Friday, January 20, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 11:15, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:45.

It was exactly 10 years ago today I left the US and retired to Medellin, Colombia!

I ordered a Didi to take Teresa to the mall for a gym class. I left at 8:30 and walked to the mall. For breakfast in Al Alma I ordered their French toast with fruit. They first brought me a cup of fruit. The French toast with caramelized strawberries and bananas was huge but I did my best to finish it with the help of 2 lattes. The bill came to 36,200 ($8) including tip.

I looked in Exito for a Gente newspaper but didn’t find one. I made a large ATM withdrawal because I’m going to need to pay my brother back in Colombian pesos for the Santa Marta flight and hotel he’s already paid for. I had a latte in Urbania. Teresa called at 11:30 and asked me to pick up lettuce. In Exito (still no Gente newspapers) I bought a large pack of MPs, a bag of GUM Flossers, and a head of lettuce and returned to the apt by taxi.

Interestingly, I see the same ultraviolet lights on the 2^nd floor ceilings of Ikea so maybe that’s just temporary for workers.

I received the following message from USAA:

“We are pleased to inform you that the dispute has been resolved in your favor, and the credit previously applied to your account is now permanent along with any applicable interest in fees.

MERCHANT NAME         DATE            AMOUNT

Microsoft subscription       12/28/22        $99.99.

No further action is needed on your part.” 😊 😊 😊

 

The chica showed up at 2:40 for Teresa’s massage.

My brother texted me his flight from Panama has been delayed 30 minutes so Carlos is going to pick me up at 5pm. I heard thunder so I told him to pick me up earlier if it starts raining. He picked me up at 4:45 amid a few raindrops on the way to the car but they soon stopped.

We arrived at the airport at 6pm the same time he was landing. Carlos and I had a latte at Juan Valdez and took a seat at one of their counters right outside the arrival gate. He said he’s in a long line at immigration. When he was waiting for his suitcase, he said 2 planes had unloaded at the same time. Jim finally came out about 7pm.

We took his suitcase and backpack to the car and loaded it in and were on our way.

Carlos took a back way to downtown Envigado then headed south to Sabaneta and up into the hills to Hacienda de Extramadura. We were told we only had 15 minutes before the kitchen closed so I paid Carlos 350mil so he could leave, we put Jim’s bags in his room and hustled down the hill to the banquet hall. It’s a very large space but only a couple small tables were occupied. Jim ordered a vegetable soup and something else and I ordered the chicken shish kebab and a Coke.

We’re going to meet in Parque Sabaneta tomorrow at 1pm for lunch.

I ordered a Didi to return me to the apt for 11,255.

I showed Teresa all the goodies my brother brought us, including salted-in-the-shell peanuts and 3 bottles of root beer, before I could go to bed. 😊

Today I got in 6,074 steps.

 

Fun pix