Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Last night I went to bed at 11:45, got up twice during the night but otherwise slept well, finally waking/getting up at 7:45.  The two times I got up I checked my iPod and the button still wasn’t green.  Same when I got up in the morning but I tried it and it worked so we’ll see how long the battery lasts.

I watched the first 35 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym.  I enjoyed listening to my oldies for the 2 hours and 5 minutes that I did my exercises, including 5 ½ minutes at speed 5.5 on the treadmill.  I noticed a new girl today – early twenties, slim, tallish, pretty, with the usual long dark hair.  She had large boobs with a lot of skin showing.  I don’t know how the skimpy top she was wearing held them up.  Either she has implants or that top is a miracle of structural engineering - probably the former.

Back at the apt I received an email from Chuck – they’re back in Colombia.  I suggested we meet for lunch on Friday.

It’s very overcast and I’m hearing some thunder so we’ll see if anything develops.  By 1:20 it started raining lightly but didn’t last long.

I left the apt at 2:15, caught a bus just as it was leaving the downtown station, and was at MBE by 2:55.  Alex was waiting for me on a bench outside.

It started raining as we walked to a little restaurant a block away but soon stopped.  We talked about the MBE changes and his search for a new apartment while he had a beer and I had a café con leche.  He said that the new mailing office – Envios Market – will be $2 less expensive than MBE.  He mentioned that his health has improved greatly since he moved from San Francisco a few months ago.  He gave me a new bottle of cannabis oil for 20,000 pesos.

We walked back to MBE where we were soon met by his new amiga (friend) that he calls Nana.  We all walked down to Monterrey mall where I bought a mouse for Laura for 55,000 pesos and a mouse pad for another 10,000.  I was surprised to see that she didn’t have one and was just using the finger thingy at the bottom of her keyboard. 

Alex and Nana spent some time looking for something in the mall so at 5:15 I finally said goodbye.  I walked outside and I didn’t want to walk back up the hill to catch a bus.  I had the sudden thought that I could take the metro from the El Poblado station (I was standing at the base of it) to Envigado and take a bus from there and it would only cost me about 3,000 pesos.  I looked up and saw the long line heading for the station and I knew it would be like a cattle car inside so I discarded that idea.  I quickly caught a taxi that dropped me off at Parque Envigado for 10,600 pesos (about $3.50).  I added 50mil to Teresa’s cell phone, made a withdrawal at Citibank, bought 2 bags of milk at the corner store and was back at the apt by 6:30.

When I walked inside it was like Christmas day.  Chuck stopped by and brought me 2 bottles of root beer, 3 packages (2 different brands) of peanut brittle, a large package of salted in the shell peanuts and for Teresa a can of creole cream style red beans, a jambalaya rice dinner mix, a package of creole seasoning, and a bottle of Louisiana hot sauce.  We’re going to need Chuck or his wife’s help to cook that.

At 8pm it started raining lightly but again didn’t last long.

I read an article where Medellin Living states that Colombia has changed its visa rules.  The one that applies to me is that migrant visas (specifically certified pension income) are now granted a 3-year duration where before it was just one year.  That doesn’t really help me since I’m at the 4 ½ year mark and will soon be qualifying for the 5-year resident visa.  It did clarify that I am not allowed to work in Colombia.

At 8:45 it started raining again, this time pretty hard.

T-shirt of the day: A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.