Thursday, July 6, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, got up once at 3:30 (it had stopped raining and Teresa had moved to the other bedroom), finally waking at 6am and getting up at 6:30.

I finished my first jar of strawberry preserves that my friends Jack & Arlene gifted me when I was in the US back in July.

One of my readers shared another hack to help with balance: walk barefoot, or wear something with a thin sole (I’m thinking my moccasins), around the house. I usually wear my Chicago Bears flip flops, not sure if that’s the same.

Opening today in Cine Colombia is The Night of the Devil: The Red Door aka Insidious: The Red Door (6.3).

I checked my tea inventory and I still have 5 ½ boxes.

I met Marcos outside his porteria at 9am. We walked to Mayorista with me in the lead because I knew where we were going and I was careful to choose the shadier side of each street. At the café outside the fish market he treated me to a café con leche. Around the corner I showed him the fish store that Teresa brought me to but he didn’t seem to like whatever he was looking for.

We stopped at the Badia store where I bought 6 boxes of chamomile tea for 65,400 pesos ($15.50) cash and stuffed them into my tech bag. At his preferred fish store, he bought a large piece of algo “roja” which was probably red snapper. He walks faster than I and he led the way back walking mainly on the sunny side of the streets. ☹ We said goodbye down the hill from his apt. I continued on to Mercado Madrid where, at Teresa’s request, I bought a bag of Fab liquid laundry detergent.

As I was approaching the apt a 7/24 delivery truck was pulling away. I inquired if there was any mail for me but not yet.

I was sweating by the time I returned to the apt. When am I going to learn to wear shorts for long walks like that?

Troyclough texted me that he liked the restaurant I recommended in Cartagena named Candé.

About 12:30 Teresa received a call from the portero that there is a package for me. I went down and got it. It was my single bottle of Swanson vitamins plus Chess Life magazines for May and June. (These are the first magazines I’ve received in the past 18 months.) I just paid for the package yesterday when it arrived in Bogota and today it’s here. 😊

So, this order was sent via my Florida address, cost $5.99 shipping plus $16.83 to Envios Market and arrived 4 weeks later.

The Amazon order of Tribe Pot calendula capsules were sent directly to my Colombian address, cost $9.32 shipping and arrived 6 days later. (I’ve heard, and I suspect, Amazon has a warehouse in Colombia to expedite orders.)

But if I want to receive my Chess Life magazines, I think I’ll have to place an order through my Florida address every few months.

I left the apt just before 2pm and stopped at the Movistar tent but Paolo was away in one of the other towers. I had a large latte in Los Porteños when at 2:30 is started pouring. At 4pm it seemed to stop so I paid my bill and returned to the apt.

On Amazon I ordered a MATEIN 17” Travel Laptop Backpack for $31.99 (with a $6 discount coupon) and a 3 pack of leather luggage tags for $8.99 plus $23.59 shipping & handling for a total of $58.47. Since I have a gift card balance I paid $0 thanks to my son Jimmy. Expected delivery: Tuesday, July 18^th direct to Colombia.

Esmeralda visited for a few hours and returned the 3 million pesos she borrowed last February before her foot surgery. She no longer has a car so I ordered a Didi to return her to her apt for 17,600 pesos ($4.20).

At 7:10 a downpour started which had become a drizzle by the time we went to bed.

I gave up reading Paula Hawkins’ Into The Water. I’m just not a fan of her style of writing so I started reading Joseph Souza’s The Neighbor on my Nook.

 

America’s Decline into Idiocy