Thursday, January 10, 2019

I feel I slept well last night despite getting up twice.  Maybe that noise app is helping with my REM sleep.

Teresa had the TV on some religious program when I noticed at the bottom of the screen: “No pierdas tu senal hoy.  Realiza tu pago. 018000937716”.  I understood the meaning but I translated it anyway with Google Translate to “Do not lose your signal today. Make your payment.”

I showed it to Teresa and asked her (not for the first time) how am I supposed to pay Direct TV without a bill?  She asked me if I had picked up a bill from the portero.  I suggested she call him.  She did and there is no bill.  She said she would have Laura call Direct TV later.

Laura booked her flight to Bogota for about 112mil on Avianca and paid for it with finca money in her Bancolombia account.  (My debit card wouldn’t work because it’s not in the drop down list of Colombia banks.)

Laura gave me a Claro bill and information to pay Direct TV.

I left the apt at 12:45 and at Otra Parte I was soon met by Chuck and his friends – Doug & Barb from Florida and Panama.  We went inside but because it appeared they were still setting things up they decided to check out La Buena Mesa instead.  Most of the restaurants were open but not the “menu del dia” that Teresa and I have eaten at in the past.

We decided to go to Bartolos but on our way we found Pipelon who had a menu del dia for only 10,000 pesos.  It included the usual – soup, meat, rice, fries, salad, juice and the ubiquitous “hockey puck” arepa.  Chuck and I exchanged $100 for 340,000 pesos.  He gave me a special gift of a door stop – he said he had several.  He asked me to buy Condorito’s for him while he’s gone but I told him I couldn’t promise because I no longer live near downtown and I don’t know where I would buy it.  He bought my lunch and I told him I knew he would do that as I already factored that into the currency exchange rate I gave him for the dollars.

We walked downtown where we had coffee and pastries at the bakery.  Chuck talked briefly to a man sitting behind me who we learned is from Orlando.  I learned more about life in Panama and they learned more about life in Colombia.  Darnelly joined us – back from her trip to Cali.  As we were leaving we found that the man behind us had already paid our bill.  Muy amable!  Chuck was going to show them a mercado and then take them to La Estrella and Sabaneta.

I bought a plastic case to hold important papers at the paper store and as I left the ATM it started raining lightly.  I went to Gold barbershop where I got a haircut (more like a haircut & shave) from Felipe for 17mil.  By the time I left the rain had stopped.  I paid Teresa’s cellphone bill at Claro and the Direct TV bill at $efecty and then returned to the apt.

I watched more episodes of The Walking Dead on Direct TV.

Laura left for the gym at 7pm and she returned at 9:15 with empanadas that we gorged on.

Joke of the day

An elderly couple went to see a doctor.  They told the doctor, “We’re having some trouble with our sex life.  Could you watch and offer some suggestions?”

The doctor replied, “I’m not a sex therapist.  You should find someone else.”

The couple said, “No, no, we trust you.”

After watching them have sex, the doctor said, “You don’t seem to be having any troubles.  I wish my sex life was as good.  I can’t give you any suggestions.”

This was repeated the next week and a third week.  After they had finished on the third week, the doctor said, “You aren’t having any trouble at all.  Is this your idea of kinky sex?”

The man replied, “No, the problem is if we have sex at my house, my wife will catch us.  If we have sex at her house, her husband will catch us.  The motel charges us $50, and we can’t afford that.  But you only charge $35, and Medicare pays half of that.”