Saturday, August 2, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 3:30, again took a few minutes to fall asleep, finally waking/getting up at 6:45.

I left the apt at 8:45 and walked to the mall. I stopped in Auros and printed our apt contract and a recipe I found on the internet for Chicken Rice Soup.

Upstairs I withdrew 2,000,000 pesos and paid for the apt in Av Villas. At a Bancolombia multi-purpose ATM I paid for the apt, our gym membership, our health insurance and Medellin TV.

So far, all going according to plan.

In a nearby café I stopped to talk to a gringo wearing an Air Force cap. His name is Mark, originally from Michigan most recently from Florida. Soon we were joined by his friend Alex, also from Florida. Alex asked me lots of questions about my US embassy visit to Bogota for a visa for my wife.

At one point, Juan my old Spanish teacher, came by and introduced me to his wife.

After chatting for about an hour I decided its time to finish my errands. After multiple attempts to make another withdrawal I decided the ATMs were out of cash.

I stopped in Home Center looking for plumber’s putty but they didn’t have it; I’ll buy a small container next month when I’m in Chicago.

I stopped in Urbania and had a latte.

Teresa called at 11:30 and asked me to meet her inside IKEA for lunch. When I arrived, MT was with her and we went through the labyrinth until we found the full length mirror Teresa wanted. Teresa picked this one out

but she wants to wait until Monday or Tuesday to purchase it.

We went into their cafeteria and had their meatball combo for lunch for 99,400 pesos ($25).

For dessert we each had one of their small vanilla ice cream cones for 1,900 pesos each.

Teresa took almost all of my remaining bills (I think she left me with 7,000 pesos) and they left for Exito then MT’s house where Teresa was going to make the broccoli cheese soup again, this time from memory.

I went back to the banking area and tried several times again to withdraw cash. Finally, I got a message, “limite retiro diario” which told me I reached my daily limit. I took a seat in the common area to think about my (lack of) cash problem.

Teresa called to inform me it was pouring outside and they were waiting it out in Exito.

After a few minutes I used my USAA app to start a chat with a rep. It took almost an hour to resolved but she increased my daily limit but made it clear it couldn’t be done permanently, only effective until 2am tomorrow. I was able to make a 600,000 pesos withdrawal, all 100s, so at least I had some cash on me.

I looked down at Urbania and it looked pretty busy so I went to Santa Leña and took a small table in the back. From my seat, this is a photo I took of a busy atrium

I heard several cheers while I was there and google informed me the Colombian women’s soccer team beat Brazil 2-1.

Teresa called at 5:30 and asked me to join them at MT’s apt for some soup. I paid my bill and walked across the street to MT’s apt. The soup was good but I commented that she’s putting in too much broccoli. (Her belief is if ½ pound of something is good then 1 pound must be better. She often does that when making lunch.)

We left at 7pm and returned to the apt by Didi.

I see DAZN automatically renewed my subscription to NFL Game PASS for $105.09. I hope the Bears are worth it this year but I’m going to turn off their automatic renewal.

From what I can see I can cancel my subscription but I don’t readily see a way to stop the automatic renewal. TBC.

my old version.

 

FUNNY