Tuesday, December 29th, 2015

It took me some time to fall asleep.  I got up once at 2:30, again at 5:30 finally waking/getting up at 8:45.

I understand Martha will call us when my visa is ready for pickup.

Chuchu is here again today working in the garden.

We left the finca at 12:20 and got past the killer dogs undetected.  On the way down the hill Teresa saw an old fence post that she said she wanted for the kitchen fireplace.  We were on a bus after no more than a minute wait.  We were at Carbón de Leña by 1:05pm.  I wanted to call Alan and let him know I was there but after we ordered lunch Teresa took the phone and made a call.  Twenty minutes later I told her she’s been on the phone for 20 minutes and I have to call Alan.  Ten minutes later she finished and informed me she was talking to her mother.  Did she call her mother in the States with my cell phone?  I called Alan and he told me he was on the other side of town.  I asked him to call me when he got back because we would probably be around for awhile.

I went to Bancolombia where I paid my January health insurance after a 20 minute wait.  On my return trip I recharged my cell phone with 50mil.  When I got back to the restaurant Laura was also there finishing her lunch.  Teresa walked over to Nohelia to get her nails done and I went to the park to play chess.

As usual I had to wait a bit for my chance to play.  I played an elderly man and he had white and again I overlooked something and gave him my rook.  In the 2^nd game I had white and played my opening, we both castled kingside, I locked up the middle and managed to stop his threats on the king side but he had a definite advantage on the queen side.  He managed to get his queen pawn to the 6^th rank but I managed to stop his many threats and we exchanged queens and rooks.  I took his passed pawn and got one of my own.  He offered to exchange bishops but I think he miscounted the moves his king would have to make to my pawn and a couple moves later he resigned.  

Now when we started playing we were in partial shade but by the last game we were both sitting in the sun.  He was facing it and I had it beating on my back.  After we finished he said he wanted to go get a tinto (small, strong, hot cup of coffee).  I think he may have invited me but I told him I didn’t want anything hot.

After watching another game finish I played the winner and didn’t have much difficulty beating him in 2 games.  Then I played the loser and again didn’t have any difficulty.  By then Teresa arrived – 2 to 2 ½ hours later so I declined any further games.  I’ve noticed my games seem to attract a crowd.  Teresa told me that after waiting so long she still hadn’t gotten her nails done.  

We walked a couple blocks to Encanto Frutal where Teresa had a fresh fruit salad and I had a slice of hot apple pie with strawberries, ice cream and whipped cream for 17,600.

We walked over to Exito where I picked up a box of dog biscuits and got in line while Teresa picked up the other things.  I don’t know why the cashiers here are so slow!  

We quickly found a taxi down to the highway and after a 5 minute wait were on a direct bus back to the finca.  There was only one seat available so Teresa got it for the first half of the trip and I got it for the second.

Walking up the hill in the near darkness we saw a fire on the hill on the other side of the highway.  There have been a lot of forest fires in Colombia recently, but this one being so close to houses, I hope it was controlled.  I reminded Teresa about the fencepost and she carried it up the hill.  We were surprised to find a new floodlight at the top of the hill where we leave the sideroad.  It gave us enough light so we could even see an additional 100 feet going down the hill.

At one point Teresa said something about the dogs.  I said “sh” and she motioned behind me and there was the black dog expecting a dog biscuit.  Sorry, but they’re in a plastic bag under the eggs so you’re going to have to wait until tomorrow.  Other than barking twice there was no other dog or barking or any aggressiveness.  I’ll be sure to reward him tomorrow with a dog biscuit.

We were back at the finca by 7pm.

Teresa talked to Albero and I understand he’s going to meet us at Carulla in El Tesoro tomorrow at 3:30 to return my money.

I took 2 sleeping pills at 10:30 and went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: My team is better than yours.