Monday, August 5, 2019

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 5:15, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show (Why is the US allowing their citizens to be slaughtered?) and left for the gym.  I saw Marcos come in and I noticed him by one of the weight machines but I never saw him after that.  Gloria, from the Envigado Parque Smartfit stopped right in front of me and we chatted.  She speaks a little English and with my little Spanish I learned she just returned from 3 months in Germany although “Sprechen sie Deutsch” (sp?) got no reaction from her.  She asked about Teresa and her gym routine.

I was glad to see her because I wasn’t sure if this Gloria from the gym was the same Gloria from Antica Pizza.  Teresa said the latter was a friend from the gym and she said she had surgery but I still couldn’t believe the striking change.  It turns out they are different people.  I completed all my exercises in 90 minutes.

Back at the apt Teresa informed me that her girlfriends invited her for coffee at Otra Parte.  She said they also have free dance and yoga classes in the morning.  I reminded her of my experiences on Sunday mornings.

Wow, the currency exchange rate is now 3,456 pesos to the US dollar.  I think that may be an all time high.

I left the apt at 4pm and waited about 10 minutes for a Sabaneta bus to take me to downtown Envigado.

I made a couple small withdrawals from my usual ATM then paid the Une bill at Cotrafa, the Direct TV bill at $efecty, and the cell phone bills at Claro.  At Bancolombia I tried to use one of their outside ATMs to deposit cash to pay for our gym membership but again it asked me to deposit the cash before asking me how much I wanted to pay.  I went inside and after a short line I had another opportunity.  Again it asked me to put the cash in the machine first.  I put 150mil in and it told me how much it counted then asked me how much I wanted to deposit.  I entered 140mil and it informed me that it would be returning 10mil.  It gave me a 5 and 2 2s and I looked around and finally found the slot where it returned the remaining mil in coins.  (Only later when I was back at the apt did I realize I forgot to request to print a receipt.  Yikes!)

I stopped at Exito and bought a small jar of Mexican salsa, a pair of gloves for Teresa and a bag of milk.

I took a bus and was back at the apt by 6pm.

I watched Season 8, episode 10 of The Walking Dead on Netflix.

9,183 steps today.

Joke of the day

A husband and wife were traveling by car from Key West to Boston.

After almost 24 hours on the road, they're felt too tired to continue, and they decide to stop for a rest.

They stopped at a nice hotel and took a room, but they only planned to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road.

When they checked out four hours later, the desk clerk hands them a bill for $350.

The man explodes and demands to know why the charge is so high. He tells the clerk, although it's a nice hotel, the rooms certainly aren't worth $350.

When the clerk tells him $350 is the standard rate, the man insists on speaking to the Manager.

The Manager appears, listens to the man, and then explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge conference center that were available for the husband and wife to use.

"But we didn't use them," the man complains. "Well, they are here, and you could have," explains the Manager.

He goes on to explain they could have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is famous. "The best entertainers from New York, Hollywood and Las Vegas perform here," the Manager says.

"But we didn't go to any of those shows," complains the man again. "Well, we have them, and you could have," the Manager replies.

No matter what facility the Manager mentions, the man replies, "But we didn't use it!"

The Manager is unmoved, and eventually the man gives up and agrees to pay. He writes a check and gives it to the Manager.

The Manager is surprised when he looks at the check. "But sir," he says, "this check is only made out for $100."

"That's right," says the man. "I charged you $250 for sleeping with my wife."

"But I didn't!" exclaims the Manager.

"Well," the man replies, "she was here, and you could have."