Sunday, July 20th, 2014

Today is Independence Day in Colombia.

We didn’t get up until 10am.  I’ve never known anyone who slept as much as she does.  But then I don’t have to get up at 4am during the week to get my daughter off to school.

We just had a bowl of granola for breakfast.  She cut back some of my plants and added more soil to some of the pots.  She says some of the plants need more air and sunlight so she helped me move some things around to make room for more plants.

At 2:30 Teresa called Pizza Americana and ordered lasagna to be delivered.  It cost 24mil and was delivered in 45 minutes.  We each ate most of our portions and then saved the rest for later.

I’ve recently discovered how to play music from iTunes radio so I played some Latin music for her.  She said she really likes Juan Luis Guerra so I did an iTunes search and played some samples of his music which she enjoyed.

At 5:45 we walked over to the church for mass.  It had already started and was over by 6:45.  We went back to the apartment and reheated (at least mine) and finished the lasagna.

I had bought a large bag of granola for her that was on sale at Exito.  We walked over to the corner store where she bought some dog food but they were out of milk so we walked up the street to the other store where she found it.  So now I’m carrying a big bag with granola, dog food, and milk.   

We caught a Circular Sur 302 bus at 7:30.  It was one of those where the top half of the windows are blacked out making it harder to recognize landmarks.  The aisle of the bus got very crowded so you couldn’t see through to the other side of the street.  Luckily a lot of people got off a stop before ours.  Near where we had to get off I stood up and tried to balance myself from the starts and stops of the bus and move towards the rear with only one hand to hold the overhead rail.  Luckily a couple others were getting off at the same place and pushed the button and Teresa had a good laugh at my expense the way I was trying to navigate myself to get us off the bus.

We’ve made plans for me to see her finca next Saturday.  I’m to meet Laura at the Envigado Exito at 10am and she will take me to the finca where we will have lunch.  Then Teresa will come with me back to my apartment where we will stay for the remainder of the weekend.

After getting her on her bus I caught a Circular Sur 303 for my way back.  For some reason traffic was very heavy and the driver turned down a side street and seemed like he went so far as to be near the river.  Then he cut north and back west and came out back on Avenida 80 on the north side of the airport where traffic was moving smoothly.  I’m glad that didn’t happen the first time I took that bus because I would have panicked.

There was a man on the bus continuously crossing himself while mumbling something.  I started counting and stopped when I got to 300 and he was still going.

I got back to the apartment at 8:45.

T-shirt of the day: I am free tonight.

Saturday, July 19th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, woke up at 5, again at 6 and got up at 6:30, but no trips to the bathroom between 10:30pm and 6:30am.  Yah!

I was at El Comedor de Chava by 8:15 and they were open.  I asked Lucas why they weren’t open at 8am last Wednesay and Thursday and he said they were cleaning.

I worked on my Spanish until noon then stopped at Exito and bought a bag of milk and half a dozen mums for Teresa.

I left the apartment at 1:05, took the Circular Sur 302 bus to the Aguacatala Metro Station, but this time went north 2 stops to the Industriales Metro Station.  I arrive about 10 minutes early and Teresa and Laura arrived right on time.  We took a taxi to Cerro Nutibara and we had lunch at Restaurante La Fonda del Pueblo.  Teresa and I shared a chicken caesar salad for 18,200 and Laura had chicken in a sauce for 24,600.  We each had a soda for 2,900.  Including tip the total came to 56,269.

Just before 4pm we walked down stone stairs to the theatre which is situated with seating on the side of the hill which reminded me of several similar theatres I saw in Greece.  There were several signs identifying this as the 24^th International Poetry Festival of Medellin.  A sign in front said “In the city and in the heart burns the same flame”.  The poetry readings began at 4:15 and continued until 7:30.  Readings were in English, Italian, Bulgarian, Japanese, and were all translated into Spanish.  The theatre was packed and people were sitting in the grass above the cement bowl.  At several points a “helicopter” came down into the bowl with a camera attached.

After the readings I went back to the entrance of the theatre and used one of the porta potties they had outside.  

Next a couple came out, he played the guitar, and she played the guitar, other instruments and sang.  I don’t think anyone had left.  I enjoyed the music and there were scenes flashed on a screen behind them.  At one point people cheered with signs that came up like “I love my legs”, “I love my tits”, “I love my pussy”, “I love my whole body”.  Some of the other parts of the body I haven’t learned in Spanish.

We finally left about 8:30; I was concerned about us getting a taxi with so many other people there.  We walked down the winding road we had come up on and finally caught a taxi which we took to Pizza Americana where we had my usual pizza in the next larger size with a bottle of Colombiana.  We walked Laura down to the bus stop and she caught the bus to Aguacatala.

We went to bed at 10:30 and I didn’t wake up until 5am the next morning.

T-shirt of the day: No idea what I’m doing.

Friday, July 18th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, and woke/got up at 6:30am.

I checked the new US movie releases and The Purge: Anarchy (7.5) might be interesting.

I checked the local movies and 3 Days to Kill starring Kevin Costner is playing practically everywhere all the time and The Grand Hotel Budapest is playing at Santafe at 12:50 and 3:20.

I had a hot slice of ham & cheese “pizza” and a cup of coffee at Fresco Pan for 2mil.  (I was running a little late and I didn’t trust that El Comedor de Chava would be open.)  I also had a glass of orange juice before my Spanish lesson.

Jhon scanned and emailed the 12 pages for the purchase offer my ex found for the townhouse that I already declared bankruptcy on.

After my Spanish lesson I stopped at the apartment, exchanged a few things and was on a Circular Sur 302 bus by 12:10.  I was at Santafé CC just 10 minutes late for the 12:50 showing of The Grand Hotel Budapest (8.2).  I was in my seat (5mil) with my popcorn and soda (11,700) just as the main feature was starting.  It was a good funny movie starring Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, and Edward Norton.

After the movie I made the required stop at the restroom and for the 2^nd time that I can remember saw a woman come out of one of the stalls as I was leaving.  I walked 20 minutes down to MBE to pay my August bill but I understood the woman there didn’t know how to process the payment.  I walked down the street and had a fresh empanada and a Pepsi for 2mil ($1).

I walked down to Monterrey CC and stopped in their restroom and for the first time used one of their toilets that didn’t have a toilet seat.

For dinner I had a bowl of granola.

T-shirt of the day: Want a perfect girl?  Buy a Barbie.

Thursday, July 17th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 6am and got up at 6:45.

I stopped at Redd’s and had an orange juice then walked down to LM but, at 8:10am, chairs and tables were just being set up and the usual breakfast restaurants were still closed so I walked over to Los Mejores and had my usual coffee and croissant.  While I was sitting there a taxi pulled up at the house next door and the 2 old ladies I had seen before waved to me.  One of them got out and opened the door to the house while the taxi driver got a 10 gallon tub of paint out of the trunk and carried it upstairs.  Then they all left in the taxi; but not after lots of smiles and waves to the gringo.  (I forgot to mention I ran into them at Viva food court yesterday so if you’re interested go back and read the 3^rd paragraph of yesterday’s posting.)

I stopped at the corner store for a little study then went to Exito.  Walking in I was surprised to see a display of Oreo cookies in the toy department.  It turns out there is some type of Transformer toy promotion on the package.  Still, it’s a strange place in the store to be selling cookies.

After my Spanish lesson I went back to my apartment and had a bowl of granola for lunch.

So far I’ve read 8 of the Jack Ryan series of books written by Tom Clancy.  I read the 1^st 15 pages of The Teeth of the Tiger and the writing style is so different I can’t believe he really wrote it.  He died “of an undisclosed illness” on October 1^st, 2013.  His last novel Command Authority with Mark Greaney was published on December 3, 2013 and his last book Support and Defend was published on July 22, 2014.  In doing a little internet searching someone believes he hadn’t written a novel in 10 years.  That would take us back to about 2003; The Teeth of the Tiger was published on August 1, 2003.  I’m not interested in reading any books by a ghost writer so that doesn’t leave me many choices.  I’ll have to do a little more research to see if he still has something he wrote that’s worth reading.

Dario came over just before 2pm and we played 1 game for over 2 ¾ hours.  I hadn’t played nor studied chess in 2 months (when I won the chess trophy) so I was interested in seeing how I would do.  I got the white pieces but he quickly gave me trouble and I got down a rook and a pawn.  I tried to create problems for him and exposed his king but he always seemed to find a way out and I lost my first game to him in the last 11 tries.

For dinner I just had another bowl of granola.

T-shirt of the day: I survived sharking.

Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, had a little difficulty falling asleep (3 Cokes, remember!), got up 2 or 3 times during the night, woke up at 5:45 and got up at 6:15.

I couldn’t decide between having breakfast at El Comedor de Chava or Los Mejores; I ended up going to the latter.  Then I went to LM to study and at 9am was surprised to see the tables and chairs weren’t set up and ALL the restaurants were closed.  I guess I made a good, although admittedly lucky, decision.

I stopped at Viva and bought a new monthly supply of Tamsulosin at a 10% discount (supposed to be every Wednesday) for 36,720.  I sat in their food court studying Spanish and for a few minutes I was joined by the two old ladies I had seen at Los Mejores.  They quizzed me on how long I’ve been here, do I like it, and finally am I married.  That’s when I got the opportunity to tell them I have a girlfriend. The one lady, Maria, asked me to find a gringo for her.

 

Right after my Spanish lesson I was at the Viva bus stop waiting for Teresa who arrived at 12:20.  I told her from now on when I’m to meet her there to first look for me at the bus stop and then across the street at the bar (where I could wait in the shade with a cold drink).  She was hungry, and so was I, so we went inside Viva and had the chicken teriyaki at Sarku’s.  She told me she doesn’t care for it anymore and next time she wants the pasta at Alfredo’s.

We went back to my apartment.  We were supposed to leave later to go to Envigado to buy her medicine but she told me the pharmacy in Envigado delivers free of charge to Medellin so she called in the order.  It was supposed to be delivered between 4 and 5pm and the guy came about 4:35.

I surprised her with some Lindt milk chocolate with Hazelnut but she said it was too sweet.

Dario called me and we made a date to play chess in my apartment tomorrow at 2pm.

About 7pm we went back to Viva CC and I had the chicken combo #2 and she had the FriSchuleta (like a chicken plank) at Frisby for a total of 35,100.  Then I escorted her back to her bus stop and was back at my apartment by 9:15.

We made plans to meet on Saturday, with Laura, at 2pm at the Industriales metro station.  We’re then going to Pueblito Paisa again – something about a poetry exhibition?  Then Laura is going back to Envigado and Teresa is spending the remainder of the weekend with me.

T-shirt of the day: Happy Boys Hate Soccer

Tuesday, July 15th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 5:45 and got up at 6:45. 

I had coffee and croissant at Los Mejores where I observed workers with jackhammers repairing the street.  It did have a few, but not very deep, potholes.  Jhon was already there and I told him there wouldn’t be any Spanish lesson today because my house cleaner was coming.

I found Beatriz at the tinto store helping some man knock small mangos from an overhanging tree.  I thought they wouldn’t be ripe because they are so small but she seemed to think otherwise.  I paid her the 20mil for my clean laundry.  

(One of Teresa’s “vices” she told me last Saturday was that she didn’t like to waste money so she was looking forward to us saving the money I usually pay for someone else to do my laundry and clean my apartment.  Not to mention all the money I spend in restaurants.)

As I was walking toward Avenida 80 I observed the other Beatriz with her manicure kit getting into a taxi.

Then I had my first real surprise of the day.  First I saw Nidia with 2 girlfriends having breakfast at Likke’s.  Then I noticed the display cases were reorganized and I was greeted by a woman I had never seen before.  I asked Nidia if they had new owners and she said “yes”.  Lately all I’ve had to do is say “lunch for 2 at my apartment today at noon” and I knew it would be delivered on time.  I was easily able to order lunch with the Spanish I’ve learned in the last year and by showing her my laminated address I always keep in my fanny pack.  But, we’ll see what happens at noon.  Lol.

Olga was waiting for me as I approached my apartment at 8:45.  Today she took down all the curtains and washed them.  Afterwards she showed me the dirty water.  She also washed my baseball cap again although I haven’t worn it much lately.

I chatted with someone at magicJack.  I offered to pay with a paper check but they don’t allow that nor Paypal payments.  They said they were investigating the problem and I should wait for their email response.

Lunch arrived at noon this time delivered by a pretty girl.  The only thing significantly different was that the drink was much smaller.

I see that Planet of the Apes opens this Thursday but I don’t know yet if there will be any convenient place and time for me to see it.

Olga finished at 1:30, changed clothes and left.

As I left my apartment I found the bills on the stairs only my Une bill was missing.  I knocked on the door of apt. 201 but she said she didn’t have it.  As I was walking out of the building she called to me from the balcony that she did have it.  I went back in and a pretty young lady was with her and she gave me my bill.  I went back to my apartment, picked up my bills with some cash and headed out the door.

At 2pm I walked over to Los Mejores for the first time in the afternoon.  They usually have 2 large horizontal display cases in front of the entrance separating the customers from the rest of the store.  Now they only had 1 and a smaller more vertical one.  The other one I saw on the other side of the normal seating area but its glass was cracked in the front.  I’m guessing it happened since I was here this morning.  I bought a churro and Colombiana for 2,400; this churro was bigger than any I’ve had before.

At Exito I only had a short wait of 5 minutes to pay my Une bill of 72,964 (internet only) and my EPM bill of 77,357.         

I went to LM and studied Spanish for a while.

Back at the apartment I received an email from my ex-wife’s lawyer.  She has a buyer for the townhouse and he sent me the offer to sign and return.  I walked over to the internet café and had the 12 pages printed for 3,600 pesos.  I’ll sign them and have Jhon scan them and send them back in the next couple days.

At 6:45 I took a Simon Bolivar bus to Sport Wings where I watched the 1^st 2 hours of the MLB All Star game.  I tried their nochos (not too bad) and had 3 Cokes for a total of 30,832.  I left at the bottom of the 4^th inning when they changed pitchers.  I only had a 2 minute wait for a bus to take me back to my apartment.

I’ve been taking more buses because I’ve noticed my legs don’t feel as strong as they used to.  I am almost 69 years old so I guess that might be somewhat normal – I’m slowing down.

I finished Tom Clancy’s 982-page The Bear and the Dragon and downloaded his 416-page The Teeth of the Tiger.

T-shirt of the day: C.S.I. - Can’t Stand Idiots.

Monday, July 14th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up once at 3am, woke up at 6:15 and got up at 6:45.

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava followed by my Spanish lesson.  I went back to the apartment and changed into the nice clothes Teresa had picked out for me to wear today.  As I was waiting for the bus Teresa called and my best guess was that she wanted me to meet her at the restaurant where we have been before.  After the usual bus and metro rides I was about to cross a busy street when a taxi stopped right in front of me and Teresa and Laura waved me in.  The taxi took us to the restaurant and the 3 of us had a nice lunch of soup, salad, potato, rice and chicken.  

We walked about a block north and caught a bus that took us to Calle 10 in El Poblado.  (I tried to get them out at Calle 7 but they insisted we stay on the bus.  I don’t think Teresa wanted to walk any distance in her high heels.)  We took a taxi from there for about 4 mil that took us the last few blocks to Clinica Medellin in Poblado.  It’s the same building with my eye doctor and where I had my blood and prostate tests.  We were a little early so I coaxed them next door where there was a quieter and nicer cafeteria and I had a Coke, Laura had a cupcake and glass of milk and Teresa had a cup of fruit salad for a total of 12mil.  Teresa admitted I know El Poblado better than she does.

While waiting to get in to see the Dermatologist, the receptionist took down Teresa’s basic information so I guess it was her first visit.  Here is where I got my surprise.  I realized she asked Teresa her age and I heard 51.  But she isn’t supposed to be 51 until October.  While we were waiting there was a lot of kidding around by the 3 of us and I asked to see her Cedula which she couldn’t find until the receptionist asked for it.  Then she let me see it and her year of birth is 1958 which means she’s really 55 not 50.  I told her it wasn’t important to me.

The Dermatologist, Dr. Claudia Uribe, spoke perfect English.  She told me that Teresa is concerned because part of her face is darker than the rest.  I told her I’ve seen Teresa put on so much SPF 100 cream she looked like a ghost.  The doctor said the discoloration is probably genetic but she gave her 3 prescriptions: 1 she takes for 90 days and the others indefinitely.

Teresa then brought up the subject I wanted to discuss – her moles.  She has one on her shoulder, one on her neck, and one on one of her thighs.  The doctor said she could remove them on the next visit without any problem and she wouldn’t charge more then a regular office visit – 120mil.  The doctor wants to see her again about her face in 3 months so she made an appointment for October.  We have an appointment to have the moles removed at 2:20pm on Monday, August 11^th.

We walked across the street and caught a bus back to Envigado.  We walked a block past the park where we went upstairs and waited in line for at least 30 minutes for – I don’t know what.  My best guess is Teresa took some money out of some bank account because it kind of looked like a currency exchange.  Then we walked a little further and Teresa treated us all to some fancy ice cream for about 25mil.  Laura left us and Teresa led me to the church where she told me she wanted to attend mass.  We went in about 5:45 and didn’t come out until 7:05.  It was a lot longer than I thought it would be and it was a little stuffy inside.  I did see my first confession boxes – at least that I can remember.  

We stopped at what I will call a $1 store and for 6mil bought a good sized piggy bank to keep 1mil and 500 pesos coins.  

I did see a Davivienda bank a block from the park so I’m pretty sure they have an ATM that I could use.

We met Laura at Wilson’s bar and it was good to see him working again and walking around without any problem.  We all left about 8:15 and I left them at the metro station as they had a little further to go to catch their bus back to the finca.

T-shirt of the day: Just smile and wave.