Wednesday, May 8, 2019

I woke up once during the night finally waking/getting up at 6:30 early enough for Teresa to make me breakfast before she left for her exercise class.

The street and sidewalks look a little damp so we must have had some rain overnight.  The forecast for this week is highs between 79 and 81 so I guess we’ll be having some rain.

I talked to Chuck and we made plans to meet for lunch in La Buena Mesa at 12:30.  I’m going to take him to Jack & Root for a burger and then to the Eduardo Madrind bakery.

Did I mention that a few days ago Teresa informed me that MT would not be joining us for our mother’s day dinner on Saturday night?  She’s been invited to spend the weekend at someone’s finca so she’ll miss out on the dinner at Tony Roma’s, not that she would have been eating much anyway.

I’m sitting at my desk updating my blog and outside I hear English being spoken.  I go out on the balcony and look up and I meet Doyle, from Scotland, talking to a friend visiting him.  He mentioned he has a Colombian wife that will be having a baby in the next couple weeks.  He encouraged me to stop by anytime or to meet for coffee.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym.  It felt cooler than normal and the clouds looked kind of dark so maybe I should have brought my umbrella.  Just as I was walking up the sidewalk to enter the gym some raindrops started coming down.  I completed all my exercises in an hour and 30 minutes.  There was a light rain as I returned to the apt.  Teresa called me as I entered the guard house and said she was waiting for the rain to stop before returning to the apt.  (She had her gym class followed by helping her mother with something at the bank.)

She returned to the apt at 11:45.

We left at 12:30 and first I slid a business card under Doyle’s door with my phone number and that I use Whatsapp.  Despite a light rain we quickly caught a taxi to Pricesmart.  (Teresa forgot the cans of tuna she wanted to exchange.)  First we had lunch in their food court – sharing a small order of chicken wings (with their delicious sauce) and chicken salad.  She had a soda and I just had water from the bottle I brought with me.  She picked up 2 cases of almond milk (hopefully enough for the month) and a few other things.  I picked up a bottle of Planters peanut butter and a box of 2 bags of granola.  The total came to 280,600 ($86) which I paid with my debit card.  We quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.

I received a text message from Doyle that they will be in all afternoon and I should stop by if I can.

Jose sent me some information about next week’s chess tournament. I didn’t like the fact that the first 3 games are all at 6pm and the time control is 90 minutes (instead of the usual 60) plus 30 seconds.  I’m afraid some games could last all night so I think I’m going to skip this tournament.

I went upstairs (same apt but 1 floor up) and met Doyle, his friend (I can’t remember his name) and Doyle’s wife Vanessa.  Doyle is 76 and from Texas via Costa Rica and his friend is just visiting for the week.  His wife Vanessa is 39 and she showed us some of her tattoos.  We talked for about 2 hours and I learned a lot about the soccer season from his friend.  Doyle and his friend will be spending a few days in Cartagena but when he returns he wants to join my gym.  I understood he had a quadruple bypass recently and his cardiologist recommends he get more exercise.

I returned to the apt about 5:30 and at 6:30 Teresa called me from the mall.  I changed my clothes and met them at Café Arangos about 7pm.  I had a café con leche while Teresa had a bottle of water.  Just before 8pm we went to Crepes & Waffles for dinner.  MT ordered a chicken with spinach plate but after a few bites she was full (no stomach, remember).  Teresa said in the future she’ll just order soup so as not to waste food.  I paid the 73,600 ($22) and we walked MT back to her apt.

Teresa and I stopped at Exito where we bought 2 bags of milk and 4 ripe bananas.

10,437 steps today.

Joke of the day

The doctor of an 80-year-old woman had finally retired. Therefore, at the elderly lady's next checkup, the new doctor told her to bring a list of all the medicines that had been prescribed for her.

As the young doctor was looking through them, his eyes grew wide as he realized that the little old Grandmother had a prescription for birth control pills.

"Mrs. Smith, you do realize that these are birth control pills?"
"Yes, doctor. They really help me sleep at night."

"Mrs. Smith", he said, flabbergasted, "I assure you there is absolutely NOTHING in these that could possibly help you sleep!"
The old lady reached out and patted the innocent, young doctor’s knee: 

“Yes, dear. I understand. But believe me. They definitely help me sleep at night...”
“...you see, every morning, I grind one up and mix it in a glass of orange juice for my 16-year-old granddaughter!