Saturday, June 18, 2022

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, again at 6am, finally awakened by my alarm at 7am.

Today Glenn and I are trying a new place for breakfast, Gloria’s Waffles on the other side of the river in Laureles. Remember, we tried it several weeks ago only to find they are closed on Sundays.

At 8am I started the process of ordering a Didi – you never know how long its going to take to get a ride. Thirty seconds later I had a match and it arrived 3 minutes later. I helped the driver with the quickest route to the expressway and I arrived at Gloria’s Waffle House (Transversal 39A #71-10 in Laureles) right at 8:30 and Glenn and Bianca arrived a minute later.

That's Tommy on the left and Glenn with Bianca on the right.

Right away I noticed the following sign and figured a gringo was involved in the business somehow.

We started with coffee and at one point I turned around to look at a map in the other room.

I thought I would check it out after I ordered my food but a couple were now sitting at the table in front of it. A gringo sitting a couple tables behind us asked if I was looking for the waitress. His name is Tommy, from Panama City Florida, and his Colombian wife owns the restaurant. The restaurant opened last December. We talked briefly but someone soon arrived and picked him up.

I had the waffle, scrambled eggs, and bacon for 11mil. I also had 2 lattes. Glenn had their bagel sandwich and a cappuccino. The total bill came to less than 50mil which is a pretty cheap breakfast.

I checked out the world map and there are pins in it apparently from people who had visited the restaurant. There was already one for Chicago.

I called a Didi that dropped me off at the Pasteur pharmacy on Ave. Poblado where I bought another box of 10 Dia man pads for 22mil.

I walked to the other side of the block to Parva and it was packed with people. Long tables were set up and it appeared to be some type of party. After a trip to the restroom I surveyed the room and it appeared the party was breaking up. I ordered a café con leche and took a seat outside. At one point Teresa called and reported she was going to get her hair done and we would meet in the street somewhere for lunch.

I was returning to the apt when a mother (grandmother?) and young girl (5 years?) passed me and the latter swung her arm out and hit me in my tech bag. The former stopped and put her finger in the latter’s face and gave her quite a scolding.

As I got off the elevator Teresa was waiting to get on. She said she will call me in an hour or two.

At 12:45 Teresa called and asked me to meet her at La Casita Parilla, near our old apt. I asked if she was going to wait for me and she said she’s already having a shish kebob. I told her that’s too far and I’ll get something to eat closer to home.

I left about 1:30 and walked to Otra Parte. I got an umbrella table in the back that seemed to give me protection from any possible rain. I couldn’t get my cellphone to show their QR Code menu and soon a woman at the table in front of me came to help. I don’t know how she knew. I finally got the menu and ordered a Maestro de Escuela sandwich and a strawberry juice.

I ate half, along with the chips, and ordered a latte with the half sandwich to go.

I heard a loud peal of thunder about the time my coffee arrived. It started raining lightly and everyone outside but me moved inside. I thought I was okay until the wind picked up and started blowing rain on my back. The umbrella of one of tables next to me acted as a sail and was blown over breaking a glass. I grabbed my things and moved inside but you still had to stay away from the ‘edges’ so as not to get rain blown on you. 

The rain seemed to lessen after about 30 minutes, I tracked down a waiter, paid my bill and returned to the apt in a light rain.

Later Teresa called and asked me to change clothes and meet her at the porteria in ten minutes. A car drove up and Teresa called out to me. I got in next to a young black man. I thought it was one of Teresa’s relatives but it was just an Uber driver. I gave him the address of El Correo and guided him with my Waze app. Again, we missed the right street and got out at Calle 10 and had to walk back two blocks. Teresa was not happy that I didn’t have the correct address. As soon as we sat down I showed the address to our waiter and he confirmed it was correct which got me off the hook.

(Later I checked google maps and I can see we’re turning too soon. After we pass Mu we need to go 3 blocks before turning left.)

I guess Teresa was very hungry as she ordered a plate of empanadas as an appetizer.

She ordered a chicken dish and I pepper steak. The menu said it comes with asparagus, which I hate, but I was able to switch it to a baked potato. I asked for it with butter and he asked me if I also wanted sour cream but I didn’t understand him because he had said it in English. I replied, “solo mantequilla, por favor”. Teresa informed me she has a friend with a great asparagus recipe but I don’t know how she can improve on something I hate.

Wow, that first bite of my pepper steak was spicy. After that it was just a little spicy and the baked potato with butter was great. I only had one bite of my steak that was unchewable, at least by this gringo.

The bill came to 168,850 pesos ($45) and we returned to the apt by Didi.

Funny pix of the day