Saturday, August 27th, 2016

The weekly close was 2,901 COP per USD.

Ben wanted to see a farmer’s market in Medellin.  Teresa said she knew where one was so we arranged to meet this morning at 10am at Carbón de Leña.  I explained I needed to be back to the apt by noon to watch the Chicago Bears 3^rd preseason game.

On our way to the restaurant Teresa took a couple minutes to look at a few art & craft stalls set up in Parque Envigado.  I understand this weekend they are celebrating Dia de Carriel which is a sort of traditional handbag popular among Antioquian men.

https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=carriel&ei=UTF-8&fr=chrf-yff30

At the restaurant, Ben wasn’t there yet.  We waited until 12:20 and then ordered Calentao (sp?) to share.  I told Teresa that when we got back to the apt I would probably have an email from him explaining his absence.  

 About 12:40 I paid for our shared breakfast and when we got up to leave Ben arrived.  He explained that he took the metro in the wrong direction all the way to the end of the line – the Niqua station – until he got turned around.  At 12:45 we took a taxi to Itaqui and what is called Mayorista de Medellin.  It is a large area that serves as the wholesaler of fruits and vegetables for Medellin restaurants.  I understand they open at 3am and the place is really hopping by 6am as restaurants pick up their fresh produce for the day.  We bought some pineapples, arbol de tomates (tree tomatoes), lettuce and a few other fruits and vegetables.  We dropped Ben off at the Ayura metro station.  On the taxi ride back to the apt I asked Teresa if we really saved a lot of money.  She explained that the 6,000 pesos we paid for 2 pineapples would buy us only one in Exito.  She suggested we return once a month to buy lots of fruits and vegetables.

Back at the apt at noon I booted up my laptop and made a quick trip to the bathroom.  When I tried to leave I couldn’t get the door open.  I called for Teresa but the door wouldn’t open from her side either.   I could see that the button was out on the door handle so it wasn’t locked but the handle was loose so that’s probably why it wouldn’t open.  We both struggled from both sides for awhile and finally I had her slip a hammer and screwdriver under the door.  I managed to remove 2 of the 3 hinge bolts but the 3^rd wouldn’t budge.  Finally for some reason Teresa got the door open.   A few minutes later a workman that Teresa had already called arrived.  He fixed the door handle for 10,000 pesos but I’m not completely closing nor locking that door again.  For the 30 minutes I was locked in the bathroom I missed more then the entire 1^st quarter of the Bears vs. Chiefs game but they lost in the end 23-7.

About 3:30 I took a walk to the park and it was filled with people and I didn’t see anyone playing chess.   On my way back I stopped at a small bakery and bought 3 churros with arequipe inside for 1,500 and a small package of Oreos for 2,000 from the man that can’t walk.

We watched 2 Guns (6.7) and then High Noon (6.0) on Netflix.

T-shirt of the day: Life is short.  Think fast.