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.