Tuesday, August 6, 2019

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

World Remit refunded my $700 including the $3.99 I paid for the transaction.  That was nice of them to do it so quickly without any additional effort from my side.

Teresa left for the gym at 7:30 and I left for breakfast at 8am.  I walked to Aymará where I asked to see their menu.  They had several waffles and the one with red fruits had a star next to it.  I checked the bottom of the menu and I understood it means it’s a new item.  The waitress came out and I ordered a “waffle con frutos rojos” and she didn’t understand me.  I didn’t know my Spanish pronunciation was so bad.  I pointed to the item on the menu and she repeated to me “waffle con arequipe”.  What?  I said “no” the one with “la estrella” and she finally understood.  I also ordered a café con leche.  I was studying some of the intermedate chess tactics when Teresa stopped by with a couple of her gym girlfriends.  I was a little surprised they didn’t stay for coffee but soon left.

My breakfast cost me 11,900 pesos (less than $4).

I walked to Parva where I had another café con leche and sat inside at their counter while studying some more chess tactics.

On my way back to the apt Teresa called me while I was in the elevator to ask where I was.

Back at the apt I changed into shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt and we left for Jardin de Botanico.  (Teresa tried calling her mother but got no answer.)

Even though entrance to the park is usually free it cost 18mil per adult for the flower faire, officially called the Orquideas, Flores y Artesanias.

We walked around for quite some time and Teresa finally bought 2 dresses and a purse for about $20 each.  The restaurant that I wanted to have lunch at, El Situ, was by reservation only and the rest of the park was so crowded we ended up buying a few small empanadas and a cheese stick and a couple sodas and sitting under a tree to eat.  Her last purchase, a large beach bag cost 270mil (about $80) and took her about 45 minutes to choose among the different designs and colors.

We quickly caught a taxi back to the apt for 20,300 pesos but the return trip took about an hour in the heavy traffic.  (On the way Teresa got a call from her girlfriend and she told me that she was in the clinic with what sounded like a heart attack.  Teresa said at the time I saw them in the morning her friend had diarrhea and they went from tienda to tienda looking for a bathroom for her.  She ended up returning to her apt.  She also had the symptoms of pain in her chest and her upper arm, none of which was shared with me.  If they had, hopefully I would have had the foresight to give her one of my Excedrin and request she see a doctor immediately.)

I checked the times for the Jason Statham movie and all showtimes are dubbed in Spanish.  We’ll probaby have better luck with that one next week.

We left the apt about 5:15 and met MT at the entrance to the mall.  They went shopping and I went to Cine Colombia where I bought a general seating ticket to King of Thieves (5.5) for 5,750 pesos.

I went to Home Center where I dropped off a AA battery for recycling.  On my way out I discovered a shortcut to the escalators through the parking garage.

I went up to the 3^rd level where I recycled a pill bottle and received a 4mil discount coupon to Sarku’s.

In the Platinum room I quickly completed my Duolingo lesson for the day.  About 15 minutes went by without any waitress serving me so I went to the counter and bought a small Coke for 5,100 pesos and refilled my bucket with popcorn.

I entered the theater and quickly found my seat.  I was a little late so I only had to wait about 5 minutes for the movie to start.

The movie was good but not great with some of the English difficult to hear and/or understand.

Afterwards, after trading phone calls with Teresa we finally connected and she informed me that they were upstairs at Café Arangos.

I had a café con leche and a slice of carrot cake for about 10,500 pesos.

We left just after closing at 9:15.

11,601 steps today.

Joke of the day

Harold and Al were on a small chartered airplane when the pilot suddenly had a heart attack.

"Don`t Panic," cried Harold heroically. "I`ll land this baby!"
Seizing the controls he headed for the runway at LaGuardia Airport, and began wrestling the diving plane to the ground. Just as the wheels touched the ground, Al screamed, "Red lights!! Right in front of you!"

Immediately Harold threw the engine in reverse and jammed on the brakes, bringing the plane to a violent stop just inches from the edge of the lights.
"Brother!" he puffed, wiping his brow. "That sure was a short runway!"
"Yeah," agreed Al, looking side to side, "but look how WIDE it is."