Saturday, December 3, 2016

I woke up at 6:30 with soreness in my hips so I got up and took an Advil and went back to bed.  At 7am, still awake, I heard a leaf blower outside and got up and closed the window.  I think I fell back asleep by 7:30 but Teresa woke me up at 8am because we have to go start the process of renewing my visa.

We left the apt at 9am and were at Martha’s office by 9:45.  There was a (cute) young girl there who spoke English.  I gave her my documents, signed a Release of Information form, and paid a down payment of 600,000 (about $200) pesos.  The balance will be 684,000 pesos (about $230) when I come to pick it up in a week or so.  Most of the money is for the visa renewal itself.  I think the office only makes something like $100 on the process.

We walked over to Unicentro where I had my visa photos taken at Foto Japon for 20,000 pesos (about $7).

I needed to have the visa application notarized so Martha sent us a block away to a notary office.  The only problem is that there was a sign saying it was closed until December 17^th.  I thought we would have it done in Envigado and come back on Monday but Martha nicely drove us to another location.  (On the way Martha stopped and called out “joven” (youngster) to a man at least 50 years old to ask for directions.  Afterwards I said I’d never learn Spanish if she considered him to be young and that got a laugh.)

There were about 12 people in line in front of us at the notary office but Teresa noticed a sign that there is a preferred line for those 62 years or older so we quickly moved to the head of the line.  I had already signed the form, but I gave the guy my passport and he took my photo and my fingerprint and looked me up online somewhere and then put a sticker on my paper.  I paid 3,712 pesos and then went into another room where a man I assume is the real notary added his fancy signature and and we left.  I imagine the visa should be ready in a week or so.

Teresa did some window shopping for shoes in Unicentro but only found a small creche that we bought for 56,000 pesos (about $18). 

We had lunch in Frisby – Combo #2 with Pepsi for me, chicken wings and mango juice for her, and soup to share for 51,500 (about $17).

Back at the apt I did another hour on Chess Magnet School without promotion.

MT came over about 4pm and we walked down to Home Center because Teresa wanted some more Christmas items.

They spent over an hour picking out things like table cloths and place settings.  It was pretty crowded, sort of like Home Depot would be this time of year.

We walked to Bocados Bar where we had another delicious dinner of chicken shish-kebab and fresh mango juice.  By the time we left about 7:45 it was raining so I was glad I had my umbrella this time.

The Colombian Peso closed at 3,084 to the Dollar.

I checked the tracking website and it says my daughter’s present was delivered today at 1:08pm.

T-shirt of the day: Don’t spoil the magic.