Monday, April 2, 2018

I slept pretty well last night finally waking at 7am and getting up at 7:30.

Teresa has religious objects spread around the apt.  For example, there are 9 religious statues facing our bed in the bedroom.  Last week was Holy Week and the total times she went to church was zero.  Go figure!

At 8:45 Teresa gives me the phone and tells me it’s Direct TV.  A woman proceeds to talk to me slowly in Spanish.  I soon lost track of what she was saying and gave the phone back to Teresa.  She comes back a minute later and it’s a salesman speaking English.  He wants me to switch my wifi service from Une to Direct TV.  I said no thank you and told Teresa I would rather not talk to anymore salesmen.

I did most of my exercises in an hour and 45 minutes.  (During my rest periods I either check out news articles or play chess – both on my cell phone.)

I received an email from Envios Market that I owe them 39,000 pesos for March’s rent.

After lunch Laura went with me to Bancolombia.  I got number 585 and they were serving number 498.  I was lucky enough to get a seat – Laura not so much.  An hour later we were called to the cashier – we had a different lady this time who didn’t speak English.  Again I heard the word “passport” mentioned so I assume that is the typical ID used by gringos.  I had to show my Cedula, sign, date and fingerprint a form and she gave me my money 277,066 ($100).  I told Laura I owed her an ice cream cone but she said because of her cold she would rather have a Krispy Kreme donut – 2 actually.  I walked her to a pharmacy where she bought some cold medicine and then we said goodbye.  She went back to the apt and I caught a bus to Poblado.

At Envios Market I paid for March and April’s rent and picked up an unnecessary pension form and April’s Reader’s Digest.  I asked Nobraskja if she knew where I could buy rechargeable batteries and she said Exito and Carulla. 

I quickly caught a bus and go off a block from Krispy Kreme.  I bought 2 donuts for Laura, one for Teresa and one for me.  I went next door to Starbucks where I bought a small white mocca latte (extra hot) for 8,900 pesos and drank that while eating a donut and starting my Reader’s Digest.

I walked a block away to Santafe mall where I asked a security guard if Falabella had rechargable batteries.  He said no and that’s when I realized I got Falabella mixed up with Carulla.  I walked down a block to Carulla but they only had the batteries as a package with a charger and I didn’t need that.  I asked at the mall's information desk and they sent me to a place called Wild Technology but they only had them with a charger also.  I asked where I might find just the batteries only and he said Panamericana so I walked across the street and that’s where I found 2 AAA rechargeable batteries for 23,900 pesos (about $8).

Back across the street I saw a crowd waiting for a bus outside Oviedo.  By now it was raining.  To give me a better chance of getting a seat I walked in the direction a Sabaneta bus would be coming from.  In the 4 blocks I walked several Envigado buses passed me and one Sabaneta bus that was full and the driver wouldn’t even open the door.

After about a 20 minute wait I finally got on a bus.  At the Oviedo bus stop the people soon filled up the bus.  One person next to me got off and I offered the seat to a young lady who was standing closer.  She declined so I sat down.

By the time we got to my stop 2 blocks past Exito the bus was packed and 3 people were standing on the steps who had yet to pass through the turnstyle.  I pushed the button and squeezed my way past 3 others and those on the steps stepped off the bus (into the rain) allowing me to get off.

I stopped a block away at the copy center where I had some chess articles printed out for 12,400 pesos (about $4.50). 

I returned to the apt just before 7pm.  Because of the rain Teresa and Laura decided not to go to the gym tonight.

I put the batteries in my headset and set it up to charge overnight.

T-shirt of the day: Normal is boring.