Thursday, January 13, 2022

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 3:30, woke up at 7:15, did my Kegel exercises, and got up.

Vacation Day! Today we leave for Cartagena! Yay!

I understand Carlos will be picking us up at noon for our trip to the airport.

Just in case my Teva sandals aren’t delivered this morning, I’m going to Viva Envigado and buy a pair of walking sandals. If the Teva sandals arrive then I will leave the new sandals here and return them when we return from Cartagena. That’s the plan anyway.

I emailed Barnes & Noble because one of their ebooks was unreadable because the print was so small.

Laura and I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to Viva Envigado where we had our boarding passes printed in Auros. Teresa wanted me to pick up some Clinique cleansing balm called “take the day off’ in Medipiel. They told to go to their other location in the mall proper. Laura was hungry so we stopped in Santa Lena where she ordered eggs. I went up to the 3^rd floor where I inquired about the Clinique cleansing balm. They didn’t have it but it was interesting to hear the girl try to say “take the day off” in English.

Laura was still waiting for her food so I went into Decathlon where I bought a pair of sandals for about 200mil. Laura asked me if I was familiar with that brand name, Quechua, but I told her I’ve never heard of it before.

I was getting antsy as it was 11:15 but Laura then informed me that Carlos wasn’t coming until 12:30.

She bought some flip flops for Teresa and we returned to the apt by taxi.

We had a difficult time closing our only suitcase that everything was packed in. (I only had one quarter of the space, mainly shorts and sleeveless t-shirts.) I reminded Laura we wouldn’t be able to bring back any souvenirs because there is no extra space in the suitcase.

Carlos picked us up at 12:30 and the suitcase just fit in his trunk. I know I wouldn’t have been able to lift it.

We were at the airport by 1:15 for our 3:02pm flight.

Laura was checking in the suitcase when I noticed a sign that listed things you aren’t allowed to have in your carryon luggage. One of them was scissors. I had a pair of scissors but they fold up so they look like intersecting metal rings.

We went into J&C Delicias to order lunch. I told Teresa we probably won’t be able to have lunch because there were no tables available. The place was packed. I stood over a table for a few minutes until a couple left and we had a place to sit and eat.

We went through the TSA check-in and I passed. Whew!

Our flight took off on time and we landed just a little over an hour later.

At the Cartagena airport they put stairs next to our door and we had a short walk to the terminal. While waiting for our suitcase at baggage claim I unzipped the legs of my pants converting them into shorts. (First time I’ve worn them as intended.) It was then I noticed the brand name was the same as my new sandals.

Outside we quickly caught a taxi to our hotel – Hyatt Regency Cartagena – for 12mil.

We were sent up to their lobby on the 12^th floor where we checked in. I was asked if we wanted to include their breakfast for $15 per person in the bill. I said, “yes” and charged 3,121,475 ($778) to my debit card. Later I checked the math after Laura said she declined the breakfasts and found I didn’t pay for them.

We explored the hotel a bit and had lots of problems getting their elevators to work. We finally figured out that their 12^th floor where the lobby is is actually a transfer floor so we have to switch elevator banks depending on whether we want to go our room on the 31^st floor or the main entrance.

We found the pool and I was disappointed it was so small. I kept walking and went down some stairs that identified the pool I had just came from as the lap pool and the next one was the family pool. I walked a little further and down more steps where I found the adult pool.

This is a view of the bay behind the hotel:

For dinner Laura wanted to explore nearby restaurants. She led us to the back of the hotel and then about 10 blocks south on a wild goose chase. We first passed a mix of backs of hotels mixed with commercial areas. We finally passed a Tienda D1 and then found Crepes & Waffles, El Corral, and McDonald’s. We found a few small mom & pop restaurants and Laura briefly chatted with someone before continuing on. My feet were hurting from myi new shoes and Teresa was getting very hungry. We turned around and on our way back to the hotel she stopped in Tienda D1 and bought 2 packages of salad toppings which contained a trail mix style of croutons, nuts and seeds.

Back at the hotel we had dinner in one of their nice restaurants named Kokau for 329,416 ($83). I would rather have been better dressed but they let me in wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

I had their St. Louis ribs which were very good:

That was pretty expensive so we probably will try to avoid doing that again. Laura gave me 106mil in cash towards her share.

I took a sleeping pill and went to bed about 10pm as the ladies were getting ready to go to bed. Like Santafe de Antioquia this hotel has duvets for each bed. I’m really getting to dislike duvets. Unlike sheets, blankets, and quilts you have no layer control; it’s either duvet or no duvet. ☹

 

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 760,936 ð 782,397 ð 803,736 new cases and 1,735 ð 1,825 ð 1,873 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 23,074 ð 29,857 ð 30,283 new cases with 65 ð 69 ð 96 new deaths. Medellin has 2,233 ð 4,570 ð 2,904 new cases from January 12^th to 13^th. Envigado has 153 ð 157 ð 261 new cases from January 12^th to 13^th.

 

T-shirt of the day

Today is the best day ever.