Sunday, February 2, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 3am, finally waking/getting up at 6am thanks to a truck arriving at Ara next door.

I tried to log into Airbnb and got the same stupid puzzles with took me a while to figure out what rules they’re using. ☹ I received a message from our host Milena and my reservation is back to Sunday, June 15^th to Tuesday, July 15, saving me $72.31. It’s nice to have options.

I see my Airbnb payment in my USAA account. I’ll give it a few days to reconcile their refund.

News Flash: “According to the Groundhog Day 2024 ceremony held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the famous groundhog did not see his shadow when he emerged from his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob shortly before 7:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 2¹². This suggests that there will be an early spring this year¹.”

Now I understand MT will be coming with us, which at least guarantees there won’t be a lot of walking. Teresa said we may decide to have lunch in San Peregrino so we wouldn’t have to continue on to La Ceja. Hmm, maybe this is just a plot to get me to go to mass in San Peregrino.

At 9:45 I started the search for a ride with Didi. After 10 minutes of “expanding their search” I cancelled it and switched to InDrive but I couldn’t figure out how to add additional stops so I switched to Uber. It was a 12-minute wait but out car finally arrived at 10:15. Turns onto Ave Las Vegas were allowed even though ciclovia was in progress. Our driver moved into the right lane like he was going to turn right to go to the autopista and I said, “donde vas?” and Teresa in the back finally joined in and directed him south to pick up MT. She questioned if I forgot to add her stop but I know I did. The driver didn’t even have his gps on until we were well on our way.

At Terminal Sur we bought our tickets to San Peregrino for about 10mil each. The bus was supposed to leave at 11am but didn’t even arrive until 11:30 and five minutes later we were off. Ninety minutes later we got off at a dusty road that we walked up to the location of the mass.

Not sure if this is a shrine for some reason but there’s no church. There appeared to be an outdoor mass going on at the moment so Teresa recommended we have lunch now before the mass finishes and there are long lines. Teresa and MT had trout and I the only other option, a pork tamal (tamale for you gringos that don’t know better).

I can’t really say I enjoyed my tamale so I finished the fries and tomato slices that Teresa left on her plate.

By the time we finished there was a long line for food so we left so others would have a place to sit.

We made a trip to the restroom and I was surprised to enter my first unisex restroom (for 1mil). The left side was for men and consisted of 3 partitioned urinals followed by 2 stalls and the women’s side consisted of 5 stalls. (There was a common hand washing sink near the entrance.)  I took the last stall (men’s) which had no lock but at least closed securely and had a toilet seat but no toilet paper. Typical Colombia.

Outside we sat down on a bench we found away from the crowds. Just before 3pm Teresa and MT went for mass while I started my new paperback Paper Towns by John Green. I discovered two no-see-um bites on my right forearm. ☹

They returned about 4pm and we had café con leches (cardboard cups) in more comfortable plastic chairs than the bench. At 4:30 we walked down the hill and checked the buses in the parking lot but I guess they were going a different way. We crossed the main road and quickly got on the bus but got makeshift seats. Teresa sat shotgun while I was between her and the driver with my feet stuck under the dashboard.

About 20 minutes later someone got off and I moved back to the now available seat. Next to me was a young man with a motorcycle helmet in his lap and he leaned against the window the whole trip. A few people got on and off and I noticed this hose in the aisle with at least 8 pairs of wheels attached.

I couldn’t figure out what the purpose of the wheels.

Traffic was heavy and we didn’t return to estacion Exposiciones until 7pm, 2 ½ hours. I’m not doing this again.

We quickly caught a taxi, dropped MT off at her apt and Teresa surprised me not because she said she was hungry but because she wanted to eat at McDonald’s. We got out and walked inside and I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t freezing as it had so many times before.

She got the Mc something and I a quarter pounder and a large soda to share and I guess they upgraded one of us to a combo because it included fries. She liked her burger so I guess there’s hope for her when we arrive in Chicago.

I asked Teresa if this San Peregrino mass was something special the first February Sunday of the year. She informed me it was special and it was the first Sunday of every month. Well, I’m not doing that again. In the future, she can go with MT, Esmeralda for some other girlfriend.

 

EL ARROYO