is our reason for being. Help prevent and hijacks national hotline extension 147. Gaula Military Antioquia.” and included 4 cell phone numbers and 2 landline numbers. We finally left at 3:40 and were back to the sideroad an hour later. We ran into Don Carlos’ son and Malu on the way up the hill. I gave the latter a dog biscuit. Going up the last portion of the sideroad Don Carlos’ granddaughter came out to see the gringo. A very pretty but shy little girl about 6 years old. The killer dogs came out to hassle us as we passed Guillermo’s house. We got back to the finca at 5pm.

I finished watching Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 The 39 Steps (7.8) and then started watching 1936’s Sabotage (7.1) and Secret Agent (6.6) but I couldn’t get into them. 1937’s Young and Innocent (7.0) had no sound so I watched 1938’s Lady Vanishes (8.0).

I took my sleeping pills at 10:15 and went to bed.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Saturday, August 29th, 2015

I got up once at 4am, again at 7am (last time I have to get up early to take my prostate biopsy medicine) and then had trouble getting back to sleep, finally getting up at 10:25.

Teresa showed me a rat that the dogs had killed overnight. (I tried to include a picture here but the Upload process doesn't seem to be working correctly.)

Laura left the finca at 11:30 for her English lesson with Jhon.

Yesterday morning I received a voice mail message on my magicJack Chicago number inquiring about an apartment. Today I called them back and informed them the number they called isn’t the number they thought it was.

Teresa told me she would like us to go to Fredonia tomorrow then I’ll understand what this small town is like and we can attend mass there. As long as it isn’t raining - she wants to leave the finca at 10am; probably right after breakfast.

On the news, there was something about an auto accident in Medellin involving Tom Cruise’s production company.

I watched Woody Allen’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (6.7). Woody Allen must be an acquired taste; I think I need more time! Lol.

At 6:15 I tried to login to my Slingbox using Mozilla Firefox to watch the Chicago Bears game and I received the message “Your Slingbox has been disconnected because of a poor Internet connection. Try connecting again.” I tried using Internet Explorer and received the same message. I tried both again with the same result so I finally watched it on my iPad.

At 7pm I took the last tablet required for my prostate biopsy. Now I won’t have to wake up at 7am to take tablets anymore.

At halftime the Chicago Bears were losing 21-3 to the Cincinnati Bengals. I tried again to login using my laptop but was unsuccessful. I was going to recharge my iPad a little at halftime but I had 40% battery left (wish I’d paid more attention to what it was at the beginning of the game) so I decided to gamble on there being enough left to finish watching the game.

The Chicago Bears ended up losing 21 – 10 to the Cincinnati Bengals.

I had 23% battery left at the end of the game so I guess an entire game would use up less than 40%.

From the Alfred Hitchcock Collection I decided to watch them chronologically starting with 1932’s Number Seventeen (5.9) but the sound quality wasn’t very good and one of the characters English was too British for me to understand so I gave up.

Next up was 1934’s Waltzes from Vienna (6.1) but it was too dated for me. I started watching 1935’s The 39 Steps (7.8).

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Friday, August 28th, 2015

We had some heavy rain during the night. I got up once at 3am, woke up at 6:54, 6 minutes before my alarm was due to go off. After my shower and a granola breakfast we were out the door by 8:10 and got past the killer dogs undetected. I was ahead of Teresa coming down the hill and immediately flagged down a bus to Caldas. We walked a block to a nursery where Teresa picked out 2 large ceramic pots, a pot on a stand, some potting soil and mulch for about 135mil.

While she was doing that I walked a block to Consumo where I bought a 4-pack of AAA batteries and a bag of powdered milk for 27mil. Walter showed up with his taxi and Teresa went across the street and bought 2 33-pound bags of dog food for 73,600 pesos.

I sat in the front seat with the dog food because I believe his taxi has front wheel drive. Driving up the hill he had to stop and back up twice, probably due to last night’s rain, before finally making it all the way up. We were back at the finca by 10am and I gave him 25mil for his help.

Among the new US movie releases, I would like to see No Escape (6.9) and Z for Zachariah (6.4). Locally, there isn’t anything I want to see.

I took a nap from 11:30 to 1pm.

Teresa took a nap from 3 to 5.

I watched 50 First Dates (6.8). I know I’ve seen pieces of it before but don’t remember (uh-oh) seeing the whole thing before. Cute, unexpected ending.

I watched 3000 Miles to Graceland (5.9); it started slowly but then was worth watching.

I watched A League of their Own (7.2) with Tom Hanks.

The weekly close was 3,144.91 Colombian Pesos to the US Dollar; there was a big surge at the end so maybe the COP is going to fall closer to 3,000 next week.

T-shirt of the day: Don’t just dream of winning, prepare for it.

Friday, August 28, 2015

A Remade Medellin ... - Medellin Living News

The Colombian city of Medellín has gone through a drastic transformation from drug capital to forward-looking metropolis. This is especially true of the chic El Poblado neighborhood, where the streets are crowded with designer boutiques, cafes and restaurants with ample outdoor seating — because, well, there’s no reason to sit inside. Locals are extremely proud of the neighborhood’s progress in bringing global style to Colombia while maintaining local flair. The city’s perennially comfortable weather and luscious natural habitat have a decided influence on the way people dress, from airy fabrics to colorful prints. “The way people dress in this part of Colombia is all about layers,” said Amelia Ochoa, who was recently spotted in the neighborhood. This interview has been edited and condensed.

Amelia and Elisa Ochoa

Bloggers and founders of Sisterly Style

How does Medellín influence your style?

Fashion is ruled by the seasons, but we don’t have seasons. So really for us, we don’t care. We just wear whatever we want, whatever we like.

Tell us about your personal style.

We share our closet because we are the same size. I don’t know what’s going to happen the day one of us gets married or lives in different houses, because we share everything. You can see my style, I’m more classic, and Elisa is much more risky. We have the same wardrobe, the same pieces, so it’s like an exercise to see how she wears it and how I wear it.

New Netflix series Narcos - Medellin Living News

Colombia’s Medellin embraces Netflix biopic on Pablo Escobar

JOSHUA GOODMAN

BOGOTA — The Associated Press

Published Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015 2:17PM EDT

Last updated Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015 11:41PM EDT

When it comes to drug lords, there’s no matching Pablo Escobar. More than two decades after he was gunned down, his vast wealth, megalomania and ruthless violence still mesmerize, as evidenced by the attention surrounding Netflix’s upcoming series Narcos about the cartel boss.

The biopic promises to be an authentic portrayal of Escobar, so it’s only natural that Brazilian director and executive producer Jose Padilha chose to film the 10-episode series in Medellin, Colombia, the murder capital of the world during the drug kingpin’s heyday in the 1980s.

Filming the series here would have been unthinkable a few years ago, with Colombians still blaming Escobar for their country’s hard-to-shake association with drug trafficking. But as memories of Escobar’s terror campaign fade, and with the homicide rate at a decade low, Colombians are starting to view their violent past more dispassionately. So much so that cinema-loving President Juan Manuel Santos agreed to pick up $2-million (U.S.) in production costs so Netflix could film in the country.

The series, which debuts Aug. 28, is based on the account of Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, now retired Drug Enforcement Administration agents who were assigned to bring the drug lord down. It’s one of several projects reviving interest in the man known as the “King of Cocaine,” including last year’s film Escobar: Paradise Lost, starring Benicio del Toro. At least two more movies about Escobar are in development.

Because of the lingering sensitivities about the bad reputation Escobar gave Colombia, Netflix executives and Padilha flew to Bogota last year to meet with Santos before filming.

The president, whose family brought the Cinemark movie chain to Colombia, immediately embraced the project, said Claudia Triana, head of the state-funded Proimagenes film promotion agency. But Santos urged Padilha not to romanticize a criminal who promoted himself as a Colombian Robin Hood despite ordering thousands of people killed, from presidential candidates to passengers on a commercial jetliner he had blown up.

Triana said that no matter where the series was made it would have presented the same image of Colombia, so it was preferable to have it filmed here to make foreign members of the cast and crew more sensitive to the toll Escobar’s bloodbath had on society.

Netflix, with local production partner Dynamo, got the big subsidy to film under an initiative Santos’ government launched in 2013 to market Colombia as South America’s premier shooting location. The administration pays for up to 40 per cent of filming costs to foreign producers who hire local crews and spend at least $600,000 in the country.

While some officials feared the series would portray the country negatively, Triana said resistance to filmed depictions of Colombia’s violent history has eased in part because of wildly popular soap operas known as “narconovelas” that present an unvarnished view of the drug wars.

Still, Congressman Rodrigo Lara said he’s skeptical that Colombia’s complex history can be accurately rendered in a series whose trailer teases audiences in English: “There’s No Business Like Blow Business,” using a slang word for cocaine.

“When you take real events and convert them into several episodes for a TV series, the need to entertain and keep the audience hooked is always going to predominate,” said Lara, whose father, a justice minister, was slain by Escobar’s hit men in 1984.

Escobar’s son, who changed his name to Sebastian Marroquin and moved to Argentina after his father’s death, also questions how accurate the Netflix depiction will be.

“I’m not very convinced by stories sold as truthful that use my father’s name without authorization and purposefully ignore the main keepers of his memories: his family,” Marroquin said in an e-mail. He is the author of a book and documentary about his relationship with his father.

Pena and Murphy, who were technical consultants for the series, said Padilha and the actors worked hard to provide an accurate look at what was then the world’s largest manhunt. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, who stars as Escobar, studied Spanish in Medellin to approach the capo’s thick regional accent. Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook, who play Pena and Murphy, embedded with real-life anti-narcotics agents at the DEA’s academy in Quantico, Va.

Huge quantities of cocaine still flow out of Colombia and violence continues at chronically high levels. Last year’s homicide rate, while the lowest in a decade, was still almost six times that of the United States.

But the possibility of Colombia becoming a narco state, a real threat during Escobar’s time, has lifted, said Medellin writer Hector Abad Faciolince, allowing Colombians to view the drug trade more objectively.

“A few years ago we Colombians were overzealous when it came to displaying our sores, our vices and our wounds,” said Faciolince, whose father, a human rights activist, was killed by right-wing paramilitaries during an especially violent period that coincided with Escobar’s reign. “Now we handle it better because it seems that the worst is behind us.”

Tom Cruise in Medellin - Medellin Living News

Tom Cruise in Colombia for cartel-related movie, meets with Medellín mayor

Published August 24, 2015

EFE

Tom Cruise met with the mayor of Medellin, Anibal Gaviria, to discuss the filming of "Mena."

Actor Tom Cruise met with the mayor of the Colombian city of Medellín, Anibal Gaviria, on Saturday to discuss the filming of "Mena."
Cruise arrived on Thursday and plans to stay a few more days, according to the mayor.
"Mena," set to be released in January 2017, is a thriller about the life of Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug smuggler in the 1980s and who was recruited later on by the DEA to provide intelligence.
"It was a friendly and productive meeting that lasted more than an hour," Gaviria said, adding that Medellin Film Commission members and Dinamo Producciones executive Andres Calderon also took part in the gathering.
The 53-year-old actor thanked officials for their support and said he felt "comfortable" in the city, Gaviria said.
In "Mena" Cruise is set to play Seal, who worked for renowned cartel leader Pablo Escobar and later became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
"Cruise is living in Medellin. He's gone to different restaurants to eat and has spent time with the people," the mayor said.
The Hollywood star was impressed with the "beauty of the mountains" in Medellin, Gaviria said. "His comments about the city were positive and he has an extremely positive impression of Colombia."
Cruise shared some ideas about how to turn Medellin into the "film industry capital of Latin America," the mayor said.

Desfile de Silleteros - Medellin Living News

Desfile de Silleteros 2015: Highlight of La Feria de las Flores

Monumental silletas in the 2015 Desfile de Silleteros

August 18, 2015 By Jeff Leave a Comment

La Feria de las Flores began with Desfile de Silleteros (a flower parade) back in 1957, and slowly evolved into a 10-day affair with a myriad of events and parties to suit every paisa in Antioquia.
The 2015 Desfile de Silleteros took place on August 9, which was the last Sunday of La Feria de las Flores.
The 58^th edition of the parade this year celebrated that the “silletero” tradition has now been declared an Intangible Heritage of Colombia.
This year in the flower parade there were 420 adults, 30 children aged seven to 12 and 50 teenager aged 13 to 17. Organizers of the event estimated that more than 800,000 people watched the parade along the 2.4-kilometer route (1.5 miles) this year.
It’s a one of a kind parade where paisas of all ages carry flower displays on their backs, for hours. Everyone from little kids to women and men in their 60s and even older can be seen carrying the flowers.
The oldest this year was Pastora Zapata, an 88-year-old woman, who was participating in the parade for her 58^th time.
The flower arrangements are made in the nearby pueblo of Santa Elena and entered in a competition in various categories. There are a plenty of commercial displays too, which are advertisements made of flowers.
The tradition has its roots in the 19^th century when people in rural areas in Antioquia used these silletas (chair-like) contraptions to carry the sick and elderly.
Flower growers in Santa Elena were the first to use the silleta to carry flowers to Medellín’s markets.

58th Desfile de Silleteros – 2015

Photos from Desfile de Silleteros 2015

This year I was fortunate to receive a press pass as a writer for the Medellín Living website. The press pass enabled me to enter the barricades and take better photos on the street.
Since it was threatening rain this year, I went to the parade about 90 minutes early to enable buying a ticket to one of the stands in case it rained. I was able to find someone selling tickets for few dollars over the face value similar to my experience last year.
I waited in one of the stands for the parade to start, which started about 40 minutes later than the scheduled time of 2 p.m. Luckily it didn’t rain so I was able to spend much of my time in the street with the other press taking photos of the parade.

The Absolute Prize winner, Carlos Alberto Grisales Ramirez – for a traditional silleta

The Absolute Prize for the best flower arrangement in the parade this year went to a traditional silleta by artisan and flower grower Carlos Alberto Grisales Ramirez from the town of Santa Elena.
Additional prizes were awarded in the Emblematic, Monumental, Traditional, Commercial, Junior and Children’s categories, according to the type of flower-decked silletas.

Winners in the children’s category

Winners in the junior category

Some of the junior silletas

One of the older pioneer silleteros

Carrying a traditional silleta

Carrying another traditional silleta

Carrying a larger monumental silleta

Note that the silletas are heavy and can weigh up to about 160 pounds, which is why there are Colombian versions of boy and girl scouts walking along with the silleteros to help out.

Winners in the monumental category

Finalists in the monumental category

One of the many beautiful monumental silletas

Silleteros with traditional silletas

One of the commercial silletas

Dancers in the 2015 Desfile de Silleteros

In between the silleteros, you’ll see marching bands and dance troupes performing.
The parade this year had a number of dance troupes in colorful costumes demonstrating a number of Colombian dances.

Dancers in 2015 Desfile de Silleteros

Dancers in 2015 Desfile de Silleteros with colorful dresses

Purdue Marching Band, a long way from home

Purdue University’s Marching Band was in Medellín for several days, as can be seen in this calendar.
The band was towards the end of Desfile de Silleteros and I also saw them performing earlier in the week in El Centro in front of Museo de Antioquia.
The bottom line is that Desfile de Silleteros was the highlight event of the 2015 La Feria de las Flores and the parade was definitely worth seeing this year.

Classic Car Parade Photos - Medellin Living News

Classic Car Parade Photos – 2015

August 10, 2015 By Jeff 3 Comments

On Friday, August 7 of this year’s La Feria de las Flores (Festival of Flowers) was the Classic Car Parade (Desfile de Autos Clasicos).
The theme for the car parade this year was “Heritage on Wheels.” The parade in one sense is like a traveling museum of old cars.
The parade ran from the south in Envigado up through Poblado along the main strip, Avenida Las Vegas. The route was somewhat different this year compared to last year due to some road construction.
The parade is a very popular event every year and it is also family friendly so you will see many families with little kids.
Since the parade route is lengthy at about 22 kilometers you can walk along the route to find a less busy spot to get good views and enable taking better photos.
It is normally the busiest near the metro stations like the Poblado or Industriales.
I normally go to the Industriales station. This year, I walked from there and found a spot in front of the Bancolombia headquarters building under some trees that wasn’t very busy.

Watching the parade in front of Bancolombia’s headquarters building

Plenty of vendors will be walking around selling cold beers, water, sodas, ice cream, empanadas and other snacks, plus hats and sunglasses, which aren’t a bad idea given the strength of the sun.
The vehicles in the Medellín car parade come from several cities in Colombia. Besides Medellín, I saw several from Bogotá, Cali, and Cartagena.
The parade this year limited the number of vehicles to 200 in the old and classic categories. There reportedly was at least 260 total vehicles participating in the parade the year before.
About 40 percent of the cars in this year’s parade were in the parade for the first time and had not been in a previous parade. Many of the drivers and passengers in the vehicles in the parade are also dressed in period costumes.
Estimates are that over 1 million people viewed the Classic Car Parade in Medellín this year.

1927 Ford Model T, one of the oldest vehicles in the parade

Vehicle Categories

The vehicles in the parade fall in several categories, including:

Old vehicles – cars which are at least 35 years old and retain original specifications with the factory layout and operation.

Classic vehicles – cars which are at least 50 years old and also retain their original features and specifications with factory layout and operation.

Street rod vehicles – cars which are at least 35 years old and retain the completely original exterior and retain all its accessories, emblems, mirrors, bevels, Inside parts and mechanicals can change but these should not be noticeable from the outside.

Hot rod vehicles – cars that were completely changed in the mechanics, suspension and body, especially finishes such as paint and upholstery are very different from the original There is a limit of 25 cars in this category that are selected by a committee.

Vehicles produced, assembled or distributed in Colombia – cars included in this category must be at least 35 years old and at least 95 percent original in its mechanical and aesthetic parts (including painting).

There is also a special category for military Jeeps and Volkswagons.
For those interested in participating in the Classic Car Parade, a fee must be paid to the Museo del Transporte Fundación.
From April 1 to June 1 this year, the fee was 150,000 pesos ($50). This fee increased up to a maximum of 500,000 pesos ($170) if paid between July 2 to July 15.
The vehicle must also be accepted by a technical committee and a copy of the vehicle registration must be provided.
Some of the money collected for the parade was donated to the Santiago Children’s Heart Foundation.

Classic Car Parade Photos

1928 Pontiac

1930 Ford Model A

1948 Morris (a British car)

1952 Mercedes Benz 170S – one of several Mercedes Benz cars in the parade

1955 Willys M38A1 – one of several military jeeps in the parade

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

1965 Chevrolet Corvette – one of several Corvettes in the parade

1969 Cobra

1974 Volkswagen Safari

An old Coca Cola delivery truck from Bogotá

There were also a few party semis in the beginning of the parade

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

Last night was cold so I put on my socks before going to bed.

I slept well, getting up once at 6am, getting up again at 7am to take my prostate medication, finally waking/getting up at 8:50am.

Today I was successful getting into Slingbox from Mozilla Firefox.

There were lots of good articles in today’s Medellin Living News:

Tomorrow, August 28, sees the release of the new Netflix series Narcos which follows two DEA agents in the hunt to take down Pablo Escobar. Narcos was filmed on location in Colombia with the blessing of President Santos. I'm doubtful it will be better than the Colombian-made telenovela Patron del Mal, but given the power of Netflix distribution, it'll be much more widely viewed. Check out this positive review on The Verge for the trailer and details.

This month also saw Tom Cruise in Medellín to film scenes for Mena, which tells the story of Barry Seal, an American drug pilot for Escobar turned informant. Cruise even stopped into one of our favorite restaurants, Carmen, for a bite to eat.

But it's not all narco-culture. Some of Medellín's top fashion bloggers, including Laura Echavarria, were recently featured in a New York Times video.

And then there's the story of the falling peso. It's falling fast and hard against the dollar, breaking the 3,000-pesos-to-the-dollar mark for the first time in at least 10 years. The official exchange rate as I write you today is 3,261 pesos for every $1. The dollar's value is close to double what it was just 12 months ago.

I’ll post some of their articles after today’s post.

I called Slingbox about my audio problem: static from left channel but good audio from the right channel. They gave me some things to try which I emailed to my son in Chicago.

At 1pm it started raining and Teresa ran out to get the clothes off the line. Good news, no roof leaks. It stopped 30 minutes later.

I watched Rashomon (8.3) – boring! then Seven Samurai (8.7) – wow, 3 ½ hours long! It’s the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven.

Teresa and I were going to watch a movie delivered from my laptop but the batteries are dead on the TV remote control.

Tomorrow we leave early for Caldas to buy dog food and some plant pots. Also some AAA batteries. I understand we have to leave early in order for Walter to be available to bring us back.

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

T-shirt of the day: Aesthetics of assertion.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

It took me more than an hour to get to sleep, got up once at 2:45 and again had trouble getting back to sleep. I finally got up with the alarm at 5:30, took my shower, and we left the finca at 6:35am. It was very overcast and foggy but Teresa informed me we didn’t need an umbrella. We got past the killer dogs undetected and after a 10 minute wait we were on a bus to Envigado.

We took a taxi to Carbón de Leña where Olga met us after a short wait. She gave Teresa some information for which I gave her 20mil. (Teresa told me she’s poor, doesn’t have a house and I don’t know what else.) We checked the local internet café but it was closed. We took a taxi to Itagui where I paid 2,500 pesos to have my biopsy analyzed. Teresa told me the results would be ready early in September. Having seen a Servibanca ATM across the street I took out some cash hoping to get mainly small bills. Not! But this is the first withdrawal I’ve made where I got more than 3,000 pesos to the dollar. In fact, it was more than 3,100 pesos to the dollar.

We walked around trying to find an internet café and finally gave up and took a taxi back to Envigado. We got to the internet café at 9am just as it was opening. I gave the lady 19 pages to fax to the mortgage company in the US. While she did that from about 9:10 to 9:50 I printed out a copy of my flight iternary from my email account. I also noted that the internet café is on the corner of Calle 38 sur and Carrera 43. She charged me 66,500 pesos (about $22).

We walked a block away where Teresa bought some nail polish remover.

We walked down towards the Exito by the highway and since Teresa said she was hungry we stopped at El Bahia but it wasn’t yet open for lunch. We went next door to De La Barra but no luck there either. It was only 10:30 in the morning. We walked across the street to Exito and stopped at Juan Valdez where I had a muffin and she had a pastry and we shared a cup of coffee.

I couldn’t find dill pickles for my hamburgers but we picked up a number of other things. I noticed while waiting in line that cigarettes sell for about $1.25 a pack (Lucky Strike & Kool) compared to $11.50 in Illinois (probably more in Cook County (Chicago)). The US allows me to bring in 200 cigarettes without paying customs so that’s 10 packs. If I sell them in the US for $9 a pack I make more than $70. (Maybe they’re even cheaper if I buy a carton; maybe I can buy Marlboros.) Maybe this trip I’ll just buy one pack and see if it sells.

We took a taxi to the highway and right away we were on a van back to the finca. Interestingly we were the only ones in the van. On the way I noticed a service station (not sure if it was for cars or trucks) advertizing it’s open every day from 6am to 10pm.

Malu met us, with another small dog, as we were coming up the hill. I gave her a dog biscuit and while she was distracted I broke a dog biscuit in half and tossed it at the smaller dog but he reacted like he was afraid of it and Malu had time to get it. I also gave her the other half.

We got past the killer dogs undetected and were back to the finca by 12:30.

On the news, I saw a long line of cars and motorcycles in Venezuela waiting for gas tankers to arrive so they can fill up their tanks. (Similar to what happened in the US in the 1970s.) They also showed Colombians crossing the border back into Colombia because their houses in Venezuela have been marked for demolition. I guess the US isn’t the only country with border problems.

At 3:05 it started raining hard but stopped 3 minutes later.

I found some information regarding the PT and PTT blood test I underwent:

Prothrombin time (PT) is a blood test that measures how long it takes blood to clot. A prothrombin time test can be used to check for bleeding problems.

Thromboplastin is a plasma protein aiding blood coagulation through catalyzing the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin. It is a complex enzyme that is found in blood platelets and that functions in the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin in the clotting of blood.

The partial thromboplastin time (PTT) or activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT or APTT) is a medical test that characterizes blood coagulation. Apart from detecting abnormalities in blood clotting, it is also used to monitor the treatment effects with heparin, a major anticoagulant.

I finished watching A Knight’s Tale (6.9) and then I watched A Thousand Words (5.9).

I finished my Fritos (thanks son) with a bottle of Coke. Teresa wanted to cool it for me but she left it in the freezer for an hour and ice formed inside. Of course that changes the taste somewhat because it removes the carbonation.

I started watching A Perfect World but it didn’t have any sound. I started watching Addicted to Love (6.1) but the audio was in English and German – at the same time. I watched Airheads instead (6.0) – good cast but pretty dumb plot.

I took my sleeping pills at 10pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Be your own kind of beautiful.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

I got up once at 4am and had difficulty getting back to sleep, again at 7am to take my prostate biopsy tablet (have to continue for another week) and had trouble getting back to sleep, finally waking/getting up at 8:50.

Leonardo showed up at 9:30 to fix the leaks in the roof. As far as I can tell he just moves the tiles around.

Regarding yesterday’s procedure, this is what I learned from Wikipedia:

Ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy

The procedure may be performed transrectally, through the urethra or through the perineum. The most common method of prostate biopsy as of 2014 was transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate (TRUS) biopsy.^[3]
Extended biopsy schemes take 12-14 cores from the prostate gland through a thin needle in a systematic fashion from different regions of the prostate.^[4]
Antibiotics are usually prescribed to minimize the risk of infection. An enema may also be prescribed for the morning of the procedure. In the transrectal procedure, an ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum to help guide the biopsy needles. A local anesthetic is then administered into the tissue around the prostate. A spring-loaded prostate tissue biopsy needle is then inserted into the prostate, making a clicking sound. If local anesthetic is satisfactory, discomfort is minimal.
The tissue samples are then examined under a microscope to determine whether cancer cells are present, and to evaluate the microscopic features (or Gleason score) of any cancer found. Gleason score, PSA, and digital rectal examination together determine clinical risk, which then dictates treatment options.

Yesterday we ran out of dog food so I gave Laura 20mil to buy some today after school. I gave each of the terriers 2 dog biscuits to hold them over. Peter was elsewhere at the time and when he finally came back I tried to get him inside to isolate him from the others so I could give him his 2 dog biscuits. But Tony wouldn’t allow him inside and there was a fight, instigated by Tony, until Teresa poured water on top of him. I finally got Peter inside and gave him his dog biscuits.

Teresa received a phone call, probably from Olga, and she told me something about “change, Olga, tomorrow and Envigado”. So I guess we’re going to Envigado tomorrow for something.

I took a nap from noon to 1:15.

It started raining at 2:10 and when I went out back to retrieve mby towel Leonardo was cleaning leaves out from between the roofing tiles. Soon he was inside having a Tinto, the traditional Colombian cup of coffee. The rain stopped 15 minutes later and Teresa went with him down the hill, I believe to fix the water pipes. She had bought some connectors weeks ago. It started raining again at 2:55. It stopped 10 minutes later. She came in at 3:10 looking for the insect spray. I told her she should always keep it in the same place. She has a habit of moving things around like the cell phone, etc.

When they came back about 4pm I noticed Leonardo was scratching his arms all over. He went back to work on the water tubing. He finished at 4:45 and we can now use the toilet again. I think it was an outflow pipe that he fixed. Teresa paid him 80mil for his efforts.

Teresa showed me all the bites on her legs from bring in the garden – maybe I should call it what it really is – the jungle.

I reordered the bunsen burner gas igniter to be sent to my son.

I watched A Beautiful Mind (8.2).

I understand tomorrow we’ll be leaving early, meeting Olga at Carbón de Leña in Envigado, I’ll print and fax some documents and then we’ll go somewhere in Itagui to submit my lab samples. And she tells me she wants to leave at 6:45 in the morning, but I have no idea why so early. Something about it’s hard to catch a bus.

I started watching A Clockwork Orange (8.4) but I stopped after the first 7 minutes. I have recollections about this being a very violent film where a gang is bullying a family and the beginning didn’t improve on that impression. Despite its high rating I guess this will be one movie I’ll never see from start to finish.

I started watching A Knight’s Tale (6.9).

I set the alarm for 5:30am, took my sleeping pills at 10pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Run to me.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Monday, August 24th, 2015

My alarm got me up at 5:30 and I gave myself an enema, inserted something they call an “isodine egg” and went back to bed at 6am. I tried sleeping but got up again at 7am to take my usual tablet. I went back to bed and finally fell asleep, waking/getting up at 8:55.

I turned on the Today show and right away they had a Special Report that the stock market had fallen 1,000 points after it opened and had recovered a little but still was down 600 points. The COP that had closed Friday at about 3,097 was now at 3,227.09.

So, at 10:10am after I came out of my shower, Teresa informed me I probably won’t be able to have my exam today because we don’t have the results of PT, TPT tests, whatever they are. After all I went through to prepare for this exam, and now I might not be able to take it? Sigh!

We left the finca at 11:40 and got past the killer dogs undetected. We only had to wait 5 minutes for a bus to Mayorca CC (Itagui). We took a taxi to San Rafael Hospital #1 (Carrera 51A #45-51). We waited from 12:40 to 1pm for an office to reopen and then paid 20mil for the blood tests I need before my 2:30 prostate biopsy.

After a short wait I had my blood drawn for the required tests.

Remember the “dead muchacho”? Well, he was dead, then in a coma, then in intesive care, and now he’s fine and back at home. At least so I understand the reports.

We went to their cafeteria/restaurant where for 8,000 pesos ($2.50) Teresa had chicken soup, pork, rice, beet salad, carrot torta (torta means cake but this wasn’t cake), and juice while I read my Nook.

Back in the waiting room at 2pm we waited for my name to be called. Besides the usual seats they had a couple gurneys with people on them – probably waiting for their turn for some test.

I was called into the procedure room at 2:45. They asked me to remove my shoes, my pants, and my under pants and put on a robe, of course with the opening in the rear. They had me lie on a table with a pillow and face the wall. A woman came in, who spoke English, and she told me “it’s going to really hurt, but everything will be all right”! Well, that made me feel better. Lol.

After they prepared things for about 5-10 minutes finally she told me “okay, now we’re going in” and all I could think of was poor Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption. After moving around for awhile she told me they’re going to take the first of 14 cuts. I could kind of feel the “snip” but it wasn’t as bad as when she manuevered her “joystick” around to a new position for the next cut. Finally, after 5-10 minutes they were done and she told me I might have a little bleeding over the next day or two but that’s normal. They plugged me up with a wad of cotton and sent me on my way. Teresa gave me an extra pair of under pants I had brought with me and also a Kotex pad to line them. Very strange but it’s better than the adult diapers I wore last time.

First I went to the restaurant/cafeteria and had the same lunch that Teresa had only they gave me lettuce salad instead of beet salad.

We stopped at another office and they gave Teresa a container with my 14 prostate specimens. I’m not sure what she’s going to do with it.

Outside it was obvious it had rained and the taxi driver replied to Teresa’s query that it rained hard for about 45 minutes. At least now it was cooler than before. We took a taxi to Nueva eps in Envigado, I understand to switch appointments. She asked a receptionist a question and then we went outside and she called Olga.

We stopped at El Palacio Del Mango where Teresa ordered a fruit salad with ice cream (and cheese) for 8,500 which I helped her eat. We walked over to Carbón de Leña where we waited about 20 minutes for Olga to show up. They discussed things for awhile and then Teresa asked me to go make a copy of my Cedula. I did and it cost me 400 pesos for both sides to be copied onto one sheet of paper.

I gave Olga 5mil and we walked over to Exito where Teresa picked out a few things. We took a taxi to the highway and a Tratam bus was waiting for us. When we got off it was obvious it had rained hard there this afternoon also. The killer dogs heard us coming but Guillermo came out and yelled at them and they didn’t bother us any further. We got back to the finca just before dark.

The Colombian Peso (COP) closed over 3,100 and 3,200 for the first time at 3218.51 to the US Dollar (USD). It sounds like this is connected with the China stock market problem.

On the news they showed photos of Tom Cruise posing with some of Colombia’s armed forces.

I finished watching Backcountry (6.0) on Netflix.

I took my sleeping pills at 10pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Love conquers all.