Tuesday, January 5th, 2016

I got up once at 3am, couldn’t get to sleep so I got up at 4am and took 1 more sleeping pill, and fell asleep by 4:30.  I got up once more at 6:30 finally waking/getting up at 8:15.

We left the finca at 9:30 and I gave the black dog 2 dog biscuits.  We had a 15 minute wait for a Caldas bus.  We got off at the triangle, walked a block to the police table and 10 minutes later were on a bus.  Teresa and I had a difference of opinion as to which station is closer to Unicentro CC – Aguacatala (my choice) or El Poblado (Teresa’s choice).  (Back at the finca, while El Poblado is closer than Aguacatala, I found Industriales is even closer.)  We got off at Aguacatala and the bus driver agreed with Teresa but maybe he just wanted the fare.  

On our way down Carrera 70 we drove past a Price Smart (like Costco) and a water park that Teresa said is Parque Juan Pablo Segundo.  We got off at Unicentro CC and walked a block to Martha’s office.  I picked up my passport with the new visa inside and the papers needed to apply for my Cedula.  They consisted of a 2-page form, a copy of my old and new visa from my passport, and a copy of my old Cedula.  Martha confirmed that in two more years I can apply for residency.

We went to the Exito food court for lunch where Teresa had the fish combo special and a Colombiana.  I first saw something that looked like ham with spaghetti then I saw pans of baked lasagna then I saw large (about 6” x 6”) slices of pizza.  One looked like it was topped with bacon but the lady told me it was ham.  Another looked like it was topped with pepperoni but the lady said it was salami.  I took the latter with a small Pepsi and it was tasty although I couldn’t quite finish it.  The total lunch cost 28,890 (about $9). 

In Exito I picked up a jar of Smuckers Strawberry Preserves and Teresa picked up a package of milk, a package of arepas, 2 packages of Tang, and 3 packages of plastic gloves.  

We took a taxi to the immigration office in Belen and arrived at 12:40 for my 1:30 appointment.  I talked to a few other gringos there and they had 9am and 9:30 appointments and were just being served.  One man I met had my same middle name and the rest of his name was Richard Simmons.  Lol.  We were finally served at 4:10, they approved my paperwork and I charged 162,000 to my debit card for my Cedula.  Now I just have to wait a couple weeks for it to be ready to be picked up.

We took a taxi to Ragged where Teresa looked at clothes.  We stopped across the street where we shared a pastry and bottle of Colombiana.  We walked a block to a store called Phax where Teresa looked at more clothes.  We took a bus (traffic was very heavy) to the Aguacatala station and were on an express bus after a 10 minute wait.

We got past the G-dogs undetected and were back at the finca by 7:30.

I got an email notice from MBE to pay my December, 2015 monthly rental.  I paid it at the same time as the November rental so I sent them a photo of my receipt.

I took 2 sleeping pills with my Tamsulosin at 10:30 and went to bed at 11:15.

T-shirt of the day: Sorry I’m fresh.