Thursday, April 7th, 2016

21 days and counting!

I slept pretty well despite getting up 3 times during the night.

We left the finca at 1pm, I gave each of the black dogs a dog biscuit and right away we caught a bus to Medellin.  The guy got on that sells toothbrushes and floss.  I’m tempted to give him a little of my Glide floss to try in comparison to the junk they sell here – yes, I’m talking to you Oral-B.  I did buy a small package of fresh potato chips for 2,000 pesos just in case we don’t have time to have lunch before Teresa’s 3pm appointment.

We got off at the La Estrella station.  On the train a woman sat down next to me holding an 18 month old girl.  It infuriates me to know that in 6 months the girl will speak better Spanish than me.  The girl was fussing a bit so Teresa gave her my unopened bag of potato chips.  That shut her up.

At the San Antonio station we got off the metro and transferred (no extra cost) to the west line metro.  On the train was a gringo talking on his cell phone.  I thought he had finished so I tapped him on the shoulde and asked from where he was from.  He motioned to tell me that he was still on the phone.  We got off the train at the Stadium station and he was still on the phone.  We took a taxi towards her doctor appointment but Teresa changed her mind and we stopped at a restaurant called Mondongos where she had mondongo and I had chicken breast.  All the food was very good and the total bill came to less than $20.  (For more details wait a couple days and then go to tripadvisor.com, enter Medellin, Colombia, South America and Mondongos and you will see my review.)  While we were eating a couple young (25ish) gringos came in with a couple young gringas (20ish) and a young Colombiano who I’m guessing was their translator.

We took a taxi to the doctor’s office and while Teresa had her facial, or whatever she was getting, I sat in the lobby and read my Nook book.

Afterwards we walked a block away, crossed a very busy street, and then I had my signed Signature Form scanned and copied to my flashdrive for 1,000 pesos (about 30 cents).

We took a taxi to the Poblado bus stop.  I ran across the street and bought a bottle of water for 2,000 pesos and we caught a Tratam bus right away.

We got off at the sideroad, I gave each of the black dogs a dog biscuit and we were back at the finca at 6:20 – just before dark.

I put Peluche and Luna in the doghouse.

I emailed my signature form and ordered a check to my tax accountant, sent an email about an error in the March Chess Life magazine, wrote up a restaurant review for TripAdvisor and wrote up these notes for my blog.

Teresa opened a side window because she felt too warm.  After a while I noticed an insect – best described as a flying ant – flying around me, my laptop and the fluorescent lightbulb above me.  She closed the window but over the next hour we killed (swatted, stepped on) dozens of these insects in the kitchen and around my laptop.  I closed the bedroom door so we wouldn’t be bothered with them during the night.  Teresa said something about because it was summer.

T-shirt of the day: I’m expensive but I’m worth it.