Friday, May 13th, 2016

I got up about 6:30 having slept thru the night.  Rin Tin Tin (it sounded like a german shepherd) started barking a few minutes earlier.

I had breakfast (calentao) at Carbón de Leña and I picked up an order for Teresa who was organizing the apartment.

She sent me to Home Center for a small step ladder so she can reach the top shelves.  I stopped on the way in Exito to check out the washing machines and refrigerators.  The former are at a good price but the latter are expensive if you want a large one with an outside water/ice dispenser like I do.

In Home Center I found a small Energizer flashlight then I found a young lady who spoke English and she was very helpful following me until I had completed my purchase.  I found a small aluminum stepladder and the total came to 121,800 (about $43).  I asked the lady if there was a quicker way to the other side of Exito and she showed me another exit.  I got slightly lost going back to the apartment but my good sense of direction finally got me headed the right way.

A few minutes after returning Teresa sent me back to Home Center for a drill.  This time I changed out of my gym shoes into sandals, exchanged my jeans for shorts and my shirt for a t-shirt.  I was much more comfortable that way.  On my way I met and had an interesting conversation with a man who had lived in Curacao and he speaks English, Spanish, and Dutch.  In Home Center a young salesman helped me pick out a Skil power drill.  I also picked up some screws, screwdriver bits, and a couple more lightbulbs for 202,600 (about $71).  This time I headed out in a slightly different direction and found my way back with less difficulty.

Teresa sent me to Frisby to pick up some chicken.  Cutting through Parque Envigado I saw a man with a 5 gallon bucket throwing some type of food to the pigeons.  It was busier than O’Hare airport and I bet if I raised my hands I would have caught one of them flying over my head.

At Frisby I heard a woman mention that the wait for her order was 20 minutes but my order was ready in 3 minutes.

In the apartment at least, the temperature today only got up to about 78 degrees but it seemed warmer than that to me.  Today was partly cloudy – I wonder how warm it will get on a completely sunny day.

I didn’t see any water connection in the space reserved for the refrigerator so we probably won’t be getting one with an outside water/ice dispenser if that’s how they work.

Teresa had me helping her put up pictures in the hallway.  She wanted them grouped closely together with exact spacing between them – I understand that’s the Colombian way.  It was almost impossible to get the different sized frames equally spaced and I was forced to redrill holes a few times.

Today I’m exhausted – the soles of my feet are sore and my calves are tight so I told Teresa I wasn’t going back to the finca today.  (She didn’t either.)

We wanted to call the utilities to set them up for the apartment but the woman – Isabel – her telephone number is in my old cell phone that the thieves took.  I think we’re going to have to make a trip back downtown to the Intelligent Building.  At least I remember where it is.

We’re real short on closet space even though there’s more here than in other apartments we saw.  After all, we are moving from a house (finca) to an apartment.  There is a nook behind the door in the master bathroom that goes from floor to ceiling and is 2’2” wide and 2’ deep – perfect for shelves but, because it’s tiled, Teresa says we can’t put any holes in the walls.  I’m going to have someone build some custom shelving so we can store towels and stuff there.  Teresa suggested we have another closet built in the master bedroom – there’s a large nook there about 5’ wide by 2’ deep that I think we can use to build another small closet.

Teresa went to a beauty shop nearby for about an hour and fifteen mintues and got her hair and eyebrows done and a pedicure for 12mil (about $4).

She ate a piece of leftover chicken and suggested I go to Carbón de Leña for a burger.  I did and noticed there was a concert (classical music) in the park.  I brought a mango juice back to the apartment for her.

We received a notice last week that they are going to fumigate the building tomorrow.  She called Martha (the landlord?) and made some arrangements since we probably won’t be here tomorrow.

I think now we may be keeping the washing machine if we can get it moved here.  That would leave more money to buy a refrigerator.

Rin Tin Tin started his thing again about 9:30 and kept it up with another dog until about 10:15.

T-shirt of the day: Look for the answer inside your question.