Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up three times during the night, finally waking/getting up with Teresa at 7am.

After breakfast Teresa returned to bed saying her back was a little sore so I guess she’ll be skipping gym today.

I left at 8:30 for Smartfit which seemed less busy than usual. I completed my machine workout 5# less than my previous maximum except the Butterfly I put on the maximum because it has only 15# changes, unlike 5# with the others. I increased my walk on the treadmill today to 12 minutes.

I had a latte outside Ganso y Castor and took this photo of the red squirrel right after he took my peanut:

I left at 10:15 and bought a bag of milk in Ara on the way back to the apt.

Teresa cleaned my desk while I was away, it certainly needed it. 😊

I see my DAZN subscription doesn’t expire until August so that gives me another option for watching the NFL draft this weekend.

Teresa left the apt at 2:30 for her craft class. I left at 3pm for Eduardo Madrid but unfortunately their coffee machine wasn’t working today so I had a Coke instead. (Which did feel much more filling.) I completed another 12 puzzles in my book.

Just after 4pm I received this cryptic message from Movistar (copied and translated):

I have no idea what the purpose is of this password.

Teresa arrived just after 5:30 and we shared a chicken sandwich for 13,900 pesos. I paid 40,000 pesos ($9.30) for my 16 English muffins and we returned to the apt.

Teresa left at 6:45 to show her mother her latest bracelets, finished and just started.

She returned at 8:30. She told me someone from Movistar called asking for my contact information so I told her Paola has it.

 

FUNNY

BOB BURFORD - PART XVII

 

Sent from my Galaxy

Elections Matter. This damaged human being will be President of the United States for 1,407 more days. Elections Matter. The midterms are November 3rd, 2026:

Trump facts:  

64 Times Mentioned In Epstein Report.

97 Times Pleaded The Fifth.

34 Felony Convictions.

91 Criminal Charges.

26 Sexual Assault Allegations.

6 Bankruptcies.

5 Draft Deferments.

4 Indictments.

2 Impeachments.

2 Convicted Companies.

1 Fake University Shut Down.

1 Fake Charity Shut Down.

$25 Million Fraud Settlement.

$5 Million Sexual Abuse Verdict.

$2 Million Fake Charity Abuse Judgment.

$93 Million Sexual Abuse Judgements.

$400 Million Fraud Judgment.

First President in history to serve a full term increase the deficit every year he was in office.

First President in history to maintain a debt to GDP ratio over 100% for his entire term.

Highest annual budget deficit.

Most added to the national debt in a single term.

Most new unemployment claims.

Largest single day point drop in the history of the Dow.

First major party candidate in half a century to lose the popular vote twice.

Longest government shutdown in history (and he did that while his own party controlled both chambers of Congress).

First President in the history of approval ratings to maintain a net negative approval rating for his entire term.

First President to be impeached twice.

First President to have bipartisan support for his conviction after impeachment (which happened both times).

Most indictments, guilty pleas, and criminal convictions of members of an administration.

First president to have a mug shot.

Please go ahead and lookup every claim here.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 12:30am, finally waking/getting up at 5:30am.

After breakfast I went back to bed for a 90-minute nap. When I got up I found we had had a little rain but soon it was just a few raindrops.

I left the apt at 8:45 and walked to the mall in a light drizzle, glad I was in pants, t-shirt and jacket. (When are we going to have summer weather again?) In Auros I had my cedula scanned and copied to my USB drive. I bought a blueberry muffin in Starbucks for 9,500 pesos. (As I had read online, they are back to taking your name again.)

Also, some English on the back of the bag.

I had a latte in Urbania with my muffin while reviewing my Dutch defense book.

I left at 10:45 and bought a couple items in Exito. I looked all over trying, unsuccessfully, to find Mexican salsa although I did come across Hunt’s Diced tomatoes in 3 different locations.

I returned to the apt by taxi.

I sent Movistar’s Paola my contact information but with my cellphone number and I told her someone needs to call me in English or text me via Whatsapp. She replied that she needs contact information for someone she can talk to in Spanish so I gave her Teresa’s name and number. Teresa is giving me lots of pushback about they can only install it in the living room and they can’t make any more holes. We’ve already agreed and discussed this several times but Teresa had to go over it again. I understand right now Paola is checking with Bogota to see if they can put the account in my name. I’m expecting the biggest problem is going to be paying for it. I don’t have a Bancolombia account but why would I need one? I just put cash into their Bancolombia account as I do with our health insurance and Smartfit. Maybe it’s a credit thing, we’ll see.

I left at 2pm and returned a bag of plastic containers to Eduardo Madrid bakery and ordered another 16 English muffins for pickup tomorrow afternoon. I had a latte while completing another 12 chess puzzles.

I received a Facebook post from Bob Burford’s estranged daughter challenging a few things he said that I had posted on my blog. She asked me to delete 2 specific posts (can’t remember the dates) but now I can’t find her post. (I’m far from an expert on FB.)

I left at 4:15 and returned to the apt just after Kelly had arrived to give Teresa a massage.

I watched some news on CNN & MSNBC.

I finished reading Lee Child’s book of crime short stories Safe Enough.

FUNNY

Monday, April 21, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 4am, finally waking/getting up at 6:15am.

Well, if the goal for our trip was to get tans, we failed spectacularly. We spent most of the time in the shade, Teresa working on her craft projects and I reading, studying and playing chess.  (As usual I brought 2 tubes of SPF cream and didn’t use either of them.) Teresa wants to return around Mother’s Day to work on a tan before we visit Chicago. We’ll see!

I left the apt at 7:45 for Smartfit which seemed not as busy as usual. Because I missed a week I completed my workout using 10# less on each of the machines and I only did 10 minutes on the treadmill. I had a latte in Ganso y Castor where I took this photo of the red squirrel after the peanut was already gone.

Oops, I guess I accidentally delete the photo. ☹

I don’t know what I did to my camera settings as they aren’t the same as previously. I used to be able to zoom in 1, 2, 4, 10 times but now I’m only on a 2-second wait to take a normal photo.

I read on my news feed that pope Francisco passed away this morning.

I left at 10am and bought a bag of milk in Ara on my way back to the apt.

Time to take stock of my health: 1) the Calendula capsules I get from the US work wonders for my lower back but the Calendula tablets here don’t seem to work the same; 2) my dry skin problem flared up again now that we’ve returned to Medellin so I’m thinking Teresa is probably right it’s because of the cold(er) temperatures here; 3) my eyes seem to be affected by Medellin’s pollution as they felt more normal in Santafe de Antioquia; 4) I didn’t seem to have much leaking on our trip, not sure if it’s just because we didn’t move around much or is it because I did the Kegel exercises twice a day?

Teresa returned at 11:15 with a bag of groceries.

I checked my files and the last Claro (paper) bill I have is from June of 2019. I checked my blog notes and my Claro plan was set up June 1, 2019 for 4GB. That gives me a good idea of what I should ask for (4GB) when I load our sim cards for the month we are in the States.

I got permission from Teresa to switch to Movistar fiber optic internet (and television) as long as its contained to the living room and they don’t make any more holes.

I texted Paola at Movistar with the conditions and I’m ready to make an appointment. She needs from me a photo of both sides of my cedula, my address, my email address, and phone number. She repeated that the cost is 62,000 pesos for this year and after.

I left the apt at 2pm and paid the Tigo/Une WiFi bill of 129,722 ($30) at the Gana kiosk. I continued on to Los Portenos where I had a latte while solving 12 more chess puzzles.

This young girl must have spotted this red squirrel because she ran through the park:

I left at 4:15 and stopped at the copy center to scan my cedula to my USB drive but the lady said she can only scan to print, not direct to my drive. I thanked her and returned to the apt so I guess I’ll be making a trip to the mall tomorrow morning.

Someone posted this on Expat Facebook.

I’d hate to be trapped in the US because I don’t have a Yellow Fever vaccination.

Esmeralda came over about 7pm and we walked to Piccolo’s where we shared a half mushroom, half tomato pizza and we all had Cokes for 113,565 pesos ($26.50). I noticed across the street Smartfit was quite busy.,

When we returned to the apt, I watched (actually just listened) the news and commentary on MSNBC before going to bed at 10pm.

 

FUNNY

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 9:30pm, got up once at 4am, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

We took our showers, had our last breakfast in the hostel, finished packing and went down to the office. The final bill came to 3,332,000 pesos ($774) which included something like 80mil in snacks so figure just over $100 a night.

We walked outside the hostel and encountered another procession:

We eventually maneuvered our way across the street and about 6 blocks away we were a block from the bus station. Teresa talked to a man and he offered to take us directly to our apt in Envigado for 100mil which we accepted. If the guy’s speedometer was working correctly we only did about 30km/hr but were back at out apt in an hour and 15 minutes.

I took a Calendula capsule and felt relief 20 minutes later. 😊

I tried again to order the chess book from ThriftBooks.com, this time using a different debit card and different browser but still got the same error message. I switched to their offer of using Paypal and still got an error message so I gave up.

About 2pm I took a nap for an hour and in the meantime, we had a thunderstorm come through with a little rain.

I went onto the balcony to clip my fingernails and on the ground level saw a few kids with their parents looking for easter eggs. First time I’ve seen that here. I asked Teresa if that was a custom here and she thought I was crazy.

Tonight I remembered to watch 60 Minutes, a very good episode which highlighted the potential future health risk of H5N1 aka Bird Flu. The current presidential administration will probably drop the ball again and thousands of Americans will die.

 

FUNNY

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Last night we went to bed at 9pm, slept through the night, finally waking at 5am and getting up at 5:30.

Teresa really wanted a torta de pescado (fish cake) for breakfast and someone recommended Piel Roja in the main park. We left our room at 7:45 and walked to the park where we easily found it. (It’s the first place we stopped when we arrived on Sunday and Teresa didn’t want to have lunch there so I guided her across the street to Jumaye)

Teresa had a tinto for 2mil and a torta de pescado for 12mil and I had scrambled eggs which included an arepa and my café con leche for 15mil.

The total check came to 29mil ($6.75) and I tipped our waitress 1mil (I’m guessing tipping isn’t common here).

Down the block we found the other hostel that was recommended to us, Villa Guadalupe Colonial. The receptionist showed us a video of a room and it looks quite a bit larger than what we have now. Teresa said something about 2million pesos. Their ala carte menu is large so if food is included it’s a good deal. It has a small pool and an old colonial feel to it.

We walked a block away to Comfama where Terresa found a table and worked a little on her bracelet project and I scrolled through my phone.

We left just before 10 am and returned to the hostel in time for her to have a tinto and I another café con leche. We adjourned to the shady area off the pool where I worked on my blog and she on her (almost finished) bracelet.

I googled Villa Guadalupe Colonial but the only one I could find was in Mexico. I’ll try again later.

I was sitting at the table when I felt something graze the hair on the top of my head. Assassination attempt? No, a blue bird just out of the nest landed on the fence next to us. He looked to be gasping for air; maybe wondering where he is. Our waiter went to catch and it flew into the “tree” next to us. The “tree” is potted and looks like the not eating part of a carrot. You can probably see if if you zoom in on this photo

Late afternoon we went for a walk the opposite direction from the park and Teresa found a store where she bought some more craft supplies.

On our way back we stopped in the small church and sat for about 10 minutes.

We returned to Café Canelo where we shared another yucca waffle with ice cream. I also had a latte while she stuck to water.

When we left I reminded her we need more Zopiclona so we walked around the corner and encountered this procession coming toward us:

Teresa said she would wait here at the curb while I went down the street to the pharmacy. I did and the pharmacist brought out an opened package. The box was our usual brand but I only saw 20 inside. It took me a second to understand I could buy a sleeve of 10 which I did for 7,000 pesos.

Back at the curb with Teresa we stayed ahead of the procession and it turned in front of the small church:

We returned to the hosteria where we had a late supper.

Teresa started packing and we got to bed about 9:30.

 

FUNNY

Friday, April 18, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

I suggested we have breakfast back at Café Canelo but Teresa wanted to eat breakfast in the hotel because we already paid for it.

After our usual simple breakfast, she shared with me that there’s another restroom in the basement. I went down and checked it out and she’s right, one small room with a urinal and another with a toilet. And it has a toilet seat!

I retrieved my computer and moved to the shady area with the tables closer to the main pool. Teresa soon joined me and started work on a new bracelet.

I played some games of rapid (10 minute) chess.

My phone has been quiet all week but this afternoon I received a couple phone calls from Isable Aspen of Botswana, 😊 needless to say I didn’t answer.

At 1:15 I got the battery low warning on my laptop, only 30 minutes left, time to recharge the battery. I returned the laptop to our room and plugged it in. I returned to the pool area with my Kindle and read a few crime stories.

Lunch was goulash with rice.

Teresa almost always selects the second choice which is some type of fish. There’s been a little repetition but we’ve both been happy with the food.

This is a short video I took of the neighborhood.

We took showers then had supper in the dining room.

Supper was pork with a nice sauce, similar to what we’ve had before.

There’s a chess book I found on ThriftBooks.com,  Horowitz’s How to Win in the Chess Openings. One of the first chess books I had as a kid. For memories sake, twice I tried to buy it but there’s something about my payment details it doesn’t like.

We were both tired so we went to bed early, 9pm.

 

EL ARROYO