Friday, December 22, 2017

Teresa informed me that we had a little rain last night.  I thought I remembered hearing something unusual outside but I was too lazy to get up and check.

We left the apt just before 10am, caught a taxi after a 5 minute wait and were at Immigration before 10:30.  I said to myself “un-oh” when I saw a small group standing outside.  Teresa talked to the immigration woman standing outside the door (next to a guard) and I understood from their conversation you had to have an appointment to enter.  There was also a sign posted that said something about appointments for December 22^nd and 29^th.  Teresa then told me I had to have a photocopy of my visa page and she showed me the page before it (last year’s visa).  She wanted to go to get the copy first but I led her down to where I saw an Inter-Col sign.  Unfortunately it was just a sign, not an office.  When we walked back to the Immigration office I wanted to show Teresa that I already had one copy and when I took it out of the envelope the immigration woman saw the cover page and they opened the door for me and invited me to enter.  I understood Teresa had to wait outside.

Inside I sat down near a woman and soon saw that she had an American passport.  I asked where she was from and was told “Cincinnati, Ohio”.  We talked for a few minutes and I learned she arrived at 9am and now it was 10:30.  Yikes!

A few minutes later she was called and at 11:40 it was my turn.  I paid 138,000 pesos for my new Cedula and was out by noon.  I found Teresa across the street working on her kniting or whatever it’s called.

We quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.

Among new US movie releases I would like to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (7.0), Downsizing (6.2), Hostiles (7.2), and The Post (6.9).

Locally, I would like to see Star Wars playing at Oviedo at 3:45 and Vizcaya at 2:45.  Probably next week since the gym will be closed.

I watched a new episode of El Socio where Marcus Lemonis (sp?) was in Cuba.  Interesting.

I left the apt about 4:30 and stopped at Exito where I picked up a Gente newspaper and I bought a Q’Hubo newspaper with the Condorito inside at a street stand.  I walked past Bartolos but they didn’t have a table available.  I stopped at Banco Caja Social ATM next to the park and made a 300,000 peso withdrawal after a 10 minute wait.

I stopped at the bakery where I bought their last blueberry muffin.

Back at Bartolos there still wasn’t a table available.  I stopped at the paper store and with a little help from the owner I printed out my brother’s travel itinerary for next February.

Back at Bartolos there still wasn’t a table available so I walked across the street to the small bakery.  I found one small table available where I ate half my muffin with a small café con leche.  I asked for another and shortly after it arrived I accidentally kicked the table leg and splashed it over the newspapers, the table, on the ground and a little on my leg.  Quickly the 2 waitressed arrived and they cleaned up the table for me.

I stayed about 45 minutes, paid for my coffees and headed back to the apt.

According to my calculation I received 2,966 pesos for each dollar for my ATM withdrawal and according to XE.com the current exchange rate is 2,956 pesos per dollar so it looks like there is no ATM fee.  But I still need to try to find an ATM that will allow me to withdraw more than 300,000 pesos per transaction.

Later, back at the apt Teresa gave me a taste of her rollo de carne – meat roll.  I got out the Betty Crocker English/Spanish cookbook and asked her if she could make the meat loaf recipe.  She had a problem understanding about the loaf pan and meat thermometer so I’ll check Cachivaches in Santafe mall to see if they have those items.

T-shirt of the day: Hyper busy.