Saturday, July 30th, 2016

The Peso closed for the week at 3,090 to the Dollar.

I put on my shorts, sleeveless t-shirt and sandals.  When we left the apt just before 9 in the morning the skies were very overcast.  Teresa said we didn’t need an umbrella.  After a 5 minute wait we were on a bus to the metro.  At the metro I bought a new 10 ride ticket but used up the last rides on my old one to get us on the metro.  At San Antonio we transferred to the west line and got off at Estacion Estadio (Stadium Station).  We looked around the area for the restaurant El Viejo y El Pancake but couldn’t see it.  At a corner I confirmed that we had the right address – Calle 48 & Carrera 70, but where is local 00?  We walked back to the station and walked around it to the other side.  We saw lots of people that Teresa understood were waiting for a bus to Santa Elena (the town nearest to Parque Arvi).  We decided we would take that trip someday.

Finally I spotted the restaurant – the westernmost one – and we were there by 9:30.  I wanted to try their hashbrowns but the owner informed me it would take 25 minutes for him to hand make them so I switched to Potatoes O’Brien with 2 eggs over easy, American sausage and coffee.  The other side of the menu was in Spanish and Teresa ordered a burrito and coffee.

We received a phone call from Julian and he invited us somewhere tonight.  I had trouble understanding his accent on the phone so I let Teresa take care of all the details.

All the food was good, Teresa really enjoyed my potatoes and wants me to find the recipe online.  The only negative is the inside of the sausages were a little pink and I thought they could have been cooked a little longer.

Instead of walking back to the corner and going to the chess league office my usual way I headed straight across the street towards the Stadium.  I saw a fountain that I don’t remember seeing before.  There was one of those maps with “you are here” and I found the chess league office.  I told Teresa we should go counter-clockwise around the stadium and she believed we should go clockwise.  She talked to a policeman and when I showed him the map he agreed that my way was fastest.  We ended up walking a little too far, asking directions from another policeman and finally we found our way to the office.

Teresa had already talked to Laura, the secretary, several times, I had my cedula and my 77,000 pesos so I don’t know what the problem was.  Someone found Jeronimo, a man who spoke good English, and he helped me sort things out.  I didn’t really learn anything new except that I am still unrated and the first game on Wednesday starts in the evening not the morning.

I received a receipt for my payment and Laura handed Teresa a schedule.  Later I looked more carefully at the schedule and I learned that Saturday’s 2^nd game starts at 4pm and Sunday’s games are at 8am and noon.  Closing ceremonies and awards are at 5pm.  The official title of the tournament is the 22^nd open amateur Flower Fair 2016 tournament. 

I tried to use the outside restroom and found it locked.  A security guard pointed in the direction of other restrooms.  We passed the table tennis building and I remembered using a bathroom inside so I walked back to the entrance and went inside.  Some type of pingpong competition was going on with people even sitting in the bleachers.  After my trip to the restroom we continued walking towards the street and I noticed the public restrooms.  We saw another private security man with a muzzled German shepherd.  I gave him 2 of my small dog biscuits and one at a time he squeezed them inside little holes in the mask for the dog.  Teresa talked to him a bit and at one point he went inside a shed, left the dog there and brought out a bottle of SPF 35 sun screen.  Teresa didn’t seem to like it.  I gave the guard the last – 5 – of the dog biscuits I had with me.  We said goodbye and walked the one long block back to the metro which we took back to San Antonio station.  We walked downstairs and I realized we were on the wrong side of the tracks so we had to go back up and over and down to the other side. 

At the Envigado Station I encouraged Teresa to take the south exit and we took a Metro bus back to Parque Envigado.  From there it was a short walk back to the apt.  We were back at the apt by 1:30.

Julian called again and Teresa firmed up the directions and all I know is we are leaving the apt between 4:30 and 5pm and going to Medellin for something to do with the flower festival.

I finished Elie Wiesel’s Night (it was only 113 pages) and downloaded Sidney Sheldon’s Are you Afraid of the Dark?

Julian and his girlfriend Ana Maria, who doesn’t speak English, showed up about 5pm.  We took 2 separate taxis to a large park near the Price Smart (like a Costco) store.  There was a very long and wide line to buy tickets to get in.  My best guess as to what was on the other side of the fence was a carnival – I could see tent tops peeking over the fence and I could hear music.  And then we felt a few raindrops.  We decided to go have a drink at one of the bars across the street.  We walked a few blocks until we found the one that Julian had seen from the street.  The music was very loud making it difficult to talk.  Julian said this bar is a fonda.  I told him I looked up the word and it translated as an inn – a bar with rooms to rent.  He said it’s more than that it has an architectural style particular to the coffee region.  He mentioned Salento – a town I’ve heard mentioned before.

He suggested we go to Santa Elena (near Parque Arvi) tomorrow using a bus we can catch at Parque Poblado at 8am.  He said it would only cost 70,000 pesos per person.

I learned that his gf Ana Maria was leaving soon to spend a year in Australia learning English.  (Imagine the accent she’s going to come back with.)  It sounded like a similar arrangement that the 3 of us explored in Parque Lleras a year or so ago.  I asked Julian if he’s going to be sad that she’s gone and he told me he has 4 other girlfriends.

We each had a couple drinks and then we walked back to the park.  The line was shorter but just as wide.  Julian walked to the front of the line and came back and reported that it’s a long line.  I walked to the front and yes the line is long.  We decided it would be better if we didn’t stay up too late tonight since we have to get up early tomorrow.  

He asked me if I liked pizza (Is the Pope Catholic?) as he knew a good pizzeria in Envigado.  All the ladies got into one taxi (presumably because Ana Maria knew where the place was) and Julian and I got in the other.  He told me the place is called Oliva – like Popeye’s girlfriend’s name.  I told her name is Olive Oil not Oliva so I was looking for a restaurant named Olive Oil.  It turned out it is called Oliva.  They put our party of 5 on a waiting list and about 20 minutes later we were seated.

They had a large menu of drinks, appetizers, pizzas and pastas.  We were told by the waitress that they were individual pizzas – only 6 slices.  Well, you can cut large or small pizzas into 6 slices so that doesn’t tell you much.  They had lasagna that I would like to try but everyone was talking about how good their pizza was.  I told Julian if he ever finds a pizza place that serves Italian sausage to let me know.  They had about 3 pages of different kinds of pizzas and one looked intriguing.  I questioned Julian about it and he translated a couple words as “Italian sausage”.  I ordered it – mozzarella, sweet tomatoes, and Italian sausage – and I wasn’t disappointed.  The pizzas were definitely large enough for 2 people – 3 people if you order appetizers or dessert.

Julian told me the only problem with tomorrow is if there isn’t space on the bus because we don’t have a reservation.  He suggested he drive and we can leave at 9am instead of meeting in Parque Envigado at 8am which will give everyone at least an hour more sleep.

We got back to the apt by 10pm and went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: I solemnly swear I am for nothing bad first.

Joke

I rear ended a car this morning...the driver got out of the other car, and he was a DWARF!!

He looked up at me and said "I am NOT Happy!"

 
So I said, "Well, which one ARE you then?"

That's when the fight started.

Friday, July 29th, 2016

At the health club I met Gilbert, a man who spoke a little English.  He has sisters in Miami and Syracuse, New York that he has visited.

Among this week’s new US movie releases I would like to see Jason Bourne (7.6) and Nerve (7.2).

Locally, there isn’t anything I want to see.

Late in the afternoon I went to the park and played 5 games, winning them all, from a man who played with our group against the International Master.

Teresa and I started watching Nymphomania, Vol 1 on Netflix but we didn’t finish it.

T-shirt of the day: I never liked you.

Thursday, July 28th, 2016

Correction!  Last night the fireworks started again before we went to bed at 11pm.  Not to mention the horns honking, people yelling, and plastic horns tooting.  It didn’t stop until 4am.  

I got up at 8:15 and after my shower Teresa told me she needs a package of arepas for breakfast, a few ripe tomatoes and a ripe avocado for lunch.  It was 8:30 and the Today show starts at 9.  I walked to Exito, they didn’t have any ripe avocados but I did pick up the ripe tomatoes and package of arepas she wanted.  I also picked up a package of eggs, a small bag of granola, a bottle of mild salsa and another loaf of the cereal bread.  There was only one other man ahead of me in line and I was back at the apt by 8:52.

After an hour watching the Today show Laura went with me to pick up my repaired sandal.  The “shop” was about 4 blocks away and it only cost 4,000 pesos (less than $1.50).  In the US it would probably cost me $10-$20 and I would have to wait a week.  We walked to the corner by the gym where Laura picked out a ripe avocado for 3,000 pesos.  She went on to the gym and I returned to the apt.

In the afternoon I went to the park and won 3 games against the young man with the Apple watch.  I then stopped and had a color copy made of my cedula and had it laminated.  This is what I’ll carry with me most of the time and I’ll leave the original in the apt.

I had Teresa call the Chess League of Antioquia at the Stadium and ask about upcoming chess tournaments.  I understand there is a 9 game tournament this Sunday but they are 10 minute games and those are way too fast for me.  The next tournament coming up is next Wednesday thru Sunday with games at 10am and 6:30pm.  That sure leaves a lot of time in between.  The games are 60 minutes plus 3 seconds are added for each move you make.  We are going to stop there Saturday morning to register.

Tonight for dinner I had 2 pieces of sweet corn that I bought at Exito.  It was much better than what I had from Merkepaisa.

I watched Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

T-shirt of the day: Speed limit 55.

Wednesday, July 27th, 2016

Went to the health club and again I wasn’t able to use the leg extension exercise machine.  It seems to be the most popular machine there.

When I got back to the apt I moved my water bottle from the refrigerator to the freezer.  After lunch I removed the water bottle and it was colder but still not frozen.  Teresa suggested I take the bus to the metro station so I won’t have to walk all that way.  Great idea!  I left the apt just after 1pm, walked a short distance to the bus stop, waited about 4 minutes for a bus, paid 1,800 pesos (about 60 cents) and was at the metro in about 4 minutes (most of that time was waiting at red lights).

At Dario’s shop I had the white pieces first and altered the order of my moves and he wasn’t able to give me the early pressure he usually does and I won that game by smothering his king.  With black I tried to play a strange opening that the “russian” had used against me and I ended up winning that game also.  We made plans to meet again next Wednesday and I left the store but stopped at the mall to use their restroom.  (It’s best not to take chances with my enlarged prostate.)  I asked one of the policemen standing at the entrance for directions and he walked me towards the rear of the building jabbering nonstop in Spanish.  I asked him if he spoke English and he smiled and said “no”.  

Background: There are a lot of television commercials centering around learning English.  Some are clever like a pillow that you sleep on and when you wake up you can speak English.  Or a pill you take that allows you to speak English.

After using the bathroom I stopped back at the front and opened my pill container in front of the guard and asked him if he would like a pill that would allow him to speak English.  It took him a second to get it and then he started laughing.  He was sharing the joke with his partner as I left.

Back at Estacion Envigado I walked to the north end of the station and asked a bus driver if he is going near Parque Envigado.   He said yes so I paid my 1,800 pesos.  The bus went basically right up the hill and I got off at the park and just had to walk a few blocks to the apt.  I still felt warm by the time I got back but at least I didn’t feel like I was in dire need of a shower.  Next time I’ll try taking the bus from the south end of the station and see if it follows the same route.

Tonight Atletico Nacional is playing again for the league championship.  I checked the TV directory and it looks like they will start about 7:45.  I also noticed the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs play tonight – probably a 7:05 start.  I also want to watch some more of the Democratic National Convention via my son’s slingbox.

At halftime Atletico Nacional was ahead 1-0.  I guess they won because from 9:30 on it’s been literally nonstop fireworks.

The president’s speech ended at 10:41 local time just as the fireworks stopped.

T-shirt of the day: Support our troops.

Tuesday, July 26th, 2016

I understood Teresa wanted to go to Home Center to look for something.

I told her my TV programs would be over at 10:30 and we could go then.  After lunch she still didn’t seem on the verge of going.  I went to the park and won 5 games against a young man who was good but sometimes missed a few things.  I then lost 2 games against another man who seemed to always be in control.

I received an email that the book I ordered has shipped.

I finished Patricia Cornwell’s The Body Farm and downloaded Elie Wiesel’s Night.

We watched Malice (6.4) on Netflix.

T-shirt of the day: Stop dreaming.  Start doing.

Monday, July 25th, 2016

As usual I got up 2-3 times during the night to pee.  I remember being vaguely aware of hearing dripping somewhere but didn’t think anything more of it.  

I was awakened briefly by Teresa pushing something heavy around.  I got up at 7:30 to find the small sofa in our bedroom pushed up towards the door and a plastic pot on the floor with an inch of water in it.  I looked up at the ceiling and saw water stains and dripping.  Teresa wasn’t anywhere to be seen but came back 10 minutes later with the news that the neighbor above had a flooded floor – something about her husband (not being there or repairing something) and they were mopping up the water.  I asked her if she called Martha the owner and Teresa said “no” I understand it’s the tenant’s liability.

It was very overcast in the morning but it soon cleared up.

I was wondering if the workmen were going to remove the slippery tile sidewalk for the building next door and they have already done it.

At the health club I weighed in – back to 77 kilograms.  I increased the treadmill time another minute to 18 minutes.

I understand Laura dropped off my sandal and it should be repaired and ready for pickup on Wednesday.

Teresa and I had lunch at the garage restaurant and brought back an order for Laura who spent the morning taking care of kids.

Teresa and I left to pick up the remodeled kitchen chairs.  I asked Teresa if we were going to Caldas but she said its closer.  The taxi went south on Avenida Las Vegas and took the new bridge over the highway and we entered the border of the small town of Tablas.  We stopped at a carpenters store, I paid the taxi driver 12,000 pesos and we were shown the 6 chairs for the dining table.  I think Teresa had them made more rustic looking by removing the leather backs and seats and replacing them with wood.  (Boy, the wood they use here is solid and heavy.  I certainly won’t be spending much time sitting in those chairs.  Simply, eat and get up.)  I paid 500,000 pesos for the remodeling work, they put them in the back of a pickup truck and they dropped us and them off at the apt for 35 mil.

I ordered a book titled The English Opening volume 1 by Mihail Marin for $17.63+$3.99 shipping through Amazon.

I watched some of the Democratic National Convention starting with Paul Simon singing Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

T-shirt of the day: Meow or never.

Sunday, July 24th, 2016

I forgot to mention the Colombian Peso closed for the week at 2,949 to the Dollar.  That’s still pretty high.

I left the apt about 1pm to play chess in the park.  One of the young men I noticed was wearing an Apple iWatch – some people here have money.  I won one game against one man and another game against a 2^nd man.   During the 2^nd game against the 2^nd man it started raining.  He used his cell phone to take a photo of the position and then he and another man I knew from the simultaneous led me a block south of the park to the billiard parlor.  We set up the position on a chess table in the back.

After playing for over an hour he thought he could win with just his rook against my knight.  I kept offering him a draw and finally an hour later he made a mistake and I forked his king and rook and with only king vs king it was definitely a draw.  (I learned later that the chances of a draw are 71% - the king and rook can win if they can drive the knight away from the king.)  It was still raining as I walked back to the apt.

I finished Nelson DeMille’s By the Rivers of Babylon and downloaded Patricia Cornwell’s The Body Farm.

Teresa doesn’t like all the fat that comes with pizza but I told her I still want to order it once a month.  We tried ordering from Pizza Americana but they don’t deliver to Envigado.  I think their nearest location is in Itagui.  So we ordered from Jeno’s which has a location on Avenida Poblado in Envigado.  It arrived on time in an hour and it cost 30,000 pesos for the pizza, 5,000 for the bottle of soda, 3,000 for tax, and 3,000 for the delivery for a total of 41mil.

I received an email from Julian, the new lawyer I met on the bus last week.  I suggested we exchange phone numbers and meet Tuesday afternoon for coffee, talk and a game of chess.

We watched The Perfect Host (6.8) on Netflix; a very interesting movie with lots of plot twists.

T-shirt of the day: Week end.

Saturday, July 23rd, 2016

After breakfast Teresa and I went to La Vaquita in downtown Envigado where we bought a lot of groceries.

I met Chuck at Bartollo’s Bar next to the park.  All the tables were taken so we went to a bakery up the street.  We talked for about an hour.  He and his wife leave tomorrow to go back to the States; they’ll return in November.

After lunch I went to the park to play chess.  I played some pretty strong players and I think the final score was 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw.  I finally beat the “russian” in a close game.  I didn’t get back to the apt until 7:30.

T-shirt of the day: #Hashtag.

Friday, July 22nd, 2016

Among new US movie releases there isn’t anything I want to see.

At 11:30 I went with Teresa and Laura and made the next month’s payment for the health club.  They stayed for a noon exercise class and I went to Carbón de Leña for lunch.  I stopped at the apt and picked up my Envigado chess set and chess clock.

I stopped at the tourist office and again at 1:15 it was closed.

Dario and I played 2 games – each of us won with black.  I left the Envigado chess set there so I don’t have to carry it back and forth – just the clock.

I stopped once again at the tourist office and this time they were open.  The lady didn’t speak English and didn’t have any maps but she gave me some more tourist information about Envigado.

I got back at the apt by 5pm and needed another shower.

Teresa and I started watching Contagion (6.6).

Laura left about 8:30 to go to Parque Lleras to dance with gringos.

T-shirt of the day: Fire or fly.

Thursday, July 21st, 2016

It rained during the night and was still raining lightly in the morning.  I understood everyone decided to leave early – at 10am.  The bus pulled out at 10:10am.  At 11:30 we stopped at the town of Urabá for lunch – I understood we were to meet back at 1pm.  What? 90 minutes for lunch?  What actually happened is the ladies shopped for more than an hour then squeezed in a quick lunch.

We got back to our original meeting spot in Medellin at 10 and were back at the apt by 10:30.

Workers had finished the sidewalk remodeling in front of our building and were working on the building next to ours.

T-shirt of the day: Proven turf.

Wednesday, July 20th, 2016

We slept well again getting up at 7am.  Others went on a trip to a better beach but I understood its 3 hours away so we skipped it.

There were a lot more people on the beach today – especially children.

I finally realized that today is Colombia’s Independence Day.

Today there were a lot of plants and what looked like vomit floating up on the beach.  When I splashed water on the latter I found out it was just made up of bubbles.  Teresa explained it all drifted in from some river.

Again we had lunch in the cabana.

I ate the bag of Maizitos (kind of like Fritos but not as tasty) that I had brought with us.

In the cabana next to us was a dark skinned man with what I saw was 3 very young boys also dark skinned.  Teresa excused herself and a few minutes after she returned a couple policemen arrived and talked to the man.  Teresa whispered to me that she believes he’s stealing children.

The policemen left and returned a couple hours later with 4 of their comrades.  They talked to the man some more while one of the men took some notes in a notebook.  Finally they all walked away with the man and 2 of the small children walking with one of the policemen.

I asked Teresa what time we are scheduled to leave tomorrow and she said noon which means we won’t get back to Medellin until about midnight.

T-shirt of the day: Like the stars we burn away.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2016

Teresa couldn’t wait to hit the beach.  

We had a quick breakfast of cold scrambled eggs mixed with sausage (hot dog) slices, an arepa with cheese and coffee.

I paid 30,000 pesos for a makeshift cabana for us to use right in front of the ocean during our stay.  

View from our cabana.

Having lunch in the cabana.

My lunch.

Cabanas strung together.

Teresa talked to Laura who tried to get into the health club but she was unsuccessful because I hadn’t paid for the new month yet.

For 25,000 pesos we had a nice lunch that they brought to us in our cabana.

I stopped at the hotel and bought a couple AA batteries for the camera.

Later in the afternoon there was some commotion near a parked car.  Someone said there is a huge crab under the car.  Some guys poked under the car with a stick and removed one of its claws.  I was standing by the curb and the crab came out from under the car in my direction.  They finally captured it and I don’t know what happened to it after that.

Even though I kept to the shade and only went in the water twice I still had a slight burn on my arms and shoulders.

Dinner was better this time – fish for Teresa and chicken breast for me.

A young man named Abel came up and told us that I used to play chess against him and his brother Andres in Mall Laureles.  He works for Claro which takes him all over Colombia.  We exchanged phone numbers and promised to call to schedule a match in Parque Envigado.

They had some entertainment for us on the beach.  People who lived on the coast played and danced for us.

T-shirt of the day: Hello.  Save my soul.

Monday, July 18th, 2016

Well, I learned that just Teresa and I are going so the 330mil costs 330mil (about $115) per person.

We got up at 4:45, left the apt at 5:20, took a taxi (for 16,000 pesos) to Parque de Ajedrez and arrived at where we meet the bus at 5:50.  It was a large Greyhound like bus with reclining seats, overhead lamps and A/C.  It also had a bathroom in back but we were warned it was only for peeing.  I had read in Medellin Living that these buses can get real cold so I wore jeans, a t-shirt and my jacket.  Teresa had on short pants a blouse and flip flops. 

They put our small suitcase in the storage under the bus and we left at 6:30.  The bus did a 3 point turn in the street and we headed east.  About a mile away the bus did another 3 point turn and we ended up back where we started; something about someone forgetting their cell phone.  After a few minutes the bus did another 3 point turn and we headed east again.  Thirty minutes later we stopped at the same restaurant - Parador Rancho Alegre – where we always stop on our way to Santafe.  I had calentao, scrambled eggs and coffee and Teresa had a chicken pastry and hot chocolate.  We really needed the stop to warm up because the A/C was turned up high and we were freezing.

An hour later we made another stop and Teresa picked up a pair of socks for 5,000 pesos and a polyester blanket for each of us for 12,500.

We felt much warmer the rest of the way.

View from the bus - lots of green.

View from the bus - more green.

View inside the bus

Two hours later we made another stop for lunch.  No wonder it takes 10 hours to get there – because there are so many stops.  My stomach was starting to feel a little queasy so I just had a fruit salad.  

At one point we drove through what Teresa said is called the Tunel de Ladrones (Tunnel of Thieves) and there was what looked like an army barracks with sandbagged bunkers on the other side.  At another point the road was all dirt and gravel so for a while the driver only did about 20 miles per hour.  I saw a woman sitting on a wooden platform attached to a cable that they pulled from one side of the valley to another.  At another point the police got on the bus and took everyone’s cedula – except mine which for some reason they didn’t want and Teresa’s because she forgot hers.

A couple hours later we stopped again and I thought something had happened – like a problem with the bathroom.  It turned out that while I was napping a woman threw up in front.  They took some extra time to clean everything up.  

I saw fields of banana plants where they had mesh bags around the bananas to protect them from birds.

The last 3 hours was driving on flat land – my stomach was thankful for no more of the back and forth of going through the mountains plus the natural rocking back and forth of the bus itself.

We drove through Necoclí, a town of 48,000 which didn’t have much worth seeing.  We finally arrived at Hotel San Sebastian at 6pm. 

It’s right across the street from the beach and the Pacific Ocean.  The hotel wasn’t anything special but they did have wifi.  Our room was about 10 x 10 with a double bed and single twin bed, a small nightstand, television, and window air conditioner.  The A/C worked and the instructions were in English so I soon had it changed from high fan to low cool and the temp improved shortly.  The bathroom was about 4 x 10 with a shower (no heater, just water coming out of a pipe), a sink that I wasn’t confident would stay in place if I leaned on it and a toilet with no seat.  :(  I plugged in the TV but the remote control didn’t work so all we had was a children’s program.

Right after we arrived the batteries went out in my camera.

For dinner we were directed to a restaurant named Carolina where they served us a ham sandwich on white bread and what was supposed to be a cup of coffee.

After dinner a group of about 8 people put tables together and played a simple game with cards and dice.  I saw some of those little lizards hanging around the bare light bulbs catching ants.

We took our sleeping pills, went to bed and slept soundly until the alarm went off at 7am.  

T-shirt of the day: Hugs not drugs.

We're Back!

We got back to the apt about 10:30 last night but I'm going to need some time to collect my thoughts before posting.

Sunday, July 17th, 2016

I slept in until 9:15.

We heard a lot of horns honking and looked out the window and saw 8 garbage trucks, with blue and white balloons on top, go by.

We walked down to the Exito by the highway where Teresa returned a blouse she had purchased some weeks ago.  

I stopped at a copy center and had a copy of my cedula made and laminated for 1,400 pesos.  It doesn’t look very clear so at the first opportunity I’ll get a color copy made.  The point is that I will carry the copy and keep the original in a safe (safer) place.

We picked up some food, including a few snacks for tomorrow, and took a taxi back to the apt.  

Just after we returned it rained a little for about 20 minutes.

I went to the park and won 3 games.  I saw a few men playing with the new chessboards they got for free for playing against the International Master.  A man told me they are having another simultaneous tonight.  While walking around looking at other games it started raining.  It let up a little as I made my way back to the apt.

Tomorrow we get up at 4am in order to catch a bus at 6am in Medellin for a 10 hour ride to a town on the Pacific coast named Necocli.  It costs 220mil (about $75) per person which includes transportation, hotel, breakfast and dinner.  Teresa hasn’t been there before and we just looked at a Youtube video and she said it looks ugly.  At least it will be something different.

We’ll be back Thursday night so no blog postings for a few days.

A minor tragedy occurred. One of my Teva sandals came apart.  Now I have to wear my flip flops.

T-shirt of the day: Sugar daddy.