A Gringo in Medellin, Colombia: Friday, August 16, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 1:15, again at 5:15, finally waking/ getting up at 7:15.

The street is a little wet so we must have had some rain overnight. It’s also very overcast so maybe we’ll have more rain soon. Accuweather says rain starting in 26 minutes but The Weather Channel says rain ending in 15 minutes. 😊

MT has a 4pm hearing appointment in San Fernando Plaza so I’ll be going with them later.

I left the apt at 9:15 and walked to the mall. I usually cut through the gas station but today the electric and natural gas area was tarped off. Probably some construction coming soon. I had to walk down to the corner of McDonald’s before continuing south,

I recycled a few items then went to Urbania where I had a latte while solving 3 more pages of chess puzzles, getting all of them correct. I left at 10:45 and bought a number of things in Exito and was happy that were was no wait in the express line to check out. I returned to the apt by taxi.

I finished the 5 episodes of Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants on HBO Max.

Shedrain’s last email: “Thank you very much. We can confirm that you were sent an AOAC Jumbo Compact Umbrella instead of the AOAC Compact Umbrella that was ordered. We have put through a request to have the correct umbrella sent out with expedited shipping. In the meantime, please feel free to keep the extra umbrella, gift it to a friend or family member, or donate it, as this was our mistake.”

I googled and found a phone number for HBO Max at 1 (855) 942-6669. I called and explained that I see the Hard Knocks series for the NY Giants and Miami Dolphins but not the Chicago Bears. An hour later and after elevating it twice they told me they’d investigate it further and contact me by email.

I googled San Fernando Plaza, looking for a café, and found Bread Factory.

We were waiting in the porteria at 3:30 when MT picked us up in a taxi. At San Fernando Plaza we took the escalator up a couple levels and I commented that they reminded me of Comuna 13. We turned left and as we walked to the other side I noticed a food court with a Café sign in the back. We passed a Juan Valdez on the left. At the other end of the floor MT led us to this GAES store. They went in and took a seat and I walked back to the food court. It turned out there is no café, I just saw the word CARE from a distance. 😊 I went in to Juan Valdez and ordered a large latte and a blueberry yogurt muffin. I hadn’t finished it when the ladies were back. (I found out later that MT just got her hearing aids cleaned.) Teresa asked about the coffee and I told her to order café con leche as the lattes aren’t good her. She asked where there is another café and I told her to ask the security guard standing 10 yards behind her. She did and they moved back near the GAES tienda. I soon joined them and it was a simple Bread Factory kiosk but there weren’t any tables available as they were sitting on a bench with no back support. Teresa then decided she’d rather have ice cream in Santafe mall. we took the escalator down and walked across the parking lot to the street and quickly caught a taxi. Because of all the one-way streets it took some time with lots of side streets to get us there. (It was walking distance, like 6 blocks but I didn’t want MT to have to walk that far.)

In Crepes & Waffles Teresa asked me what was the ice cream I ordered when we were in Cartagena. I found it on the menu -Suprema and we both ordered it although hers was lite ice cream.