Thursday, March 13, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, again at 3:15 when I heard Teresa get up, gave up getting back to sleep at 4am, got up and read for an hour before going back to bed, finally waking/getting up after Teresa at 6:30am. I blame it on running out of those pink allergy pills; I usually take 2 each night. I asked Laura to bring me a bottle but my mistake was not reminding her (she gifted me 2 t-shirts instead) and I guess she forgot. I have enough to take 1 each night for the next week then I’ll be completely out. I ordered another bottle but it’s in Florida or on its way to Bogota.

I left the apt at 8:15 and walked to the mall. In Auros I printed a new copy of the daily medications I’m taking. At the nearby Davivienda ATM I received the message in English, “Your transaction was not made due to technical failures. Please check your balance.” (Later I checked the balance and it was correct.)

I went upstairs in the main part of the mall and withdrew 2,000,000 pesos from Davivienda and Servibanca ATMs, receiving a mixture in the former and all 100s in the latter.

Back downstairs in Exito, I paid the epm bill with only one person ahead of me.

Back in the mall, Claro was still closed so I had a latte in Urbania.

I left at 10:30, paid our cellphone bills in Claro, bought a large carton (32) of eggs in Exito for 36,900 pesos and returned to the apt by taxi.

Novocaine (7.1) is playing in Vizcaya at 4:30.

We left the apt at noon and took a Didi to El Tesoro mall. Teresa was afraid there wouldn’t be enough time before our 2pm appointment so we just shared a chicken sandwich with lattes in Valentina’s.

We were in the general waiting area 15 minutes early. I went first and got a general exam and cleaning. During Teresa’s turn I brought Dr. Rendon up-to-date on our happenings and future plans. He has a medical convention in Bogota the end of next week then the family heads to Rome, Italy for 15 days. I also told him my latest joke in English. The total cost came to 520,000 pesos ($126).

Crepes & Waffles was crowded but we found a table upstairs. Teresa had Mexican chicken and I Cesar salad with chicken and we shared a bottle of water for a total of 66,850 pesos. We heard thunder and it was pouring by the time we left.

Teresa did a little shopping in Zara and H&M but didn’t end up buying anything.

Back in Valentina’s we had lattes and shared a slice of cheesecake. We waited until 7pm for traffic to lessen then went to the taxi stand. The number machine wasn’t working but a lady was taking names. It was about 30 minutes until we got a taxi to return us to our apt for 17mil.

Note to self: Always bring a jacket when I visit El Tesoro mall.

I received this email from Smartfit,

Dear Member,

Sorry! We inform you that on the part of Smart Fit we have not been able to carry out any Payment of the following monthly payments:

Monthly payment - Period from 26/02/2025 to 25/03/2025 - Payment due date 10/03/2025 - for a value of $ 99,900 - Retry date: 13/03/2025 05:14

Payments have no relation to the frequency of your attendance. In other words, You will continue to be charged regardless of whether or not you have attended the venue.

We invite you to log in to Your Space as soon as possible to change or update your payment method, or make it at one of our locations.

Remember that, if you are unable to make the payment, access to your headquarters will be blocked. Your plan is not canceled. You can catch up to unlock your access at the turnstile.

If you have already resolved this issue, please ignore this email.

We appreciate your attention,

Smart Fit.

I put 300,000 pesos into Laura’s account on March 1^st but she says her current balance is only 54,854 pesos so obviously she spent some of my money. In the future we’re going to use Teresa’s Bancolombia account.

I finished reading 61 Hours (Jack Reacher #14) on my Kindle.

 

EL ARROYO