Sunday, July 27, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, woke up at 6am and got up at 7am with Teresa.

The plan for today was to go to Santa Elena. Teresa said it would be colder there so I put on warmer socks, my hiking pants and brought a jacket. We left the apt at 10am and hadn’t gotten a block when Teresa informed me she forgot her cellphone. I waited on the bench outside the porteria while she retrieved. Outside a not very crowded Smartfit we quickly caught an Envigado bus. On the eastern edge of downtown Medellin we got off (I think it was calle 43) and walked 4 blocks east. A block south and we encountered a large crowd waiting for a bus to Santa Elena.

While Teresa was talking to someone I noticed a bus pull up which looked already full but the doors opened and a few people got on.

Teresa reported, as I suspected, that this was not going to work. I commented that if the crowd is this bad now, how easy is it to return to Medellin.The crowd is this big and Feria de los Flores doesn’t begin until August 5^th. We walked back to Avenida Poblado and caught a taxi. We were on our way to the castle museum when the driver reported something about a marathon and the museum road would be closed. We ended up at Jardin de Botanico for 30mil. We used a side entrance and entry was free but they were still checking IDs. There were 4 youngsters in front of us and two had Mexican passports. I, a foreigner, had my Resident Cedula with me but Teresa didn’t bring her cedula. She was quizzed and then let inside. There was some type of a presentation going on with a few food booths set up. We sat down and eventually had a few small chicken shish kebabs that cost 4,000 pesos ($1) each. When the presentation ended and everyone left we took a couple of their chairs. They had a DJ playing music and a few people were dancing.

We walked to the pond where we saw this large iguana.

The iguana eventually walked away and climbed this tree. Soon another larger one arrived – maybe it scared the small one?

Some people got awfully close although they aren’t dangerous unless you harass them but if they bite you their saliva can be harmful. Eventually some one came by with a dog and the iguana moved very quickly into the pond.

We walked around a bit more and I finally convinced Teresa to check out the restaurant near the main entrance. It’s called El Bosque and wasn’t crowded so we took a table. Teresa ordered a chicken breast plate that we shared with a couple Cokes.

Teresa talked to a water and as I understand it if we show up right at noon we can order food to go that we can eat in the park.

We left at 4:30, walked across the street to the metro and returned to Envigado.

I finally got a response from Inter-Col, their charge for renewing a passport is $285 and Teresa notified MT that it would cost 1,200,000 pesos to renew it. Smartly, she decided not to renew it because at 88 years old and not in good health she shouldn’t be flying to the US anyway.

 

FUNNY