Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, again at 5:45am, couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up.

Teresa soon got up and made me a quick breakfast. Btw, my typical breakfast is 2 scrambled eggs and half a toasted sesame seed bagel with strawberry preserves.

Teresa left for her 7:15 gym class and I left at 8:30 for mine. In my right pocket I had my set of keys to our apt. In my left pocket I had 3 peanuts for squirrels, my USB drive with 4 pages of chess notes, and 12,000 pesos for my coffee, 2,000 pesos for my chess notes, plus 2,000 in case the chess notes cost a little more.

I completed my workout in the gym but after I found my USB drive wasn’t in my crowded left pocket. Did I forget it? Did it fall out when I removed the peanut to put in the tree? Did it fall out somewhere in the gym? ☹

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor while workers were busy putting up Christmas decorations.

Brian from Florida took a seat nearby and started working on his computer.

I left at 10:45, stopped by the “peanut” tree and the peanut was still there but I didn’t see my USB drive on the ground. Back in the apt I didn’t see it anywhere; (I’ll check with the gym on Friday.

Teresa handed me an envelope from SS for her mother. It’s the same Proof of Life form I returned September 17^th. This one was date October 24^th so I don’t know what’s going on. I notified Teresa about the situation and either we should: 1) send it again for another 235,000 pesos or 2) wait until January to see if she gets her SS check. I recommended the latter but it’s MT’s decision.

I asked Teresa where we’re going for her party and she called someone then wrote down Calle 32B Sur. I asked where the rest of the address is, like the Carrera. She then said it’s at Parque San Marcos. I know the park across from the San Marcos church is called something else like Fecund Park. I entered it in Didi and found Parque de Enamorada, San Marcos and Teresa said that’s it.

At 1:30 we took a Didi with another strange driver. This one, Sebastian, had the air conditioning but was wearing a heavy jacket. I didn’t protest because our ride was so short, a place a couple blocks from what I call the bat tunnel park. The place is listed on Didi as C.E.C y Vida San Marcos. We went down a couple ramps to an open space with a kitchen/restaurant on the far side. They had portable tables set up with plates each having some simple snacks on it. I took a seat around the corner to wait out their party. I heard a lot of squawking and saw these green parrots in the trees:

You can try to zoom in to see them but I apologize for the rude ending; my mistake.

I wondered which is nosier, green parrots or Macaws. This is google's answer:

Teresa's latest purse:

I received this email from Inter-Col (translated to English for your convenience) “Good afternoon, Please accept our warmest regards. We hope you are well. The purpose of this email is to inform you that, unfortunately, we have not been able to request an appointment for the foreigner's ID card with Migración Colombia. This is because they have recently changed their platform and now the process is only done by phone. However, we have had difficulties communicating, since Migración does not answer calls. Below, we attach the phone numbers in case you wish to try to schedule the appointment directly with them. We appreciate your understanding and wish you a happy day.”

At 3:30 it started raining then became a downpour and it got really cold. Teresa called and canceled her 5:40 appointment. The rain lessened a little at 5pm and we took a Didi back to the apt.

I haven’t mentioned this in a while but my lesions are back. Teresa thinks it’s connected with the cold but I’m not sure. After a year of them I just want them to go away.

I edited my chess notes again against Robert Ramirez’ Lessons on the Pirc Defense on Youtube.com and also wen through a new lesson of his, Lesson 52 on Outposts.

 

JUST FUNNY

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, woke up but didn’t get up about 2am, waking/getting up at 6am. One strange thing; sometime during the night I heard someone say, “Terry”, and I said, “Yes”. I opened my eyes but no one was there so I must have dreamt it. 😊

We left the apt at 9am and Elson was our Didi driver. I’ll try to describe him: long black hair, 2 nose rings, a skull ring on one of his fingers (couldn’t identify the other ring), a chain bracelet plus numerous thin plastic bracelets on his left wrist and tattoos covering both arms and hands except his left hand (I guess he hadn’t gotten to that spot yet).

We were twenty minutes early for my appointment so Teresa went to O’Cake because she was hungry. I took a seat in the general waiting area and was finally taken about 30 minutes after my 9:20 scheduled appointment. All my blood test results were good and Dr. Castano did an ultra sound on my abdomen. All is good. The cost was 290mil and my next appointment is Tuesday, May 20^th at 9am.

It was a 10-minute wait for the elevator and I stopped on the 6^th floor at Urogine where I got my blood pressure taken – 136/83. When I asked google if this was a good reading for a 79-year-old man it replied, “No, a blood pressure of 136/83 is not good for a 79-year-old man.” But then it said, “We recommend a systolic blood pressure goal of <140 in patients less than 80 years of age and a systolic pressure of 140-150 in patients 80 years of age or older.” Well, I’m close to 140 systolic and close to 80 so maybe that’s close to acceptable.

I waited for Teresa outside H&M and at noon we went to J&C Delicias for lunch. I had the chicken teriyaki and she had salmon.

I told Teresa about the change in our Avianca flight and she told me she has a massage appointment with Kelly this afternoon at 4:30.

While we were there it started raining and got quite cold. I was so glad I had brought a jacket. It seemed to take forever to catch a waitress to give us our check as we were freezing to death. (Is Bogota going to be cold like this?)

We had lattes (to warm up) and shared a slice of cake upstairs in Valentina’s.

We left at 2:30 and luckily there was no line for a taxi. When we got in, the driver had the A/C on. I asked him to turn it off and he motioned that he needed it for the windshield. I reached over and turned off the A/C and turned on the fan and hit the button for the defroster. We returned to the apt for 18,300 pesos and I gave the driver 20mil and told him to keep the change.

I felt I was in a losing position against octopusmotor (1681) but I managed a draw increasing my rating 1 point to 1626. Now I get the White pieces against him.

ONEIPAMETATO1453 resigned our game increasing my rating to 1630. My rating has never been this high before, now we’ll see if I can keep it over 1600.

 

JUST FUNNY

Monday, November 18, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, woke up but didn’t get up about 3am, got up about 5am, was awakened by Teresa opening a drawer at 6:30 so I got up.

After lunch, Teresa wants us to go to Santafe mall.

I left the apt at 8am and completed my workout in Smartfit. I stopped next door at the La Casona mall to print a page of chess notes but the copy center had yet to open for the day (it was just before 9am). I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for a little over an hour. I stopped at the Bancolombia kiosk and had my chess page printed for 1 mil before returning to the apt.

Teresa informed me about her plans for Wednesday. Something about after gym, I’ll meet her somewhere for lunch and while she’s in art class I’ll have a café con leche nearby. After class we’ll take a Didi to Las Americas in Belen where she has a doctor’s appointment. I’m sure we’ll be discussing this again.

Just for grins, I did a quick search on Booking.com and found lots of 5* (they’re now referred to as 8/10) resorts for our dates in Punta Cana, so maybe the advice is to not do your search too early (more than 6 months before).

Just before noon we received a call that changed our plans. Dr. Castano won’t be available Thursday so my appointment has been changed to tomorrow at the same time, 9:40am.

I sent Jose a text that I won’t be available tomorrow, and since I’ll be going to El Tesoro, Teresa decided to go with me tomorrow instead of us going to Santafe today.

I left the apt at 2pm and had a latte in Los Portenos while editing my chess notes. I received an email from Avianca changing our flight times. Now we’re leaving Medellin at 9:53 am and returning from Bogota at 2:33pm. Also, they appear to have charged me for 2 carry-ons so Teresa will take her carry-on and I’ll take my backpack.

I left at 4pm (and it chose that exact minute to start raining) and stopped in Ara for milk and kitchen gloves.

The rain finally stopped around 6pm.

I watched the news for the rest of the evening.

 

JUST FUNNY

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 2:15am, again at 5:15, finally awakened by Teresa at 7:15.

At 8:15 we took a Didi to Hija Mia Nomada in Manila, Poblado. Teresa was in her gym clothes as she planned to go to a class in Mayorca afterward. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and, so early in the cool morning, would have been more comfortable had I worn pants. Teresa had eggs & avocado on toast and I had French toast.

This is the newest purse she’s making, now in the earliest stage.

Btw, the Mrs. is looking good!

These are other purses that Teresa made previously:

Troyclough was winning our latest game (even though I was up the exchange) with a passed pawn on the 6^th rank protected by 2 bishops and a rook. About 10 moves later he blundered positionally and after a tactical combination he resigned on the 45^th move, increasing my rating to 1625.

Teresa had another latte before we left and the total check came to 134,750 pesos ($30). We returned to the apt by another Didi. (Our driver’s name was Yimi, they sure have some strange names here.)

Teresa changed her mind and didn’t go to the gym class as she wasn’t sure what time it started.

I watched the Bears lose a close one to the Packers, 20-19. I finished my large bag of peanuts and got halfway through one of my new 10 oz. bags.

I looked for 2024’s The Equalizer 3 on Netflix but only found 2014’s The Equalizer so we watched that and Teresa enjoyed it so I got away with it. 😊

I watched most of an expanded episode of 60 Minutes.

 

JUST FUNNY

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:30am.

I have a 9am haircut appointment so I left the apt at 8:45 in a Didi. I took a Didi to Todo Drogas where I purchased my medications for the next four weeks. I walked to the copy center where I had a couple chess pages printed. I continued on to the used book store where I exchanged my Code Girls paperback for Kite Runner, another #1 New York Times Bestseller. (Btw, I noticed three books about Donald Trump.) I stopped at a small bakery where I had a churro (not so good) and a café con leche that was more like leche con café than the other way around. I made plans to meet Glenn for breakfast tomorrow then walked back to the apt.

I left the apt at 2pm and walked to the mall in a light drizzle. I recycled a 9V battery, printed another set of chess notes and had a latte in Urbania.

Here is the atrium, decked out for Santa Claus

and we haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet! They’re having some sort of a fair and I spotted a Cinnabon booth. 😊 I bought a large carton of eggs before returning to the apt by taxi. Teresa asked me to go to Antonio’s and buy a half liter of coconut gelato and half liter of pistachio. I did and we had pancakes with bananas and gelato for supper.

Teresa wants me to take her to Hija Mia Nomada for breakfast tomorrow so I cancelled my breakfast with Glenn.

 

JUST FUNNY

Friday, November 15, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 5:30am.

I’m finally playing someone about my own rating, octopusmotor rated 1639. I have the Black pieces so we’ll see how it goes.

I left the apt at 7:30 and completed my workout in Smartfit. In Ganso y Castor I was having a latte when I met Brian from Florida. His family is originally from El Salvador so I told him I saw the CNN special last night where they were showing the maximum-security prison in El Salvador. He is renting an AirBnB in the park and when I enquired, he said they go for $700-$800 a month. I informed him this is the rainy season here but it should be ending soon.

Teresa called and asked me to buy “jabon de coco” in Tienda D1. Luckily, I had 5mil with me, intending to print some blog pages for our embassy visit. I paid for my latte and stopped in Tienda D1 and pretty quickly found the jabon de coco,it only cost 1,950 pesos and luckily the line wasn’t long. I returned to the apt. When I handed her the bar she told me she wanted “liquido”. Well then you need to tell me that.

I’ve decided to learn a new defense against e4. I’ve been playing the Scandinavian, now I’m going to consider switching to the Pirc so I’m looking at lessons on Youtube.

I left again at 1:30, printed some blog pages and a first draft of Pirc notes and had a latte in Los Portenos while completing a couple more pages of chess puzzles. I suddenly realized I was out of bagels so I went to Eduardo Madrid bakery where I found a sleeve of 5 bagels. I bought those and had a latte for a couple hours. When I heard a lot of squawking outside, I took this video of more Macaws hanging out in the trees across the street.

Teresa called at 3:45 and asked me to pick up eggs and plantains in Mercado Madrid. I left at 4pm in a light drizzle and returned to the apt. I explained I only had two hands and since it was raining, I wasn’t going to go out again to the grocery store. Sorry! Tomorrow afternoon.

Kelly arrived about 6:15 to give Teresa a massage and it was about 6:30 when I noticed it was raining but it didn’t last very long.

I heard some cheering outside and I had seen a few people wearing Colombian jerseys today. I checked my cellphone and Uruguay defeated Colomba 3-2.

 

JUST FUNNY

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, again at 5am, couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up at 5:30am.

Since I had the White pieces against yoDerek88, I decided to give him a chance to play the White pieces.

Gladiator II (7.0) is playing at 2:20pm so I think I’ll see that later. (Teresa is meeting up with a gf who is going for a mammography appointment.)

I left the apt at 8am and stopped in Pasteur where I bought a box of Tena Dia pads for 24,489 pesos ($5.50). I took an outside seat in Los Portenos where I had a latte while waiting for Marcos. He arrived at 9:15 and we discussed recent events. He leaves next week for a month in Arizona, returning on December 10^th. He asked if I want him to bring me anything from the states. I told him about Alejandro maybe buying an iPad on Cyber Monday and he could bring it to me. I asked about where I could buy a flannel shirt for cold Bogota and he suggested Decathalon, the sporting goods store. Great idea.

He left at 10am and I left at 10:30 and returned to the apt.

yoDerek88 resigned our game on the 12^th move when I was about to win a piece plus the exchange, increasing my rating 1 point to 1616.

I left the apt at 1:30 and walked to the mall in my pants, t-shirt, undershirt, and carrying a jacket, expecting excessive air conditioning in the theater if not rain later.

I recycled a bottle then went up to the 2^nd floor and bought a Preferential ticket to Gladiator II (7.0) for 8,000 pesos. They also gave me a raffle ticket to fill out for a new car. (I’ll takc care of that later.)

I made a quick trip to Decathalon looking for a flannel shirt but the closest I found was this jacket for 90,000 pesos.

Reentering the theater the guy ahead of me looked familiar.

It was Jose Avandaño who I hadn’t seen in quite some time. After he got all his snacks: 2 tubs of popcorn (one which he dumped into a bag?) and a large soda he took a seat at my table. With 30 movie viewings this year he’s already earned his platinum card for next year while I have something like 6. He looks good with some more facial hair then I remember. He says he works out at the gym 6 days a week only taking off on Saturdays. He was still waiting on a friend to arrive when I made my last trip to the restroom, claimed my free Platinum popcorn, bought a large soda and entered the theater. I had a seat in the last balcony aisle and there were maybe half a dozen others with me. The movie was good but not great and when it ended I noticed Jose sitting on the main floor.

I made a trip to the restroom, then as I was exiting the mall the coolness suggested to me that it might be raining. There were just a few raindrops as I got in the sheltered line for a taxi.

We had some rain in the evening but it had stopped by the time I went to bed.

ONEIPAMETATO1453 resigned our game on the 30^th move, increasing my rating to 1620.

 

JUST FUNNY

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 5:15, couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up at 5:45am.

Teresa made me breakfast before she goes to her 7:30am gym class in Viva Envigado.

I tried paying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fee on their website but was told it works better with Chrome. I switched to chrome and got this error “Erro CSRF 2”; I guess I’m going to need to pay in person. ☹

Teresa changed her mind and instead of gym in Viva Envigado she’s going to her regular 9:15 gym class in Mayorca.

I left the apt at 7:45 and completed my workout in Smartfit. I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for about an hour. I replaced one of the missing peanuts.

I returned to the apt at 9:15 and Teresa soon left for her gym class.

I tried again to pay the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fee but this time received a different error.

I left at 10:15 and took a Didi to Banco Sudameris in Poblado. Within a hundred yards of each other are this bank, Parmessano and Davivienda (with Inter-Col upstairs). I walked up the staircase to the bank. I couldn’t see an entrance but a guard inside motioned me to this “pod”.

You push the bottom red button and it opens and you step inside. Talk about claustrophobic, you hope it opens on the other side, which it did. I assumed this is a security service to only allow one person in at a time. Maybe it also checks for weapons. I asked if anyone spoke English but they just motioned me to the cashier. I showed her my text message from Inter-Col and asked if I could pay with US my debit card. Nope. She handed me a note that said, “3 retiros de 700,000 x cajero” and directed me outside to an ATM so I had to go through the pod sequence (beam me up Scottie!) again. With only one mistake where I had to start over, I made two withdrawals of 1,000,000 pesos each. I got a CER of 4,251 pesos/$ and the ATM fee for each was 22,500 pesos. Back inside I gave her 1,600,000 pesos and she gave me a fancy receipt.

Back outside (survived the beaming process again) I walked 100 yards to Davivienda and took the elevator up to the “main floor”. I gave the receptionist my cedula and asked to go to Inter-Col. He made a call and told me to go on up. I went up and handed Angie the receipt and she said that’s all I need to do. After I few questions I learned that 1) I should receive my Resident Visa in the next couple days. 2) I should receive an invitation to pick up my new Cedula in about 2 months. (Gringos on FB are complaining it’s taking much longer.)

Across the street I quickly caught a bus back to Envigado. After I sat down, I checked my cellphone and there was my Residency Visa. Yay! And it’s good for 5 years. I got off across from Smartfit and bought 2 bags of milk in a small store and returned to the apt.

I left the apt at 11:45 and on my way to the mall I noticed Shell has reopened the natural gas area of the station.

I recycled a few plastic bottles, printed my Residency Visa in color and walked out the south exit of Exito. I found an escalator to take me up to IKEA where I ran into the same “gym” as last time

This time I inquired, “if you’re not a fucking gym, what are you”? Of course he didn’t speak English so I repeated it in Spanish without the swear word and he said “we’re a gym”. 😊

Upstairs in IKEA I asked a guard about the store’s hours and learned they open at 9am (store, café, and restaurant). Up another level I bought lasagna (mixta), a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee for 28,480 pesos ($6.40). There is a machine where you make your own coffee but I don’t know if they allow seconds. I put the cinnamon roll in the microwave for 20 seconds to warm it up a little. Today the A/C was too cold to stick around.

This is what their lunchroom looks like from the back corner:

When I left, I noticed this sign in another store:

It’s for a shoe company named VANS but to me it suggests, “the square root of/is the Answer”. 😊

I had a latte in Urbania and solved a few more chess puzzles. At one point a man came by and tried to sell me an ink pen. Don’t usually see that in the mall. A few minutes later a guy came by selling lottery tickets.

I left at 3:30, bought a package of napkins in Exito and went outside to catch a taxi. The driver didn’t seem to know where Eduardo Madrid bakery was so I told him to go north on Ave Las Vegas and go up the hill from McDonald’s. As we entered heavy traffic he said, “manifestacion”. I thought that meant “demonstration” and google confirmed it. A traffic policeman was blocking the turnoff to Ave Las Vegas north. I handed the driver 5mil and got out. I went up to the policeman and asked if it would be dangerous for a gringo to walk to McDonalds. He assured me it was safe and as I approached the intersection, I saw 3 taxis-wide blocking some of the lanes. I had a latte in the bakery while waiting for Teresa to arrive.

She arrived at 5:30 and we shared a chicken sandwich while she had a latte.

We left just before 6pm and returned to the apt.

Gladiator II is playing in Cine Colombia so maybe I’ll see it tomorrow afternoon.

 

JUST FUNNY

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:15.

I took a Didi to Unicentro mall but traffic was so heavy I arrived 10 minutes late. Still, I had to wait 10 minutes for Jose to arrive. Jose described an experience he had with simultaneous Davivienda and Servientrega ATM withdrawals where the corresponding CER differed. We each had French toast with coffee and I got a bottle of water to go.

In the food court I had the Black pieces in the first game and quickly had an advantage but executed a combination in the wrong order and only ended up with a pawn. We agreed to a draw on the 36^th move.

I had the White pieces in the 2^nd game and this game went into the endgame but resigned on the 62^nd move.

It was only 1:15 as I ordered a Didi and made a trip to the restroom. When it was an estimated two minutes before arriving I got up while looking at my cellphone and headed to the nearby exit. A guy passed me carrying a shotgun and I quickly realized I was in a group of three Brinks guards. I quickly moved out of their way.

I took a Didi to Viva Envigado and took escalators up to the 3^rd floor. Walking near the car dealership area I noticed a store called Casa de Granjero had a window display with kittens. In Pergamino I had their large yogurt with granola, fruits and berries and a small latte.

I went downstairs to Urbania where I had a latte. I received an email from Inter-Col that showed my Visa progress as “in study” the same as I received last week. I replied to the email inquiring about that and Angie soon called me. She said my Visa application has been approved and my next step is to pay “the Ministry” 1,600,000 pesos.  I asked how to do that and she said something about I could pay in person or through their website. I asked her to email me the details which she did:

“Hello! We hereby inform you of the excellent news that the VISA application has been APPROVED.
The next step to follow is to pay the fee to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which costs $1,600,000 COP, the payment can be made in person at Banco Sudameris or online with a Visa, MASTERCARD or PSE card through the following button

Payment of the MRE Fee

By entering the following information

Application number: 029438000060492

Email: Your personal email

The last step is to register the Colombian visa and request the foreigner's ID card from Migración Colombia, we will schedule the appointment and you must pay 65 USD for the foreigner's ID card in person.  We will send you the instructions and respective documents by email.

Once the Colombian visa is authorized, you will have up to five (5) calendar days to make the corresponding payment.

NOTE: Remember to apply for your next visa two and a half months before the expiration of your current visa.

At InterCol we loved completing your process successfully, that is why we would love for you to leave us a positive review.

By leaving the review you can redeem a 5% -20% discount on your next service with us!

https://medellinguru.com/directory/intercol/#review;

If you have any questions, we are here to help.

inter-col.com TEAM

Sincerely,

Davivienda Business Tower - Of.  808

Carrera 43A Nº1 Sur - 188

Whatsapp: +17867080255”

 

I left at 3:30 and returned to the apt by taxi.

I was going through the Flipboard news feed on my cellphone when I found this:

When I was a teenager I had a neighbor, Freddy Zweifel (sp?), who must have had Dermatographia. I remember he could “scratch” his forehead and a scar would soon appear. I also remember another boy in our town who had a 6^th finger, not fully formed or functional of course.

 

JUST FUNNY

Monday, November 11, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, slept through the night, got up at 5am couldn’t fall back asleep, finally getting up at 6am. It obviously rained overnight as the streets are wet and it’s still dripping a little.

Today is another holiday, this time it’s Cartagena Independence Day and the streets are deserted as people sleep in.

A reader caught my typo from the other day. The 1.9% I published for the hotel is 19%. Mea culpa.

It’s a cold morning so I closed all the windows. That’s the main way you control the temperature here, by opening and closing windows.

After breakfast while waiting my usual hour to digest my breakfast and for it to warm up a bit outside I fell asleep on the recliner for about 30-45 minutes.

I left the apt at 8:45 and completed my workout in Smartfit. It was just slightly less crowded than usual.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for an hour before returning to the apt.

Teresa wants to go out for lunch but when I ask her where, it’s the usual, “where do you want to take me”? In the end we decided to take a Didi to the Provenza area of Poblado and walk around a bit until we find a restaurant. Soon I suggested La Matriarca where we have had dinner before but never lunch.

Laura sent some photos of Teresa and I via Whatsapp but it looks like we lost the original date the photo was taken so we might have to send them via email attachments.

We left the apt at 1pm and took a Didi to the restaurant La Matriarca in Poblado. Teresa chose a table in the “outside” area close to the entrance.

In the past we’ve always sat further inside.

Teresa had salmon and a beer and I had the solomito (steak) of the house and a Coke.

For dessert we had lattes and shared a slice of cake with ice cream and red sauce.

With tip the total came to 225,402 pesos ($52). We returned to the apt by Didi and our driver, Juan, spoke some English. Because he was driving a Chevy I played the following video for him

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=dinah+shore+see+the+usa+in+your+chevrolet&mid=E4BE173643BE60A54134E4BE173643BE60A54134&FORM=VIRE

and he thought it was great.

Troyclough resigned our game on the 31^st move, increasing my rating to 1615.

We watched another Netflix movie together, Dead Sea (5.2) and even though it isn’t rated very highly Teresa liked it.

 

JUST FUNNY

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:15.

It’s a very overcast morning and still dripping a little; hoping it will end before I leave to meet Glenn for breakfast.

Uh-oh, yoDerek88 (1081) has a strong attack against my king with his queen, rook, and bishop. If I lose this game, I’ll lose a ton of points – 20?

My friend IM (International Master) Juan Carlos Guerro Sierra is playing in the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships December 26^th to 31^st in New York. https://www.fide.com/news/3182

I left the apt just before 8:30 and walked to Sao Paulo Plaza. I was dressed in pants, warm t-shirt with sleeves, jacket and was carrying our large umbrella.

Glenn soon arrived with Bianca and thanked me again for the Thanksgiving invite and told me he would bring dessert, a pecan pie. He’s going to have it delivered but instead of carrying it here he’s going to have it delivered to our porteria. They’ll call me and I’ll go down and pick it up. He also asked me to warn Teresa that because of his stomach issues he won’t eat a lot.

When I walked back to the apt I was definitely overdressed as it had become partly sunny.

ONEIPAMETATO1453 resigned our game in 26 moves, increasing my rating to 1609.

Teresa is freaking out about her embassy interview but I told her she doesn’t need to know everything about me (like what companies I worked for in the States) just say, “I don’t know”.

I started to show Teresa the three Bogota hotels I had selected and she quickly chose the Wyndham Bogota (8.9) which is right in front of the embassy. I reserved it for our two nights but I will pay for it at the hotel. The charge for that will be about 820,820 + 1.9% VAT for an expected total of 836,416 ($195).

I enjoyed my peanuts with a Coke but not the Bears game as they are losing 13-3 at halftime. They lost 19-3, very embarrassing!

yoDerek88 (1081) resigned on the 26^th move increasing my rating one point to 1610.

I bought 2 Avianca tickets to Bogota for Thursday, December 12^th returning Saturday, December 14^th for 793,500 pesos ($183).

Teresa and I watched Don’t Breathe (7.1) on Netflix.

 

EL ARROYO

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, finally waking getting up at 6:15.

My cedula expired today. I wonder if that’s going to affect my ability to purchase things. In a pinch I guess I could use my passport.

Teresa’s meeting her mother this morning to help her with some banking so I suggested we meet in IKEA for lunch.

It was only 66 degrees at 9am when I left in pants to meet Marcos at Peccato at 9:15. He put in bids for several apartments around 900 million but they were all rejected. He’s now done looking to buy an apartment as he says prices here have gotten insane.

He left at 10am and I paid 14mil for our lattes and walked to the mall where I had a latte in Urbania waiting for Teresa to call.

A couple sat at a table next to me and fed frozen yogurt to their dog, a Bernese Mountain Dog.

A few minutes later another couple came by with their little dog and the Bernese seemed to be scared of it. I only started recording after it had back away.

Teresa called at 11:45 and asked me to meet het and her mother in the Ikea restaurant. I paid for my latte, made a quick trip to the restroom then found them waiting for me in Ikea. Today it wasn’t freezing like before so I didn’t need the jacket I had brought.  They had their salmon and I got the meatballs again with mashed potatoes and gravy. Instead of peas I tried to substitute their mixed vegetable but was refused. I tried their lingonberries this time and they were okay. We all shared a bottle of water and the total came to 122,400 pesos ($28) which isn’t too bad for three meals in Medellin.

I bought a bottle of my skin cream in Linea Estetica and it must have been on sale because it was only 81,000 pesos where last time I think it was 105,000 pesos. I purposely paid for it with my debit card and didn’t have any problem with my expired cedula.

Not being in a hurry, we stopped for lattes in Juan Valdez. They left to go to El Tesoro and I returned to the apt by taxi.

I completed more chess puzzles in my book and watched the news the rest of the evening.

Teresa returned at 6:30 and I reminded her tomorrow I’m having breakfast with Glenn and my game starts at 1pm.

It rained all evening and was still raining when I went to bed at 10pm.

 

EL ARROYO

Friday, November 8, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, finally waking getting up at 6:15.

Just after 7am it started raining ☹ thwarting my eagerness to go to the gym. I’m waiting my usual 1 hour after breakfast so as long as it ends by 8am I’m going to wait it out.

Finally, the rain stopped and I left at 9:15 finishing my workout just after 10am. I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for an hour. Btw, I replaced peanuts in all the previous locations.

I completed another couple courses in Noel Studer’s Next Level Training. Almost finished with the first go around.

Teresa tells me she wants to go to Zara in El Tesoro this afternoon.

Do they have fire drills here? Just after 2pm I heard what sounded like a tornado alarm across the street and a few people started leaving the building and I saw what looked like crossing guards with a megaphone.

I lost a game to Troyclough with the Black pieces in 59 moves lowering my rating to 1605.

When I scheduled another game against him, Chess.com suggested I play someone closer to my rating then it matched me with a player named yoDerek88 with a rating of 1081. 😊

We left the apt at 2:30 and took a Didi to El Tesoro mall. While Teresa checked out the remodeled Zara I went to Valentina’s where I had a latte and slowly worked my way through a chocolate filled Crookie (Croissant cookie combination).

Five weeks from today is Teresa’s US embassy interview, so I texted Laura asking if she can get more information, like:

·     Is there a special time we’re supposed be there?

·     Is there a special entrance we’re supposed to use?

·     What should she bring with her to the interview?

Teresa returned about 90 minutes later and proclaimed that everything in Zara was depressingly ugly (black, brown and gray). She ordered a latte and a chicken sandwich that we shared.

We left about 5:15 and there was a 30-minute wait for a taxi back to our apt. It didn’t help that it was raining.

I checked Google Flights and it looks like Avianca has almost hourly flights to Bogota so I asked Teresa what time she would want to fly out of Medellin. Since we probably won’t be able to check-in to the hotel until 3pm, we agreed on 1-3pm.

The rest of the evening I watched the news on Medellin TV.

 

EL ARROYO

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 3:30, took a while to fall back asleep, finally waking getting up at 6:45.

To J.W. (and my other readers) I briefly met Bob Burford with his son Carlos for coffee when he first moved here but I just looked and I couldn’t easily find my record of the meeting.

Teresa asked me to pick up a fish for her in Amazonias. I left the apt at 8:15 and walked to Mayorista. I stopped in Badia where I bought 12 boxes of chamomile tea for 130,800 pesos ($30). Outside at a small café

I ordered a latte and took a seat to solve a few more chess puzzles. I left at 10am and walked to Amazonia where I bought a fish for 44,160 pesos ($10).

I returned to the apt and noted my step counter registered 3,393 steps; sure felt like more!

I checked Cine Colombia and I don’t see anything I might be interested in.

Teresa returned at 11:30. She told me she and her gf had a cinnamon roll in IKEA and when can we go there for lunch. In time my dear, in time.

At 1:45 I took a Didi to the mall (I was too tired to walk). My driver spoke some English. He said he studies English on an app for 2 hours after work because it is the language of business.

I recycled a few bottles, printed my blood test results in Auros then went up to the banking area. I withdrew 2 million pesos at a good currency exchange rate of 4365. In Banco Villas I filled out a new deposit form then deposited the missing 91,244 pesos I shorted Alcala into their account (there was no line).

Downstairs in Urbania I texted Alcala a screenshot of my deposit receipt. I had a latte while doing a couple more puzzles. I left at 4pm and took the back way into Exito. They moved the sodas to a different location so I had to hunt for my 6-pack of Coke. It was a short line at the cashier and I took a taxi back to the apt.

My legs are feeling back to normal now.

I watched the news, switching between CNN and MSNBC.

With the Black pieces I checkmated ONEIPAMETATO1453 in 18 moves, increasing my rating to 1617, my highest ever.

 

EL ARROYO

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up once at 1am, again at 5:45, finally waking getting up at 6:30.

I woke up to find that Trump won the election. ☹ So much for my prognostication. I’m not just worried about the US suffering under his care, but Ukraine, South Korea, Taiwan, NATO, and climate change.

I left the apt at 8:15 and left another peanut next to the bird feeder on my way to Smartfit. As I was moving to the Lat Pulldown machine a young man was stretching but blocking my way. I only had to wait a few seconds for him to stop and I was surprised when he followed me to my next machine. As I was doing my reps he asked how many I’m going to do and I said, “17”. After I started, he recommended I do them slower, which I did. After I finished 20 reps he started giving me other suggestions to gain muscle and strength. Then I told him I’m 79 years old. His first comment was “joven”, typical Colombian response, but then he said “hay mucho”. I tried to convey to him I’m only in maintenance mode. I then moved on to the treadmill. Before I left, I had one of the trainers help me with their scale and the Smartfit app.

My weight is now 80.5 kg = 177#, my BMI is 24.3, the rest will have to wait until I can interpret it.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for about 90 minutes. I replaced the peanut that was missing from the nearest tree. Marcos texted me that he has doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning so instead of meeting I’m going to Mayorista to buy more chamomile tea in Badia.

ONEIPAMETATO1453 resigned on his 32^nd move to avoid checkmate or he would lose his queen, increasing my rating to 1613.

I tried again, unsuccessfully, to find my blood test results on the Cedimed website.

Teresa called at 12:30 and told me she’s going to have lunch in La Bahia with her mother. I told her it’s too early for me so I’ll be on my own for lunch and we’ll meet up around 5:30 in Eduardo Madrid bakery.

I left the apt at 1:15 and walked to Otra Parte where I had their Mama Pastora (chicken pasta) and a limonada de coco. I found another FB post from Bob Burford so I posted it right away. I’m back doing puzzles from my large book. I had a series of about 20 puzzles that were so difficult to solve I didn’t want to continue. Now there’s reasonable again.

I left about 3pm and I cut down what they call Calle Jardin past Classic Diner and noticed this sign.

I continued on to Eduardo Madrid bakery to wait for Teresa to join me about 5:30. At 4:20 we had a downpour but it only lasted about 5 minutes.

I received a text message from our realtor that I owe 91,244 pesos. I had left myself a note that I need to increase our rent payments to 2,486,531 on October 31^st but I wrote down 2025 or maybe I just missed seeing the note completely.

I received an email with my test results so I don’t have to worry about figuring out how to find them on their Cedimed website. Most everything looks to be within the acceptable ranges so I think I’m doing okay.

Teresa arrived about 5:10 and she had a pastry with a latte. I found a sleeve of 6 sesame seed bagels and I paid for everything then we returned to the apt.

I watched some news in the evening.

 

EL ARROYO