Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Last night I slept as well as usual, woke up at 7am and got up at 7:30.

Last night I gave Teresa 250,000 pesos for more finca work and another 20mil for her transportation expenses.  Again she left early this morning.

I left the apt about 8am, stopped at Gana and added 50mil to Teresa’s cell phone, stopped at the paper store where I printed a page with the medications I’m presently taking, and stopped at Exito where I bought a large package of toilet paper.

I watched the first 45 minutes of the Today show.  Downtown Envigado I caught a bus to Envios Market where I paid the rental for November and December.  I took a taxi to Inter-Col which is a block from Unicentro mall.  I had to wait 5-10 minutes for another couple to finish with the only girl who speaks English. (I believe the other couple was a man (old) and his interpreter (young) because when they finished and he heard me speaking to the girl in English he asked me why they were speaking in Spanish.  I dunno!  Lol.)  She had me sign some document and then asked me to go to another girl to make my 871mil down payment towards my Pensionado Visa.

Here’s the itemized bill.

Attempting to decode the bill I think the first line item is for studying my visa.  If I’m not accepted then I wouldn’t have to pay the 2^nd item which is the visa itself.  The 3^rd line item is probably Inter-Col’s charge for their service.  (Otherwise I would have to go to Bogota and apply myself.)  I noticed I got a 45mil discount which I assume is, because I’m a repeat customer, i.e., they have most of my information already on file.  The last (4^th) item is for obtaining a Social Security Benefits Letter.  So, as I understand it, it costs me 405,000 pesos ($135) for having them do all the work without me having to schlep to Bogota and go here and there to get everything done myself.

I had been told I could charge it to my debit card but after 2 attempts the girl told me it wasn’t being accepted.  On my way out to the ATM the first girl gave me the document and told me to have it notarized.

I walked to the other side of the facing block to the Notary office.  I showed the man at the front desk my paper and passport and he personally took me around the corner where he stamped the paper and I added my signature and fingerprint.  He sent me to the cashier for payment.  Interestingly the sign above said “caja” in Spanish and instead of the correct translation to English of “cashier” it had another translation of “box”.  That was funny.  I paid 4,046 pesos, thanked the first man for his help and left.

At Unicentro I asked a guard if they had a Citibank ATM and was told “no”.  I asked for a Bancolombia ATM and he pointed straight ahead.  I was a little surprised there was no line and I quickly made 2 withdrawals of 500mil and 400mil.

Back at Inter-Col, 20 minutes later, I gave the 2^nd woman the cash, she gave me a receipt and I gave the 1^st woman my passport and the paper.  She gave the passport back to me and told me to bring it back when she calls me on my number – actually it’s Teresa’s number now.

Back at Unicentro I walked up to the theater and saw that all the movies are in Spanish.

I ran into Santa and his elves?  Obviously I need work on my video recording skills.

I walked around trying to decide on a restaurant for lunch and finally decided on El Corral.  It’s been a while since I’ve had a burger so I ordered their ½ pound combo.  It seemed like it should have been cooked a minute longer but it was still tasty.

Outside Exito I caught a taxi to the nearest metro station – Exposiciones – and took the metro to Envigado.  It was noticeably cooler as I got off the train and as I exited the building I found it raining.  Luckily I had my portable umbrella with me.  (My original plan, before I saw it was raining, was to walk to the tourist office to pick up another map because I gave my Colombia tourism map to Alex so I need a replacement.)  Instead, I got on a metro bus and it left the station a couple minutes later.  By the time it reached the bus stop a block from the park it had stopped raining.

I was going to stop at Bartolos for a café con leche but because of the rain all the tables were taken so I just continued on to the apartment.

Teresa came back about 5:30.

 Teresa cleaned my gym shoes so well they almost look new (despite the cracks) so I told her I don’t need to buy new ones and surprisingly she agreed.

She said she needs some more things for the finca so we left the apt at 5:30 and walked down to Home Center.  What she was looking at were fence posts, I understood cement (which I assume is to hold the posts in place) and something else I didn’t understand which is probably barbed wire.

First Teresa thought these posts were large enough but the salesman explained that they have to be sunk in the ground about 2-3 feet so I understand we need the larger size and they just don’t have enough in stock.

I understood we’re returning Saturday to complete the purchase – but then again, what do I know?

Teresa bought a folded plastic tarp, a paintbrush and some paint.  My hip was feeling slightly sore so I was happy we took a taxi back to the apt for the minimum fare of 5mil.

I went through my usual pre-sleep rituals and went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: Cupcakes for breakfast.