Friday, February 23, 2018

I saw on the news that Atletico Nacional beat America of Cali 2-0 last night.

I made a quick trip downtown to pick up newspapers.  At Exito they were just loading the display with Gente newspapers so I asked the guy where else I could get the newspaper around here.  Besides the library and Exito down the hill he said in Comfama and the other Bancolombia.  At least now I have some backup places.

I left the apt at 11:30.  After a 15 minute wait for the bus I decided it would be best to walk to the metro.

I arrived at the Aguacatala station just after noon.  Jim and Joan arrived a few minutes later.

We walked across the street and quickly caught a bus to Viva Laureles.  We went downstairs where we had a small hotdog at Doggers.

We walked over to the corner store where we found a sign that they had moved.  I think they are still on the same Carrera but a couple blocks short of Calle 44.  I believe that puts them very close to Pizza Americana.  Unfortunately, Pizza Americana doesn’t open until 4pm today.

We walked up the street to the bakery I used to frequent and they had a beer while I had a café con leche.  I recognized and exchanged greetings with the private security guard that rides his bike around the neighborhood.

We walked over to Mall Laureles where Jim got his coconut ice cream.  I stopped downstairs and bought a couple packages of the portable toilet paper.

Jim called for an Uber car and a young lady took us back to their hotel.

We’re going to meet for dinner tonight at a restaurant near their hotel.

I walked down the hill and across the street and quickly was on a bus back to Envigado.

We all left the apt at 7:15.  I tried to call for a taxi using my Tappsi app but gave up during its search.  As soon as I got downstairs, where I thought I was out of wifi range, I got beeped and it said it had found me a taxi.  We waited a few minutes and when none arrived we just flagged one down.  The driver asked where we were going and I said “near Parque Poblado”.  He said “Parque Poblado” and I said “near Parque Poblado”.  After we went through that again I just decided to shut up.

Going down Avenida Las Vegas, when we approached the bridge over Aguacatala, Teresa directed the driver to the “frontage road”, through the traffic circle, back onto the “frontage road” and back on to Avenida Las Vegas.  What?  Why didn’t we just take the bridge?  She’s done that before, is she afraid of bridges?

The driver was in the right lane when I knew that he needed to be turning left soon but I thought he might turn a few blocks further.  When it was obvious that he wasn’t he finally turned right 3 times and ended up on a cul desac (sp?) overlooking Calle 10.  He turned around and with some difficult managed to cross the 3 lanes of traffic to head in the other (correct) direction.

When he was less than 2 blocks from the restaurant he made a left turn.  No!  I’ve never been to the restaurant before but I can read addresses and knew we were already on the right street.  After 2 right turns and a left (after asking for directions twice) we were finally back on track and he dropped us off outside the restaurant.

The restaurant is Tagliata and it’s at Carrera 43D #13-23.  Laura ordered the Medallions of beef with pasta, Teresa the chicken breast and I the ribs.  My ribs were nothing special.  Teresa and I shared a crème brulee and Laura had cheesecake.  With juices, tax, and tip the total came to 159,610 (about $55).

Jim and Joan took the first taxi back and we waited another 15 minutes for ours.

T-shirt of the day: My style.  My rules.