Saturday, February 23, 2019

Last night it took me a while to fall asleep, probably because of the soda I drank at the movie.  I got up twice during the night finally waking/getting up at 7:45.

After breakfast I wanted to take a dip in the pool but Teresa put a nix on that idea because of my cold.

I left the apt about 9:45.  The guard house has been under construction for the past few weeks.  They have installed 4 metal columns and dug a ditch about 6 inches wide by 2 feet deep between the garage and the guard house.  This morning I saw that they have plastic pipe about 4 inches wide in the ditch and continuing just under the ceiling in the garage.

At the new Smartfit under construction they were pouring cement on the 3^rd floor.  I had a 10 minute wait for a bus.

I stopped at the ATM in Clinica Medellin to get a bunch of 20s then went to Envios Market for my mail.  Another man was there doing some business and I had to wait about 20 minutes for my package and mail.  I walked to San Fernando Plaza and took the escalator up to the next floor.  I saw Colombiano Americano University and realized I had been there before.  I went up one more level and finally found the bakery I was looking for but it was closed.

Nearby I found a cool barber shop that I’m sure my brother would like to get a hot shave.

Across the street I quickly caught a bus back to Envigado.  My usual café was closed so I went nextdoor to Milonga café where I had a café con leche.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have wifi so I didn’t hang around very long.

Breaking news: Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, has been charged with 2 counts of soliciting prostitution in Jupiter, Florida.

Also, lots of people are gathered on bridges between Colombia and Venezuela trying to deliver food and medical supplies to Venezuela.

At 6pm it started raining.  It rained hard for about 15 minutes then settled down to just a drizzle.

I went online and found the website for the restaurant Go Wings.  They were having an anniversary special where for 23mil you get a dozen wings with Jack Daniels sauce and 2 orders of fries.  With delivery it was 26mil and I gave the deliveryman 30mil.

We watched A Sound Place on Direct TV.

Joke of the day

There was a lady in her 90s who became a sort of local celebrity because she had recently gotten married. The local news station decided to interview her. The interviewer asked questions like how it was to be a newlywed in her 90s.

"This isn't my first husband, so it's not much different than the others," she replied with a smile.

"Oh? How many husbands have you had?" the interviewer inquired. "This one will be my fourth," she replied.

"I was married in my 20s to a banker, then in my 40s to a circus performer. After that I married a preacher."

"What does your current husband do?"

"Oh he's a funeral director."

The interviewer laughed and then asked how she came to marry these men from such different backgrounds and personalities.

"It always made sense to me," she replied. "I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go."

Friday, February 22, 2019

I slept well finally waking at 6:30 and getting up at 7:30.

Much of the local news is about the blockade at the border between Colombia and Venezuela and the Live Aid concert. Also, in an attempt to turn a corner from the days of Pablo Escobar they imploded a building called Monaco in Poblado this morning.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show then left for the gym.  I didn’t see anyone on the corner selling newspapers so I guess 10:30 is too late in the day.  In the future I guess I’ll have to leave earlier on Fridays.  At the gym I completed all my exercises in 90 minutes.  It wasn’t easy after missing 4 weeks.  I found their scale and I weighed in at 77.8kg (171#) as compared to Tuesday at the airport which recorded 79.2kg (175#).

At lunch I had just taken the last bite of my “taco” when my phone rang.  It was on the charger and at first I thought it must be Teresa’s because I almost never get calls.  It was Erwin from Sabaneta finally replying to my text that Eduardo Madrid Panaderia makes fresh bagels.  He and Dora and a couple others want to meet us there for coffee and bagels.  I told him I couldn’t promise they would make bagels on the day we go there and he said he would call first.  I texted them with the bakery’s address and telephone number.

The local TV channels broadcasted the Live Aid concert for the Venezuelans live on the bridge between Colombia and Venezuela.

Among new US movie releases there isn’t anything I want to see.  Locally, Cold Pursuit (6.6) is playing at Viva Envigado at 6:45; Jenifer Lopez’s Second Act (6.0) is paying at 4:05 and 6:40pm; The Mule (7.2) is playing at 2pm.

I heard from Erwin.  Apparently they make bagels in the afternoon so we’re going to meet there Wednesday afternoon and hopefully they will have bagels.

Esmeralda arrived at 4:15.

At 5pm I walked to the mall and at Cine Colombia I first bought 3 general seating tickets to Cold Pursuit for 11,500 each.  I added 50mil to my account then picked up my platinum card and a gift pack which included: a 64oz popcorn bucket which they will refill on each visit, a list of this year’s feature attractions, and a gift card for 2 free 100gm popcorns, 640ml sodas, hot dogs and 45gm KitKat bars and 2 free tickets that I can redeem the month of my birthday.  Other benefits include preferred lines and discounts on certain concession combos and confections, double points with each 1,500 pesos in purchases, and no surcharges on purchase and online reservations.

Since I had some time to kill before they were to arrive, I walked to Auros where I had my 1099s copied to my flash drive.

Back at Cine Colombia I noticed that screens 13 & 14 are now open in addition to the iMax theater.  I got in a short line and got my bucket filled with popcorn.

Teresa and Esmeralda arrived about 6:30.  I bought a soda for me and they got nachos and sodas.

The movie was good with lots of action and surprisingly some comedy.

Afterwards I showed Teresa my shortcut through the parking garage to the gym.

Back at the apt Teresa got out the English toffee that my brother brought and I had forgotten about.

Joke of the day

On his death bed, an old Jewish man says to his wife...

"Oh, Sarah, when the shop burned down you were right beside me, no?"

"Sure I was Moshe," his wife replied.

"When the Nazis drove us out of our beloved Deutschland you were beside me again, no?"

"I was, Moshe."

"And now you're at my death bed, aren't you?"

"I am, darling."

"I'm starting to think you're bad luck, Sarah."

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Despite getting up twice during the night I slept pretty well waking at 7:15 and getting up at 7:45.

After breakfast I left the apt at 9am and walked down to the pool.  There were 3 old ladies in the pool and a middle aged one on the side that appeared to be coaching them.  Lots of ladies here in Colombia watch their figures and still look good.  I swam 10 laps and returned to the apt.

Teresa had a ceramic cup with a chip that broke off.  I took one of the individual superglues my brother brought me and we glued it back on but I don’t think its going to stay.  I agreed we would buy new ones the next time we have visitors.

Teresa asked me when we can show her mother how to make oatmeal cookies at her house.  I asked her when does she want to do it?  At first she said today but then she caught herself and said Sunday because Wilson doesn’t work and he wants to watch.

I left the apt about 10:30.  I stopped first at the bakery but again they didn’t have English muffins.  I don’t understand.  Every time we stopped here for coffee they had English muffins.  Now I’ve stopped here 3 times and they haven’t had any.

I took a bus to downtown Envigado and first stopped at a Davavienda ATM and made their maximum withdrawal of 400mil.  For the ATM fee it said Not Available but it’s possible it's zero.

At Coltrafa I was 2^nd in line to pay the epm utility bill of 200mil.  It’s higher now that we’re in estrato 5.  I stopped at the paper store and had some documents scanned to my flash drive.

In Exio I bought a 4kg bag of laundry detergent then took a bus back to the apt.

For lunch Teresa first served me a bowl of soup.  Then she brought me a plate with pasta and a large portion of breaded chicken breast.  I finished the pasta and was working slowly on the chicken when she brought a large bowl of salad.  I ate about 2/3 of the chicken and told her that’s all I can eat.  I recommended in the future to just give me chicken and salad.

About 3pm I told Teresa I was going to have coffee in the mall then buy a fan at Home Center to put under my desk.  She told me it’s going to rain.  It didn’t look like rain and I have no idea why she felt that but I stayed in all afternoon watching old movies.  It didn’t rain.

It turns out that the doctor whose children Laura is taking care of is a neurosurgeon.  (My brother did an internet search.)  Laura texted me that they are going to Miami for 10 days in April.

For supper Teresa made blueberry pancakes.  Yum!

Joke of the day

A man wakes up one morning to find a gorilla on his roof.  So he looks up the yellow pages and sure enough, there's an ad for "Gorilla Removers". He calls the number, and the gorilla remover says he’ll be there in 30 minutes.

The gorilla remover arrives and gets out of his van. He's got a ladder, a baseball bat, a shotgun and a huge, ferocious looking dog.

"What are you going to do?" the homeowner asks.

"I'm going to put up this ladder against the roof, then I'm going to go up there and knock the gorilla off the roof with the bat. When the gorilla falls off, the dog is trained to grab the gorilla's testicles and squeeze. The gorilla will be subdued enough for me to lock him in the cage in the back of the van.", says the gorilla remover as he hands him the shotgun.

"What's the shotgun for?" asks the homeowner.

"If the gorilla knocks ME off the roof, shoot the dog."

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Last night it was still raining when we went to bed at 11:15.  I slept well waking up once and checking my Timex watch but it was on timer mode so obviously Teresa had gotten to it first and pushed the wrong button.

I woke/got up about 7:30.  I had a breakfast of cereal with a sliced banana.

We left the apt at 9am in a light drizzle.

We arrived at the clinic Diagnosticarte at 9:30 for her 10:15 appointment.  It’s in Ciudad del Rio behind my Urologist’s building on Avenida Las Vegas.

Teresa was to have a liver function test that was supposed to last a little more than an hour.

First I went downstairs to De Lolita café for coffee but only for 15 minutes as she didn’t want me too far away.

Back upstairs their waiting room was freezing so I sat out in the hallway in the general waiting area.

She finally came out at 11:45.

We walked 2 blocks north to Mercado del Rio.  I chose restaurant Carbonne y Pasta as I had had their delicious pasta before.  Teresa decided to join me and she ordered the menu of the day which was cream of spinach soup, res en cebolla al vinotinto, fusilli al burro, and limonada.  I mistakenly ordered the same.  The soup was good but after the first bite of the beef it was unchewable.  I had barely tasted the pasta when Teresa complained loudly that the beef and pasta were awful, I paid 25mil and we left.

We went upstairs to Sinko where we had a nice lunch.

We left at 1pm for her 2:30 doctor’s appointment.  We arrived at 1:30 and the doctor took her 30 minutes later.  She only was with him 5 minutes and I understood the occasional breast pain she was feeling was normal.

On the way back to the apt she shared with me that JJ, our renter, asked how much Teresa wanted for the finca.  She replied 3 monthly payments of 100,000,000 100,000,000 then 70,000,000 which is about $90,000.  Her idea is to buy a local apt that will be easier to rent and maintain.

Back at the apt I got a call from Chuck.  His friend Mark Collins has arrived in Envigado from Boston and will be staying in his house for 3 weeks and he might call me for advice.  Also, Darnelly had her surgery 3 weeks ago and is doing well and they plan to return in May whether they have sold their house or not.

I put the A Dog’s Life DVD in my laptop and finally got it to play and it was dubbed in Spanish.  The video quality wasn’t that great as it was on the dark side and grainy and I saw a few Russian words so I imagine it was copied from some Russian website.  We watched it for some 15 minutes and Teresa declared that she was no longer interested in watching it.

It took a while but I figured out how to load my DVD copy of Bohemian Rhapsody.  It was in English with Spanish subtitles and we enjoyed the music of Queen again.

Because of the rain and threat of rain we only got a high today of about 78 degrees.  It’s supposed to be 5 degrees warmer tomorrow.

Joke of the day

On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple is involved in a fatal car accident. The couple find themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St. Peter to process them into Heaven. While waiting, they begin to wonder: Could they possibly get married in Heaven? When St. Peter showed up, they asked him.

St. Peter said, "I don't know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out."

The couple sat and waited, and waited. Two months passed and the couple are still waiting. While waiting, they began to wonder what would happen if it didn't work out; could you get a divorce in heaven. After yet another month, St. Peter finally returns, looking somewhat bedraggled.

"Yes," he informs the couple. "You can get married in Heaven!"

"Great! But we were just wondering, what if things don't work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?"

St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slammed his clipboard onto the ground.

"What's wrong?" asked the frightened couple.

"OH, COME ON!", St. Peter shouted, "It took me three months to find a priest up here! Do you have any idea how long it'll take me to find a lawyer?"

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

I slept well, waking at 6:30, quickly falling back asleep and waking/getting up at 7:30.  It’s an unusually cool morning looking like we could get some more rain so I skipped going to the pool this morning.

My brother texted me that the rain last night must have helped fill their hotel pool as its filled this morning.

I left the apt at 11:30 and as I was crossing the street a Sabaneta bus passed in front of me.  I had to wait 5-10 minutes for another.

Traffic was very slow downtown but I still arrived at the hotel by 12:15.

We left at 12:30 and Carlos took us all to the airport.  I asked him how much he would charge for a communa 13 tour and he said 220mil.  We arrived at the airport at 1:10.

While walking toward the COPA baggage check-in I noticed a man standing on a baggage scale.  Great idea!  When he got off I got on and I weighed in at 79.2kg (174#).  I need to work on my diet and exercise more to get that number down a bit.

After they all checked in their bags we had lunch at a Piccolos pizza restaurant.  I had a pizza Mediteranean with a mandarin/strawberry juice.

At 2:50 I wished them a safe flight and we said goodbye for another year.

After a trip to the restroom I went down to the arrivals area and outside waited 10 minutes for a bus to San Diego mall.  The fare is only 10mil ($3.25) compared to about 80mil for a taxi and quite a bit more for a private car.  It soon left and we arrived at the mall at 4:05pm.

I walked through the mall and across the street and was on a Sabaneta bus by 4:15.  Traffic through the gold mile was horrible.  I was wishing I had taken the other Sabaneta bus that goes via Avenida Las Vegas.  At least I had my iPod with me so I could fight off the boredom listening to music.  I got back to the apt at 5:45 the same time they were arriving in Panama.

Teresa needed some medical papers copied for tomorrow’s doctors’ appointments so I soon headed to the mall.  At Auros I made the necessary copies then went to Habia Una Vez for coffee.

On the way back to the apt Teresa called and asked me to pick up a couple bags of milk at Exito.  Lucky for her I was right across the street.  I waited in line (they are so slow) and there was a young girl standing behind me while her mother was elsewhere and on the phone to boot.  I said “hello” and she said “hello”.  I said “how are you” and she said “good”.  I asked her age and she said “7”.  We had a short conversation while I was checking out.

Teresa informed me that we have to leave the apt tomorrow at 9am for her doctor’s appointment to have her liver checked and we will have lunch out of the apt as she has another doctor’s appointment at 2:30.

About 9:30 it started raining heavily.

Joke of the day

An 80 year old man was having his annual checkup, and the doctor asked him how he was feeling.

"I've never been better!" he boasted.  "I've got a 20 year old bride who's pregnant, and having my child! What do you think about that?"

The doctor considered this for a moment then said, "Let me tell you a story. I knew a guy who was an avid hunter.

He never missed a season. But one day he went out in a bit of a hurry, and he accidentally grabbed his umbrella instead of his gun."

The doctor continued, "So he was in the woods, and suddenly a grizzly bear appeared in front of him!

He raised up his umbrella, pointed it at the bear, and squeezed the handle.

And do you know what happened?" the doctor queried.

Dumbfounded, the old man replied "No."

The doctor continued, "The bear dropped dead in front of him!"

"That's impossible!" exclaimed the old man. "Someone else must have shot that bear."

"That's kind of what I'm getting at..." replied the doctor.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Yesterday I moved the fan from my brother’s room to our bedroom.  Last night, without my requesting it, Teresa turned it on before we went to bed.  I fell asleep quickly, woke up but didn’t get up, several times during the night finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

Per the local news this year Colombia exported 35,000 tons of flowers to the US for Valentine’s Day.

It’s 7am and Laura is already at the Boston airport for her 9am flight.  She first flies to Baltimore where she has a 3-hour layover before continuing on to Detroit.

I left the apt at 9am and took the bus to Poblado.  I stopped at Envios Market and picked up my food supplements for 7,600 pesos.  The front of the store looks like a business supplies/paper store and there is no counter space for a customer to put things or to sign a document.  I ran into Nobraskja as I was leaving.

Across the street I quickly caught another bus and got off when we passed The Habitat Store.

At the hotel they were just finishing breakfast and I got a complimentary cup of coffee while I was waiting.

Airin had forgotten some of her clothes so I brought them in my gym bag along with the SS letter for MT and the supplements I had picked up at Envios Market.  I gave her her clothes back and left the bag for when we return from El Retiro.

There was a fitness competition in Medellin over the weekend and a few of the young ladies were still at the hotel.  While sitting in the lobby I noticed one of them had a Sears bag with www.sears.com.mx on it so I guess she was from Mexico.

We left the hotel at 9:45 and took a taxi to the San Diego mall.  We waited about 20 minutes for a bus to El Retiro.  The bus fare was only 7mil and comically, the guy taking the cash made a 4,000 peso arithmetic mistake but came back later to get it.

We arrived in El Retiro at noon.  It is at an altitude of 7,173 feet.

We walked up the hill to Casa Retiro, where we had coffee last year, but found it closed.  We walked across the street to Aroma a Café and it was just as special.

We walked around town a little and then took a 1:45 bus back to Medellin.

I received an email from Laura at 3:30 that her flight landed.

I picked up my bag from the hotel and walked down to Avenida Poblado.  I crossed the street and soon was on a Sabaneta bus.  Uncharacteristically, we moved through the gold mile pretty quickly only to hit bumper to bumper traffic just after.

I stopped at the Gana store where I added 20mil to my account and then stopped at the bakery but they didn’t have any English muffins.

Back at the apt I spent some time reading emails and updating my blog notes.  About 5pm I went out on the balcony and was surprised to see the streets wet; I didn’t hear or notice any rain.

Teresa returned at 5:15.  It soon started raining again.

At 7pm Teresa called the portero and asked for a taxi.  He said it might take awhile because of the rain.  Five minutes later he called and said a taxi was on its way.  Teresa asked for the taxi to come in the garage.  We picked up our things and went downstairs.  Another portero was standing in the entrance.  She asked him about our taxi.  He said a taxi just went by.  It turned out that Teresa asked for the taxi to go to tower 4 and we are in tower 6.  Via walkie talkie the guard got the taxi redirected to us and we were on our way.

It was still raining as we arrived at the restaurant Tagliata right on schedule at 7:30.  Jim, Joan and Airin arrived 10 minutes later.

We had a nice dinner, Teresa had chicken breast and a glass of water and I had the beef medallions pasta combo with a limonada de coco.  Unfortunately, the beef was a little on the chewy side, not as delicious as the year before.

Laura finally texted me just before 8pm and said she arrived and missed my text because she was taking a bath.  She said one of the girls is very nice but the other is more serious.  Grandma is there also but I told her not worry as this is a different situation.  She also reported having a sore throat.  I told her to take pills and talk to the father as it appears he is a doctor.

Teresa got the rest of Airin’s pasta to go and I got the rest of my beef to go.  Just as we were settling the bill a homeless man was standing outside the restaurant so we gave him all of our doggie bags.

Teresa said goodbye to them for another year and I made plans to meet them at their hotel tomorrow by 12:30pm for their trip to the airport.

We took a taxi back to the apt.

Joke of the day

A blind man sits down at the bar and figures he'll break the ice with the bartender by asking "Wanna hear a blond joke?"

In a hushed voice, a man beside him says "Before you tell that joke, you should know our bartender is blonde, our bouncer is blonde, I'm a 6'4" black belt, the man sitting on the other side of me is 6'2, 250 lbs, and a rugby player. The guy sitting next to you is pushing 300lbs, 6'6, and he's a wrestler. We're ALL blonde. So you think about it mister, do you really wanna tell that joke?"

The blind man sat for a second, thinking over the odds and then replied "No, not if I have to explain it five times."

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Last night I woke up once about 4:30, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

I had oatmeal for breakfast, waited 30 minutes then headed downstairs to the pool.  The gate to the pool was locked but it was open.  I closed it and as I suspected I wouldn’t have been able to get out.  I asked a young man working out in the gym if he knew how to open the gate.  He checked it then dialed ‘100’ and asked the guard to open it.  He arrived 5 minutes later and I entered the pool.  I was the only one there so it was easy to do a dozen laps in the pool.

After dressing, Teresa went to mass and I walked down to the mall.  Crossing the street they had tape separating the sidewalk area from the road.

I stopped at Exito and picked up a couple things for Teresa then bought some expectorant at a health food store.

I was having a café con leche at Habia Una Vez when at 12:03 I heard a commotion outside.  I stood up and saw police motos, a bicyclist, a car with bikes on top, another bicyclist, more motos and then a long stream of bicyclists.  It was all over in about 3 minutes.  I asked a waitress standing next to me and she said that they go to Sabaneta then turn around and return to Las Palmas.  Yikes!

Time for the big news:  Laura is switching families from Massachusetts to Michigan.  It appears the 2-year old girl in Mass. can’t live without grandma so I guess she’ll be staying with them and they won’t need Laura.  The family in Michigan is in the lower peninsula and the husband appears to be a doctor working long hours and she is a stay at home mom.  They have twin 3-year old girls and they just had a baby boy.  She flies there (Southfield, Michigan) tomorrow.

I received a text from Alex that he and Alba are visiting Cartagena next month for a film festival (on business) and then on March 11-19 they will be in Medellin looking for an apartment.

Atletico Nacional (the local soccer team) is staying at Jim’s hotel so we will meet after the team leaves (about 6pm) for their match tonight.

We met Jim, Joan and Airin at Ay Caramba! at 7pm.  I had chicken fajitas with a limonada de coco and Teresa had a half order of breaded fish and a glass of water for a total of 60,610 ($20) including tip.

We tried to get into the Charlee hotel to visit their rooftop bar but the security guard outside told us it’s full.

We walked a few blocks and I showed them a little of Parque Lleras.

All of a sudden I took a tumble and was lying on the sidewalk.  I had stepped in a gutter that I couldn’t see because it was exactly the same size as a shadow.  I had a slight pain in my right wrist but otherwise I and my clothes were unscathed.

They took a taxi back to their taxi and we to our apt.

Joke of the day

After 30 years of marriage, a husband and wife went for counseling.

When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the years they had been married. On and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable – an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.

Finally, after allowing this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and after asking the wife to stand, he embraced and kissed her long and passionately as her husband watched – with a raised eyebrow.

The woman shut up and quietly sat down in a daze. The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?"

"Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays I play golf."