Saturday, May 11, 2019

 I slept well despite getting up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

Like yesterday no back pain although still a little weak.

I left the apt at 8:45 and took a bus to Envios Market where I picked up an envelope from BSI Financial, a pension information booklet from CSRA (never heard of them), and a small package with the Expand-A-Lung I ordered.  It cost me a fee of 9,900.

I walked to the Dann Carlton hotel and informed a man at the entrance that I wanted to change my reservation at Tony Roma’s from 3 to 2 but he said “don’t worry about it”.

I stopped at the ATM where I withdrew more 20s.  It was such a cool morning I decided to walk to to Starbucks.  I stopped in La Strada and San Fernando Plaza looking for a Banco Caja Social but didn’t find one.

At Starbucks I had my usual coffee while reading some news on my cellphone.

At Oviedo it was a short wait for a bus back to the apt.

I backed up my hard drive for the first time in months.  My bad, I used to do it every month.

Teresa called me at 1pm and said something about long lines to get her hair done and I should go to lunch on my own.

I left the apt at 1:10 and walked to Papa John’s where I had a small pepperoni pizza and a small Coke for 20,800 ($6.50).  Because it was so cool I had left the apt with just my umbrella and no sunglasses.  When I came out of the restaurant I realized my mistake because it had almost cleared completely.

On my way back to the apt I passed someone carrying roses and I thought that would be a good thing to give to Teresa.  I didn’t want to have to walk all the way downtown but I thought I remembered seeing a place closer to Aymará.  A couple blocks past it I thought I was going to have to give up but there it was.  They had lots of paint buckets with flowers in water.  I bought 15 beautiful red roses for 15mil ($5).

I was back by 3pm and Teresa was lying in bed but she got up for the flowers!

She still hadn’t gotten her hair done.

I took a nap from 4 to 5pm and she left at 5:45 to get her hair done.

Teresa got off the phone with Laura and she said that Lenny (the boyfriend) wants to visit in September to see his future mother-in-law.  Wow!

Since Laura is in the US I think all they would have to do is get married there – they don’t have to go through the fiance visa procedure.  What I don’t know is if she could visit here before getting her green card.

I watched Chapter 3: How to get your isolated pawn positions with 1e4.

Teresa came back just before 7pm with her hair done.  She tried on several outfits and we left the apt at 7:25.  (I’m sure Teresa wouldn’t want me to wear my fanny pack so I just grabbed some bills for car fare and my cedula and debit card.)

It was raining lightly and I had my large umbrella with me.  Teresa called for a taxi and it was only a 5 minute wait.  Traffic wasn’t bad and we arrived at the Dann Carlton Hotel at 7:40.

We took an elevator up to the 18^th floor and and then walked up a winding staircase to the 19^th floor to Tony Roma’s restaurant.

We had a nice table next to the window (like every other table, lol) and Teresa thought she felt a tremblor.  I pointed out that the restaurant revolves – or at least the section with table and chairs so in time you get a 360 degree view of Medellin.  It wasn’t perfectly smooth as there were a few obvious bumps.  Kind of like being on a boat that hasn’t left the pier. 

We each ordered a mango juice with water and no sugar then I ordered Nachos Rio Grande to share as an appetizer.  Now that I look at the bill more closely I see it was a ½ order so Teresa must have said something to the Spanish speaking waiter.  He then took the order for our entrees.  I showed concern that they were going to bring our appetizer and entrees at the same time but the waiter assured me that we would have 30 minutes to enjoy our appetizer.  I ordered the baby beef and a baked potato and Teresa ordered the salmon with mashed potatoes.

The nachos, small that they were, were American style with cheese, lettuce, refried beans, avocado and sour cream.  Delicious!

My baby beef was delicious also, cooked perfectly although slightly chewy.  Teresa enjoyed her salmon very much.  For dessert I had café con leche and we shared an order of flan.

The total bill came to 156,384 without the tip.  For some reason the waiter had problems getting the machine to take my debit card but it eventually worked.  I was going to tip the waiter 30mil but I wanted to keep the only 10mil bill I had for the taxi so I tipped him 40mil.  Wow, that’s about 25% of our bill.

We were back at the apt by 10:30, I took my pills and read for about 45 minutes before going to bed.

10,597 steps today.

Joke of the day

One day, a little old lady went to see the doctor. 
The kindly medical professional asked her, "What seems to be the problem, dear?" 

She said, "Doctor, I have this problem with gas, but it really doesn't bother me too much.  My farts never smell, and are always silent.  As a matter of fact, I've farted at least 20 times since I've been here in your office. You didn't know I was farting because they don't smell and are silent."
The doctor said, "I see. Take these pills and come back to see me next week."

The next week, the little old lady returned for her follow-up appointment.
"Doctor," she said, "I don't know what you gave me, but now my farts, although still silent, stink terribly..."
The doctor said: "Good! Now that we've cleared up your sinuses, we’ll work on your hearing."