Monday, August 6, 2018

Last night I took my new sleeping pill and went to bed about 10:30.  I fell asleep quickly, got up once at 4:30, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

Laura just came in and told me she in her tour rep work she met a tour guide that was an au pair in the US.  She thought it was in Texas and she enjoyed it immensely.  She said it can take about 3 months to be paired with a family.  Laura also has met some gringos in the hostals; needless to say she’s very happy.

IT’S ACTULLY NOW LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND FOR MY BLOG I HAVE TO REMEMBER WHAT I DID YESTERDAY.

I left the apt just before 9am.  The metro was packed – nearly cattle car full but I managed to get to the chess league on time.

My next match was against a man rated 1928.  Since my rating is about 1667 there should be less than a 5% chance of my winning this match.  Even though I had the Black pieces I managed to play something approximating the King’s Indian Attack I have been studying.  We played a close match which he won late in the endgame with 3 pawns against my 2.

During the match a couple of military jets flew overhead making quite a bit of noise for a few seconds.  That reminded me of when I used to live near the (now defunct) Glenview Naval Air Station.

I finished about 12:30 and because our next match isn’t until 6:30 Jose left to take a nap back at his apartment.

I walked over to Obelisco mall where I had the menu of the day at Tropical restaurant.

I walked over to Barberia Colombia on Calle 50 where I got a haircut for 20mil.

I walked over to Floresta station where I caught a metro to El Poblado.  On the way I remembered I have my Civica card so I took the metro bus up to Parque Poblado instead of walking up the hill.

I picked up a document from the post office.

I stopped at the ATM and picked up some small denomination bills for the month.

I walked up to McDonald’s where I had a coffee frappe or whatever it’s called and sat outside on their nice patio – believe it our not it’s too freakin cold to sit inside.

I traded some messages with Laura and learned that someone she knows has asked her to be an au pair for her in Australia.  Incredible!

I decided I would have a burger before heading back to the chess league.  I bought a Big Mac and medium Coke for 14,630 pesos.  First Mc burger I’ve had in about 4 years.

Just after I took my first bite I heard “Terry”.  It was Jose from the gym.  I told him I would still be here for another 20 minutes or so.  He came out with a small café con leche and an almojabana (sp?).

We talked mostly about movies we’ve seen and movies coming soon and our favorite actors.

I asked him how long it should take to take a taxi to the stadium and he said 30 minutes.  At 5:40 I said I need to go soon.  He asked me to use my Cabify app because he would get an 8mil credit and I would get an 8mil discount but it kept saying “looking for drivers”.  I didn’t do any better with Uber.

I finally said goodbye and walked across the street where I soon caught a taxi.

I arrived at the chess league just in time for the next round.

I was paired against a 13-year old girl.

We played a good close game but then I transposed a couple moves and a few moves later left a rook hanging and that was that.  Later when I looked her up I saw that even though she has a rating of only 1484 her performance rating in this tournament was 1803.  It also said she has a title of WCM – Women’s Candidate Master so I guess she’s pretty strong.

Since the next match is at 8am tomorrow I took a taxi back to the apt so I could relax a little before going to bed early.

Today’s Step Count was 14,406.  Might be a new high for me.

T-shirt of the day: No chance for romance.