Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Monday, December 9, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, woke up at 5:30, tried to fall back asleep, gave up when I heard a generator outside Ara at 6am.

I left the apt at 7:30 and completed my workout in Smartfit. Today wasn’t very crowded and I saw Michael.

I stopped at the copy center but it was only about 8:30 and hadn’t opened yet.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for about 90 minutes. I found another Bob Burford article on Facebook and later posted it to my blog. I replaced the missing peanuts in the trees. I took a photo of this talkative/noisy bird that is common here in Medellin, Colombia.



I left at 9:45 and printed a few pages of chess notes in the now opened Bancolombia kiosk on my way back to the apt.

I was sitting at my computer when I got a call from Inter-Col at 10:34, It wasn’t Angie and the woman didn’t speak English. Soon Teresa was standing behind me and took the phone. I only understood the words, “immigration” and “11:15”. Teresa hung up and was all in “we gotta hurry mode”. I asked her if this was for me or for her and she didn’t know. (I thought she was going to have a kitten (is this a Chicago expression?)). She called Laura for some reason and I called Inter-Col. The same woman answered and after getting a few questions answered I understood it was for my cedula, I have an 11:15 appointment at Immigration in Belen and I have to bring certain documents. I grabbed my passports (new and old) and debit cards and ordered a Didi. My ride arrived at 10:40 and by 11am dropped me off around the corner from the Immigration office. I stopped across the street and had 4 documents printed that Inter-Col sent me via Whatsapp. It was exactly 11:15 when I told the guard I had an appointment and he let me in without even looking at it. I took a seat and there was only one person ahead of me. I handed him my documents and my passport and he had me write my address, email address, phone number and blood type on one of my pages. I took a seat and waited for the next stage. A girl (25 maybe) after me seemed to be having some trouble. She took a seat next to me and I asked if she had problems. She said, “her medicine won’t arrive until September. Their website doesn’t work. Their email doesn’t work” except every other word was F*ck**g. She was a real ray of sunshine. At the next station the rep showed me my personal information and I verified its accuracy. I took a seat again for a couple minutes. He then called me up to pay the cedula fee of 267,000 pesos ($61). I handed him my Capital One debit card and the machine asked for my pin. I entered it and it said, “incorrect pin”. We tried again with the same result. I told him, “funciona en todo tiendas de Medellin”. Luckily, I had also brought my USAA debit card and that one works without needing a pin.

I took a seat again for a few minutes then he called me up, returned some papers and told me to return the 2nd week of February with my cedula or passport to get my new cedula and I won’t need an appointment. Outside I called for a Didi to return me to the apt and I was back by 12:30. I didn’t even miss lunch. 😊

Teresa informed me that Kelly is coming around 3pm to give her a massage.

I left the apt at 1:15 and had a latte in Los Portenos. I left at 3pm and returned to the apt. Teresa was busy getting a massage from Kelly.

Using Booking.com I booked us one night in Courtyard by Marriott Bogota Airport for 591,400 pesos + 112,300 VAT (Value added Tax?) = 703,700 pesos ($159.46). It’s close to the airport, obviously, and appears to be walking distance from Teresa’s first appointment for photo and fingerprints.

 

JUST FUNNY



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