Saturday, October 5, 2019

Today is Teresa’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Teresa!

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, again at 5:45, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

Teresa has a doctor’s appointment and after that she’s going for a manicure, pedicure, and get her hair and makeup done.

I left the apt at 10:45 and met Chuck at Otra Parte at 11.  He brought John, the Englishman, with him.  We caught a taxi to Parque Poblado where Chuck and I paid our October rent at Envios Market and I picked up my October Reader’s Digest.

Chuck wanted to buy a Colombian flag so we went to the tourist shop on the other side of Parque Poblado where he found exactly what he was looking for.

We walked up to Parque Lleras and spent some time walking all around the park and even in the Primavera area east of it.  We finally settled on the Kabab House where we each had some variation of a shwarma sandwich.

We walked to Ay Caramba! where we all had coconut lemonades and Chuck ordered their nachos supreme to share.  While there, a woman came by selling big ass ants.  I’ve seen people before with their ant signs but this was the first time I understood that they are for eating.  They come in 3 sizes varying in price from 40mil to 60mil and supposedly they are an aphrodisiac.  Chuck showed the most interest but he finally said no then she pulled out a sleeve of ants for only 10mil.  He finally bought a small package for 40mil, more as a joke for some friend.

I got an invite via Whatsapp from Jooks to meet for breakfast tomorrow at 9:45 at Carbon de Leña.

Erwin called me to inform me that he just bought an apartment in Sabaneta near the park that is now available for rent.  He said it’s 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, with parking, not far from the park for 1,200,000 pesos.  (You can probably rent out the parking space for 80-100mil.)

We took a taxi back to Otra Parte in Envigado and John paid for it but everything else that day Chuck paid for.  He thought today was my birthday even though I told him repeatedly it’s not today.

I went to Parva where I had a café con leche for 3,300 pesos (the price went up 300 pesos?).  Along with my coffee the waitress brought me a cookie (gratis?) but I politely declined because I was too full.

Teresa called me to tell me she’s still at the beauty shop.

Chuck called me and informed me that as soon as he took out the package of ants Darnely ate them all.  Yikes!

Last week I saw the middle half hour of The Post on Direct TV.  Today I saw the middle through the end but I still haven’t seen the first hour or so.

Teresas and I left the apt just after 7pm and arrived at the Dann Carlton Hotel by 7:20.  We were guided around the bank of elevators to a separate one that took us to the 18^th floor.  We then walked up a curved staircase to the 19^th floor to Tony Roma’s restaurant.  (This is one of those restaurants that revolves slowly around the building.)  The front of their menu says “A Place for Ribs”.  First I ordered a fresh juice and Teresa ordered a sangria.  We tried to order a ½ order of special nachos but we were told we couldn’t do a half order.  The waiter recommended the onion rings so we went ahead with that.  I was excited when I saw the onion rings because it was an onion loaf just like I used to get at Hackney’s restaurant back in Chicago.  Last time we were here I had the baby beef and Teresa had the salmon so we were ready to try something different so we both ordered the half order of ribs.  You only get about 4 ribs but they were very meaty.  Definitely, a different sauce, not a BBQ sauce but delicious nonetheless.

While the waiter didn’t speak English the man with the payment machine did.  The total came to 176,634 without tip.  At first it was charged in dollars with the 3.5% added but after I complained he cancelled it and redid it in pesos.  In the meantime I mentioned to him that today was Teresa’s birthday and tomorrow was mine.  He talked to the waiter and about 5 minutes later they brought us a plate with a brownie and a scoop of ice cream with a candle in it and a guitarist came by and sang the Spanish happy birthday song to Teresa.  We left about 9:30 and quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.  Teresa wants to return on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

7,256 steps today.

Joke of the day

One Monday morning, a postman was walking through a neighborhood on his usual route delivering the mail.  As he approached one of the homes, he noticed that both cars were still in the driveway. 

His curiosity was cut short by Craig, the homeowner, coming out with a load of empty beer, wine and spirit bottles for the recycling bin.

“Wow Craig, looks like you guys had one hell of a party last night,” the postman commented. 
Craig, in obvious pain, replied: “Actually we had it Saturday night. This is the first time I have felt like moving since 4 am Sunday morning. We had about 15 couples from around the neighborhood over for some weekend fun and it got a bit wild. We all got so drunk around midnight that we started playing WHO AM I?”
The postman thought for a moment and said: “How do you play WHO AM I?”
‘Well, all the guys go in the bedroom and come out one at a time covered with a sheet with only the 'family jewels' showing through a hole in the sheet. Then the women try to guess who it is.” 
The postman laughed and said, “Sounds like fun. I'm sorry I missed it.”
“Probably a good thing you did,” Craig responded. “Your name came up seven times.”