Tuesday, January 16, 2018

I slept well last night despite getting up several times during the night, finally waking at 7am and getting up at 7:30.

Watching the news we learned that a gringo died in Parque Lleras last night.  I wonder what time; probably 2 or 3 am, by which time I was long gone.

I left the apt at 9am and caught a bus after a 5 minute wait.  

Walking by the stadium there was some activity by one of the smaller soccer fields; like there was going to be an important match soon.  I met up with Jose at the chess league just before 10am.

While we played 2 games it started raining.  Interestingly, it was quite loud but we couldn’t see any rain, perhaps because we were like sitting at the bottom of a bowl.  I won both games and then we headed for lunch.  Luckily, the rain had stopped.

At El Chapparrel I had my usual pepper steak which came with rice and French fries.

The steaks are at the top.

Looks better in person.

Jose got the chorasco and gave me a bite; again I don’t know how he can chew meat like that but I guess he liked it.

We paid the bill of 81mil (about $27) and then adjourned to a back table to play some more.  He won the 3^rd game and I was losing the last game but I held on, he blundered and lost his queen and resigned.  We had a little more rain during lunch but again it had stopped by the time we left.

We walked down the street a couple blocks to a Davivienda bank.  We were let in at 3:58 and after a wait of a couple minutes we were speaking to a cashier.  Jose told her why we were there (to pick up 280,000 pesos my brother sent me via World Remit) and she said first we have to get a copy of my Cedula blown up 150%.  She gave me a legal-size form to fill out so we left the bank and found they were closing – at 4pm!  Outside we stopped next door at a café and looked over the form.  It even asks for my sex, my marriage status and my profession.  What is that about?  In looking it over I realized there might be a problem because my Cedula expired last December 19^th and I’m still waiting for my new one.  (The last time Cedulas were shown online to have been updated was January 2^nd.   Maybe they are on vacation also.) 

I told Jose I’ll try again at Bancolombia tomorrow with Laura – and maybe I’ll bring my passport.  Maybe their procedure will be easier.

We said goodbye with the plant to meet again next Tuesday at 10am.

I retraced my way back to Envigado and it was raining lightly as I got off the metro.  I was going to stop at the bakery for a coffee but I noticed I wan’t getting an internet connection so I just left.

I stopped at Bancolombia and made a withdrawal and again was charged an ATM fee of 12,000 pesos.  It’s been 12 days since I made my last withdrawal and they are still charging me a fee.

I was back at the apt by 5:30.

Later I made arrangements with Laura to go to Bancolombia tomorrow with my passport.  She mentioned she’s getting up tomorrow at 5am because she has an appointment to find out what she will need to get a passport.  She also said she is going to Poblado tomorrow afternoon to talk to some other au pair agency as to what their requirements are and she invited me to join her.

I went to bed as usual at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: Imperfect.  So what?