6 Pros of Living in Medellin; How to Expat

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Saturday, January 12, 2019

It took awhile to fall asleep (too many naps?), I got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

I left the apt at 9:15, walked up Calle 29 Sur to Avenida Poblado and crossed the street to wait for a bus.  There was construction going on behind me and I looked around and guess what is going in there?  A Smartfit gym.  So we’ll have a location 5 minutes from our apt instead of 20 (the park) or 10 (the mall).

I got off the bus at Envios Market where I paid for January and February rentals.  I included February because at least early in the month I’ll be busy going places with my brother and later his gf and her daughter.  I picked up another Chess Life magazine, a pension statement and 2 more letters from BSI Financial (I really must contact them and tell them I no longer have anything to do with that property.)

I walked up to Starbucks where I had my usual café mocha blanco and finished my paperback Seize the Night by Dean Koontz.  After about 45 minutes I made a quick trip to the restroom and on the way I saw a guy in a Green Bay Packers t-shirt.  When I came out I whispered in his ear “Go Bears”.  He said I scared the shit out of him.  Good, he should be afraid, very afraid.  After 20 years of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers it’s time for a Bears resurgence.

Next door the old Krispy Kreme location is going to be a Puerto Inka Cocina Peruana restaurant.

I walked up to Oviedo where I caught a Sabaneta bus after a 10 minute wait.  It was one of the new buses with a wheel chair accessible back door.  (I read recently that Medellin bought 64 new buses that run on natural gas.)  I got off a block too early but I walked to the book store where I exchanged paperbacks for 2mil.

I stopped at my usual ATM where I picked up some cash then walked back to the apt.

I found a voice mail from Chuck inviting me to join them for dinner tonight at the mall about 5/5:30.

Teresa told me she’s meeting with some friends for lunch today.  I understand they are going to the Peruvian restaurant in Buena Mesa.

By 4:45 I still hadn’t heard from Chuck but I changed clothes and arrived at the mall just before 5pm.  Chuck, Darnelly, Doug & Barb arrived 30 minutes later.  We went up to the 3th floor where we got a table in Parmessano, the Italian restaurant.

I exchanged some pesos for dollars with Doug at the current exchange rate of 3,136 COP/USD.

We all had a nice dinner and the waiter brought the check in a fancy box shaped like a wine bottle.  I opened it and it was obvious it wasn’t ours as there were only 3 entrees and no one had the salmon that was listed on the check.

It turned out it belonged to the table behind me and we joked a little with the guy and his wife.

Doug picked up the check puting it on his credit card.  He found it funny when he was asked how many payments he wanted to make.

We walked to the little café by the car exhibit where we all had coffee and carrot cake.  Doug told us about some of his experiences living in Thailand and Nigeria (west Africa).  Chuck picked up that check.

When we left Chuck & Darnelly took a taxi back to their apt.  Outside the mall I saw a man with a beautiful white dog that I thought was a samoyed.  I asked him and he said it was a husky.  I asked him how much a dog like this would cost and he said it depends and from 400mil to 1 million pesos.

I guided Doug & Barb over to Buena Mesa and I understood they were going to walk back to their apt in Poblado.  Chuck & Darnelly return to the States tomorrow at 2pm and Doug & Barb are going to Cartagena for a few days.

I was back at the apt by 8pm and Teresa came back at 8:40.  She said only she and Claudia liked the Peruvian food and the other 4 ladies thought it was awful.  (Maybe they accidentally ordered the beef heart.  Inside joke.)

I watched some of the L.A. Rams vs Dallas Cowboys game (ultimately won by the Rams) until going to bed at 11pm.

Joke of the day

A man goes into a restaurant and is seated.  All the waitresses are gorgeous.  A particularly voluptuous waitress wearing a very short skirt and legs that won’t quit came to his table and asked if he was ready to order.

“What would you like, sir?”

He looks at the menu and then scans her beautiful frame from top to bottom, then answers, “A quickie.”

The waitress turns and walks away in disgust.

After she regains her composure she returns and asks again, “What would you like, sir?”

Again the man thoroughly checks her out and again answers, “A quickie, please.”

This time her anger takes over, she reaches over and slaps him across the face with a resounding “SMACK!” and storms away.

A man sitting at the next table leans over and whispers, “Um, I think it’s pronounced ‘QUICHE.’”

Thursday, January 10, 2019

I feel I slept well last night despite getting up twice.  Maybe that noise app is helping with my REM sleep.

Teresa had the TV on some religious program when I noticed at the bottom of the screen: “No pierdas tu senal hoy.  Realiza tu pago. 018000937716”.  I understood the meaning but I translated it anyway with Google Translate to “Do not lose your signal today. Make your payment.”

I showed it to Teresa and asked her (not for the first time) how am I supposed to pay Direct TV without a bill?  She asked me if I had picked up a bill from the portero.  I suggested she call him.  She did and there is no bill.  She said she would have Laura call Direct TV later.

Laura booked her flight to Bogota for about 112mil on Avianca and paid for it with finca money in her Bancolombia account.  (My debit card wouldn’t work because it’s not in the drop down list of Colombia banks.)

Laura gave me a Claro bill and information to pay Direct TV.

I left the apt at 12:45 and at Otra Parte I was soon met by Chuck and his friends – Doug & Barb from Florida and Panama.  We went inside but because it appeared they were still setting things up they decided to check out La Buena Mesa instead.  Most of the restaurants were open but not the “menu del dia” that Teresa and I have eaten at in the past.

We decided to go to Bartolos but on our way we found Pipelon who had a menu del dia for only 10,000 pesos.  It included the usual – soup, meat, rice, fries, salad, juice and the ubiquitous “hockey puck” arepa.  Chuck and I exchanged $100 for 340,000 pesos.  He gave me a special gift of a door stop – he said he had several.  He asked me to buy Condorito’s for him while he’s gone but I told him I couldn’t promise because I no longer live near downtown and I don’t know where I would buy it.  He bought my lunch and I told him I knew he would do that as I already factored that into the currency exchange rate I gave him for the dollars.

We walked downtown where we had coffee and pastries at the bakery.  Chuck talked briefly to a man sitting behind me who we learned is from Orlando.  I learned more about life in Panama and they learned more about life in Colombia.  Darnelly joined us – back from her trip to Cali.  As we were leaving we found that the man behind us had already paid our bill.  Muy amable!  Chuck was going to show them a mercado and then take them to La Estrella and Sabaneta.

I bought a plastic case to hold important papers at the paper store and as I left the ATM it started raining lightly.  I went to Gold barbershop where I got a haircut (more like a haircut & shave) from Felipe for 17mil.  By the time I left the rain had stopped.  I paid Teresa’s cellphone bill at Claro and the Direct TV bill at $efecty and then returned to the apt.

I watched more episodes of The Walking Dead on Direct TV.

Laura left for the gym at 7pm and she returned at 9:15 with empanadas that we gorged on.

Joke of the day

An elderly couple went to see a doctor.  They told the doctor, “We’re having some trouble with our sex life.  Could you watch and offer some suggestions?”

The doctor replied, “I’m not a sex therapist.  You should find someone else.”

The couple said, “No, no, we trust you.”

After watching them have sex, the doctor said, “You don’t seem to be having any troubles.  I wish my sex life was as good.  I can’t give you any suggestions.”

This was repeated the next week and a third week.  After they had finished on the third week, the doctor said, “You aren’t having any trouble at all.  Is this your idea of kinky sex?”

The man replied, “No, the problem is if we have sex at my house, my wife will catch us.  If we have sex at her house, her husband will catch us.  The motel charges us $50, and we can’t afford that.  But you only charge $35, and Medicare pays half of that.”

Electric Buses to Medellin; Medellin Living & PEi Power Engineering International

BYD to deliver electric bus fleet to Colombia

01/04/2019

By Kelvin Ross 
Editor

         

Chinese battery company BYD has won a contract to provide the Colombian city of Medellin with 64 electric buses – the largest all-electric bus fleet in the country and the second-largest in Latin America.

BYD’s 12.5-metre K9G pure electric buses will be delivered to local operator Metroplus in the second half of this year.

Medellin Mayor Federico Gutiérrez said the deal would turn the city into “the capital of electric mobility in Latin America” and added that the city was “working to battle climate change".

The fleet of buses will be able to cover more than 300 km daily, with a capacity of 80 passengers. They will require less than two hours of recharging each day, and there will be charging points in different areas of the city to support their operations.

Metroplus bought the city's first 18-metre pure electric articulated bus, BYD K11, in 2017. Since then the bus has covered more than 50,000 km, saved 60 per cent cost savings and a 75 per cent saving in maintenance compared to a standard diesel-powered bus.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Last night it took me a little while to fall asleep, I got up once, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

I was watching the Colombian news and I thought I saw the British marching band playing Bohemian Rhapsody for the Queen.

Teresa and I left the apt at 8:45 and caught a taxi to nueva eps. I paid 3,200 pesos and after a short wait we went into a consultation room.  The doctor didn’t speak much English but I gave him my medical records and Teresa talked to him.  He took my blood pressure, checked my heart and then checked my weight on his scale which registered about 155# which I haven’t weighed for many years.  I should be closer to 175# so I told him his scale is off.  I’ll try to check it again myself at the new gym.  Because my last blood draw was last March I understand we have to return one year later which will be March 22^nd.

We took a taxi from there to Aymará where Teresa had a light breakfast and I had a café con leche that I didn’t finish.

We walked back to the apt and as soon as I walked in the door I realized I had left my medical records in the restaurant.  I had Teresa call them to hold them, I walked back to Aymará, picked up my papers and walked back to the apt.

We all left the apt at noon and walked down to Deli Hoy for lunch.

Across the street in the mall I had another café con leche in Habia Una Vez while the ladies went shopping.  They returned after about 90 minutes.

While sitting there I noticed a young lady with a dog and it crapped right next to the information booth.  (Six years in Colombia and that was the first time I’ve seen a dog do that in a mall.)  I saw her searching through her purse for something to clean it up with and a small crowd started forming around her.  I took a plastic bag (from yesterday’s oatmeal cookie) that I still had in my tech bag and walked over and handed it to her.  She said “gracias” and I returned to my seat.  Teresa said she thought I was going to put the plastic bag in the garbage.

After about 45 minutes Teresa and I returned to the apt while Laura went on to the gym.

Teresa informed me that her doctor’s (plastic surgeon) appointment for Friday has been changed to next Monday at 2:15.

Teresa was looking at more Youtube videos and now she wants me to buy her a juicer.  I googled juicers and found this:

https://www.amazon.com/Extractor-Centrifugal-Vegetable-Anti-drip-Vegetables/dp/B07D3C6NVL/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1547071029&sr=8-2&keywords=juicers+best+sellers+easy+to+clean

Any of my readers have a comment?

I watched a few more episodes (season 4) of The Walking Dead on Direct TV.

Joke of the day

A woman and a man get into a car accident, and it’s a bad one.  Both cars are totally demolished, but amazingly neither one of them is hurt.

After they crawl out of their cars, the woman says “So you’re a man and I’m a woman but look at our cars.  There’s nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt.  This must be a sign from God that we should meet and become friends and live together in peace the rest of our days.”

The man replied, “I agree with you completely; this must be a sign from God.”

The woman continued, “And look at this – here’s another miracle.  My car is completely demolished but this bottle of wine didn’t break.  Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune.”

So she hands the bottle to the man.  The man nods his head in agreement, opens it and takes a few big swigs from the bottle, then hands it back to the woman.

The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on, and hands it back to the man.

The man takes the bottle and asks, “Aren’t you going to have any?”

The woman replies, “No.  I think I’ll just wait for the police.”

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Last night I fell asleep quickly and woke/got up at 6:40am.  Nice!

I skipped breakfast as I believed I could get something in the Itagui clinic cafeteria.

We left the apt at 8:15, traffic was light and we quickly arrived at the clinic.  We walked up to the 2^nd floor where I went to the cafeteria while Teresa continued up to the 3^rd floor.  I had a pastry with a café con leche for 4mil and read some news from my cellphone.  Teresa returned about 20 minutes later.

She soon got a call that John Joseph doesn’t have any water at the finca.  She called someone and I understood the problem would soon be fixed.

I asked Teresa what happened at the clinic and she said she dropped off some medical papers and the oncologist would be calling her.  (What I think might be happening now is we’re adding public insurance medical care to our private medical care.)  We were back at the apt by 9:20.

I asked Laura when we’re going to the au pair agency to pay with my debit card.  Using my laptop she logged into her au pair account, went to the billing page, I entered my billing information and it was soon paid for.  Wow, that was fast and easy.  I didn’t immediately receive a confirmation email but I checked my bank account and it was deducted under Au Pair in America’s UK title so I guess everything is ok.

I tried to explain to Teresa and Laura the current political climate with the government showdown in the US and how that could possibly affect Laura’s flight to New York and/or her NY tour.

I watched the first hour of the Today show.

I left the apt at 2pm with an oatmeal cookie and walked down to the mall.  I stopped first at the copy center where I printed a Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie recipe and a copy of Colombia’s 2019 holidays.  I stopped at Habia Una Vez where I had a café con leche with my cookie.  After being there about an hour Chuck and Darnelly unexpectedly joined me.  Their friends from Panama are going to be there a week or more after they leave so we’re going to meet for lunch on Thursday at Otra Parte so I can meet them and be backup if they need anything.  After Chuck and Darnelly left I had another café con leche.  Just before 4pm I felt a sudden cool breeze which I interpreted as portending a coming rainstorm.  I paid for my coffees and left.  I took the time to stop at Exito Express and bought a couple bags of milk.

Right after returning to the apt we got a little light rain but nothing serious.

Teresa informed me that I have a 9:20am doctor’s appointment in nueva eps tomorrow.  I understand this will be to show the doctor my medical records so he can order a blood draw for cholesterol testing.

I just learned that Laura isn’t leaving here on the 21^st, she’s leaving on the 20^th and flying to Bogota.  She will stay overnight either with her friend like last time or with an au pair she met recently who will also be going to the US on the 21^st.

I gave Laura the $39 I had left over from when I first arrived from the US.  I told her it isn’t a lot of money but she could, for example, buy something to eat or drink in the US airport.

I reminded Teresa that we have the 150mil that my brother sent us to use for a dinner before her surgery.  That didn’t happen and she doesn’t seem that interested in going out so we used 60mil to order chicken wings from Go Wings.

While we were consuming our wings the ladies had a new TV program on called La Agencia: Batalla de los Modelos or The Agency: Battle of the Models.  I don’t know what it was about but there were 6 young ladies with beautiful figures and 6 young men with great muscular bodies (all but one who had long black hair and no muscles).  There were 3 ladies that then took turns choosing one of them for their team.

I watched the president’s 8-minute prime time advertisement (he can read from a teleprompter!) and the following Democratic rebuttal.

It ended up raining all evening.

Joke of the day

An explosion last week killed a wild-living navy boilerman and he found himself in Hell.  Being used to stoking fires and extremely hot temperatures, he found Hell actually quite comfortable.  When Satan went to check on the new arrival, he found him sitting in his room smiling.

“You like this?” Satan asked.

“Yes, sir,” said the sailor, “this feels like a spring day to me.”

Not wanting the new guy to be too comfortable, Satan turned up the heat a bit.  When he went back the next day to see how his new arrival was doing, the sailor was still happy; he hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“I like this kind of weather,” he told Satan.

For the next few days Satan turned up the heat more and more, but each day the Sailor looked as comfortable as ever.  By Sunday, Satan decided to try something different.  Rather than turn up the heat even more, he turned it off and turned on the air conditioning.  Icicles formed in the Sailor’s room!  When he checked on the guy, the room was icy and he was shivering, but he had a grin from ear to ear, bigger than ever.

Satan was exasperated!  “Why are you so happy?” he demanded from the sailor.  “It’s FREEZING in here!”

“Well, I’m from Chicago,” said the sailor, “and obviously the Cubs must have won the World Series!”

Monday, January 7, 2019

Last night I fell asleep quickly and woke up once during the night although I didn’t get up finally waking/getting up at 7am.

I had some dream about bathing at home then I’m at work wandering around trying to find my desk when I realize that I’m retired and why am I here anyway?  I leave and I’m looking for my car.  That’s it.  Is it because of my noise app that I’m now having/remembering dreams?

Teresa is meeting a woman at Aymará for breakfast.

I texted Chuck asking if he wanted to meet for coffee this afternoon.

I left the apt at 9:45 and completed all my exercises at the gym in an hour and 45 minutes.

Back at the apt Teresa called and asked me to meet her at the Chiclayo Cocina Peruana restaurant in Buena Mesa for lunch.

I received an answer from Chuck.  He has guests from Panama and they want to see downtown Medellin today.  I said we’ll make it another time.

On my way I noticed the menu del dia restaurant we have often gone to is closed.

Laura joined us just after our food was served.  She informed me that Jardin is about 3 hours by bus but I understand it’s HOT there.

Teresa told me she’s got another doctor’s appointment early tomorrow morning in Itagui.

After searching the internet for more medical information she tells me she believes she’ll need radiation therapy.  She asks me what I think.  I inform her that my medical license expired long ago.  (I don’t know why she expects me to support her conjectures.)

About 6:30 some fireworks went off.  Teresa said it’s for the end of Christmas.  I checked my list of holidays and today is Dia de Los Reyes Magos aka Epiphany.  For orthodox Christians today is considered Orthodox Christmas.

It was a cool day today; we only got a high of about 81 degrees.  I can even see people walking in the street in winter coats.  Lol.

For dinner tonight I made waffles.

Laura informs me that tomorrow we’ll go to the au pair agency and see if I can pay the program fee with my debit card.  (She thinks I have to use a credit card but I’m trying to tell her it’s basically the same thing.)

The ladies wanted to watch a Netflix movie.  Laura searched for awhile and then, to my horror, downloaded a free movie site called Popcorn Time.  (I’m always afraid that she’s going to allow some virus into my computer.)  After about 45 minutes searching both sites she finally settled on The Other Woman (6.0) on Popcorn Time.  (We watched it but I thought it was pretty stupid.)

Joke of the day

One day, Heaven became extremely full, and something had to be done.  So The Lord decided to have St. Peter wait at the gate and ask everyone how they died.  If it was a grisly story they told, they could go ahead into Heaven.  But if not, they had to go to Hell.

The first man walks up and St. Peter tells him what’s happening.  “You see, Heaven is quite full today, and we have to ask everyone how they died.  If it sounds good, you can go ahead.  But if not, you go to Hell.

“Ok,” the man says, “Well, for awhile I’ve been suspecting my wife of cheating on me.  So today I thought I would leave work early and catch her.  Sure enough, I got to my apartment and she was lying naked on the bed.  I ran all over the apartment searching for the man but couldn’t find him.

Then I remembered we live on the 25^th floor of an apartment building, and we have a balcony.  And there was the man, hanging off my balcony.  I beat at his hands and he just wouldn’t let go, so I ran and got a hammer and beat his hands until he fell into the bushes below.  I saw he was still alive so I got the refrigerator and pushed it over the edge on top of him.  But the strain of the effort gave me a heart attack and I died.

“Wow!” St. Peter said.  “That really is bad.  You can go ahead.”

The next man walked up and St. Peter gave his spiel about Heaven being full and the man would have to tell his story.

“Ok,” the second man said.  “So I live on the 26^th floor of an apartment building and everyday I do exercises on my balcony.  Well, today I fell over the edge, but luckily I caught the railing of the balcony below me.”

“Suddenly this man came out and started beating at my hands.  He ran back inside and I thought I was safe, but then he came back out with a hammer and beat my hands again.  I finally fell off, but luckily I landed in the bushes below and they saved my life.  But that wasn’t enough for the man because he pushed his refrigerator over the edge and it landed on me and killed me.  And now I’m here.

“Wow, that’s a good one too!  You can go ahead.”

The third man walked up and St. Peter again gave his spiel about Heaven being full and the man would have to tell his story about how he died.

“Ok,” the third man said.  “I don’t know what happened.  I was hiding naked inside this refrigerator…