Saturday, January 12, 2019

It took awhile to fall asleep (too many naps?), I got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

I left the apt at 9:15, walked up Calle 29 Sur to Avenida Poblado and crossed the street to wait for a bus.  There was construction going on behind me and I looked around and guess what is going in there?  A Smartfit gym.  So we’ll have a location 5 minutes from our apt instead of 20 (the park) or 10 (the mall).

I got off the bus at Envios Market where I paid for January and February rentals.  I included February because at least early in the month I’ll be busy going places with my brother and later his gf and her daughter.  I picked up another Chess Life magazine, a pension statement and 2 more letters from BSI Financial (I really must contact them and tell them I no longer have anything to do with that property.)

I walked up to Starbucks where I had my usual café mocha blanco and finished my paperback Seize the Night by Dean Koontz.  After about 45 minutes I made a quick trip to the restroom and on the way I saw a guy in a Green Bay Packers t-shirt.  When I came out I whispered in his ear “Go Bears”.  He said I scared the shit out of him.  Good, he should be afraid, very afraid.  After 20 years of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers it’s time for a Bears resurgence.

Next door the old Krispy Kreme location is going to be a Puerto Inka Cocina Peruana restaurant.

I walked up to Oviedo where I caught a Sabaneta bus after a 10 minute wait.  It was one of the new buses with a wheel chair accessible back door.  (I read recently that Medellin bought 64 new buses that run on natural gas.)  I got off a block too early but I walked to the book store where I exchanged paperbacks for 2mil.

I stopped at my usual ATM where I picked up some cash then walked back to the apt.

I found a voice mail from Chuck inviting me to join them for dinner tonight at the mall about 5/5:30.

Teresa told me she’s meeting with some friends for lunch today.  I understand they are going to the Peruvian restaurant in Buena Mesa.

By 4:45 I still hadn’t heard from Chuck but I changed clothes and arrived at the mall just before 5pm.  Chuck, Darnelly, Doug & Barb arrived 30 minutes later.  We went up to the 3th floor where we got a table in Parmessano, the Italian restaurant.

I exchanged some pesos for dollars with Doug at the current exchange rate of 3,136 COP/USD.

We all had a nice dinner and the waiter brought the check in a fancy box shaped like a wine bottle.  I opened it and it was obvious it wasn’t ours as there were only 3 entrees and no one had the salmon that was listed on the check.

It turned out it belonged to the table behind me and we joked a little with the guy and his wife.

Doug picked up the check puting it on his credit card.  He found it funny when he was asked how many payments he wanted to make.

We walked to the little café by the car exhibit where we all had coffee and carrot cake.  Doug told us about some of his experiences living in Thailand and Nigeria (west Africa).  Chuck picked up that check.

When we left Chuck & Darnelly took a taxi back to their apt.  Outside the mall I saw a man with a beautiful white dog that I thought was a samoyed.  I asked him and he said it was a husky.  I asked him how much a dog like this would cost and he said it depends and from 400mil to 1 million pesos.

I guided Doug & Barb over to Buena Mesa and I understood they were going to walk back to their apt in Poblado.  Chuck & Darnelly return to the States tomorrow at 2pm and Doug & Barb are going to Cartagena for a few days.

I was back at the apt by 8pm and Teresa came back at 8:40.  She said only she and Claudia liked the Peruvian food and the other 4 ladies thought it was awful.  (Maybe they accidentally ordered the beef heart.  Inside joke.)

I watched some of the L.A. Rams vs Dallas Cowboys game (ultimately won by the Rams) until going to bed at 11pm.

Joke of the day

A man goes into a restaurant and is seated.  All the waitresses are gorgeous.  A particularly voluptuous waitress wearing a very short skirt and legs that won’t quit came to his table and asked if he was ready to order.

“What would you like, sir?”

He looks at the menu and then scans her beautiful frame from top to bottom, then answers, “A quickie.”

The waitress turns and walks away in disgust.

After she regains her composure she returns and asks again, “What would you like, sir?”

Again the man thoroughly checks her out and again answers, “A quickie, please.”

This time her anger takes over, she reaches over and slaps him across the face with a resounding “SMACK!” and storms away.

A man sitting at the next table leans over and whispers, “Um, I think it’s pronounced ‘QUICHE.’”