Saturday, November 14th, 2015

I got up at once at 3am, a second time at 6:30 finally getting up at 9:50.

Teresa told me she lived the first 3 years in the finca without electricity; with her 2 children, one of which was autistic.  She said they went to bed every night at 6pm.

We left the finca at 1:05pm and were met by the killer dogs.  I gave each of them a dog biscuit and we were on our way.  Going down the hill we could see they’ve made more progress on fixing the sideroad but there’s a lot more to go before Walter would be able to get his taxi up the hill.  

After a 2 minute wait we were on a bus to Envigado.  I saw kids playing on the new soccer field.  So going from east to west there is the new grass soccer field, the highway, the old grass soccer field (still being used) and an old smaller dirt soccer field.

We got off by Home Center and walked to Exito for lunch.  I had a Frisburrito and large Pepsi and Teresa had a Frischuleta, soup and juice.  She shared some of her chicken and soup with me.  The total was 38,800.

We walked over to Home Center and while Teresa was in the nursery I asked a nearby salesman if they sold extension poles (poste de extensión).  He sent me down to the first floor.  On the way I got excited when I saw a man demonstrating frying pans by making French toast.  A salesman downstairs said they were upstairs in the nursery.  He took me upstairs and just outside the nursery we didn’t find any extension poles but I did see the fruit picker basket for 17mil I was looking for to go with the extension pole.  My plan was to use it to get those lemons highest up on the trees.  Teresa saw me with the fruit picker basket and explained to me that this wasn’t a good idea because the trees belong to Guillermo.

Teresa had found a small plant she liked in the nursery and I showed her the man cooking French toast.  I had already showed her how to make it but she listened to the man’s speel and then told me she would make it for me tomorrow.  Guess what he put on the French toast - apple slices and arequipe.  Teresa told me she wanted the frying pan and to buy it and come back with the receipt.  After a few minutes in line I bought it for 29,900 and went back to the salesman and he gave us another smaller pan to go with the larger 26cm pan.  

We also saw a man demonstrating a machine that cleans by spraying hot water.  Just like you see in the TV commercials.

Downstairs Teresa unsuccessfully looked for some type of plastic and I noticed the extension poles in the paint department.  

We stopped in the bathroom supply area where they had gas hot water heaters.  My first concern is where would the gas come from?  My second concern is it doesn’t make sense to buy it if all she wants is a hot water heater for the guest bathroom shower.  I told her I don’t even know if my brother and friends will stay overnight in the finca.  My third concern is if it’s for the entire finca I’m pretty sure we would need an extra set of pipes to carry the hot water separate from the cold water.  I think maybe she figured that out by the time we left that area.  

When we got to the registers to purchase the plant the lines were so long that she just put the plant down and we left.  I told her she should have given me the plant earlier to purchase at the same time as the frying pan.

In Exito, while Teresa did some shopping in the women’s clothing section, I stopped in a copy center called Auros Copias where I printed 3 more pages of chess notes for 450pesos.  Teresa found a blouse and a jeans jacket she liked, for 69,900 each.  

We picked up another package of arepas and a dozen eggs.  Walking to the cashier I heard a man say “come here”.  I asked him where he was from and he said he’s originally from Medellin but has lived in North Carolina for the last 11 years.  While in line Teresa told me she forgot to pick up bread so I hustled over and picked up a loaf and got back before she checked out.  She then told me she forgot hamburger and buns and I made another trip just before it was our turn to check out.

We took a taxi to the highway and as Teresa was getting out she bumped one of the grocery bags to the ground.  It happened to be the one with the eggs.  Luckily, this particular package was like the ones we use for eggs in the US and later we found we only broke one.

We caught a bus after a short wait.  It was very cloudy walking up the hill and I just hoped it wouldn’t start raining.  We’ve been very lucky in that respect so far.  The killer dogs heard us coming but only the black dog came out and gave us a hard time but I didn’t get an opportunity to give him a dog biscuit.

We got back to the finca by 6:30.

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

T-shirt of the day: Niagara Falls.