Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, waking up at 5:30 and getting up at 6am.
Troyclough resigned our game on the 32nd move
increasing my rating to 1562.
Teresa informed me that the mass will be at 5pm with a
rosario at 4:30 so we will be leaving the apt at 4pm.
Kelly came over and the ladies got another massage.
This is the last day for free ChessMood courses so I’m
starting their tactics course.
I watched more episodes of Your Honor on Netflix.
About 4pm Teresa asked me to get dressed. She put out my
nice pair of navyblue slacks and a long sleeve shirt. I told her I’m not
wearing a long sleeve shirt in Medellin but I’ll take my jacket. Laura backed
me up by saying, “no elegante” before she left to meet Cindy – I thought she
was going with us. To compromise I put on my new pair of darker hiking pants, a
nice short sleeve shirt, my dark blue pair of gym shoes with a dark pair of
socks. I ordered a Didi which took us to Parroquia Cristo Rey (Carrera 53 #1
sur-11) which is close to where Esmeralda and Alejandro live.
It’s the typical neighborhood church in a small park with
people outside and vendors selling food and snacks. We sat in a pew near the
front with the casket in front of the alter, they said the rosario, the priest
came out and they had mass, Alejandro gave a testimonial, and it ended by 5:45.
Four pallbearers wheeled the casket out of the church and family gathered
around as it was loaded into a hearse.
One of the pallbearers gave a few of us a ride to the
cemetery, Funeraria Campos De Paz. The car sat outside the closed gate
for 5 minutes waiting for it to open. It finally opened on the exit side and we
carefully entered. When the driver parked, I realized we were outside the
crematorium with a lone large metal chimney coming out of the roof. (It was a
little crowded with mourners coming out.) They wheeled the casket down a ramp
into a wide-open area then into a side room where family gathered around. I
stood back against the wall as they opened the face portion of the casket and
someone led prayers and they said their final goodbyes. When most of the crowd had
moved back, I could see there was a window in the casket so they could see her
(Esmeralda’s mother’s) face. Then what surprised me is a sliding door in the
wall opened up and a conveyer belt took the coffin inside and the door went
down and I guess that’s that. I thought I heard the gas jets come on so they didn’t
waste any time.
As we were leaving, I told Teresa that’s where I want to go
not buried in the ground. She said she wants to go that way also.
I ducked back inside for a trip to the restroom. Only one
stall looked clean enough even though its door didn’t close properly and there
were no door hooks but the floor was dry and, surprisingly, it had a toilet
seat.
Back outside someone gave us a ride to the entrance of the cemetery. A woman that got out with us I later learned is named Claudia. At Teresa’s suggestion we walked across the street to Melón y Salpicón where we three had fruit bowls with ice cream for a total of 47mil.
At 7pm I ordered a Didi which picked us up after a 6-minute
wait. It’s the first car I remember being in with a sunroof or is it a moonroof?
I asked the driver what they call it and he said, “sunroof” with a Spanish
pronunciation.
We were back at our complex by 7:30 and it was the first
time I’ve seen one of those popcorn wagons right outside the porteria.
Laura left at 9pm probably to go somewhere to dance the
night away.
EL ARROYO
Terry, please, convey my condolences to Teresa and her family for their loss.
ReplyDeleteI agree with y'all regarding being cremated. My mother was the last of her generation. They were all buried. I think she will be the last to be buried of my family. All of my brothers, sisters, and I plan on being cremated.
Jack W