Sunday, February 5, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 9:15, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

I seem to have improved overnight because my nose is past the dripping stage.

Teresa informed Esmeralda wants to borrow 3 million pesos payable in June or July. I understand she’s at home recovering from her foot surgery. I told Teresa, “fine but I’m going to need the cash for Jeannie’s wedding by August”.

Teresa and I had breakfast in Los Porteños then I ordered a Didi to take us to Pricesmart. (I was happy to see the Didi had no problem finding us up this blind side street.) We bought 1,117,735 pesos ($243.81) of food including 132mil for renewing our membership.

I made arrangements with Carlos to pick up Laura from the airport on Wednesday.

I watched an interesting 4-episode documentary “Pepsi, Where’s my Jet?”.

It was about 8:30 and I was sitting at the kitchen table when Teresa said, “who would be cutting down a tree at this hour?” I looked out the bedroom window and saw firemen below on the street hacking at a large branch (apparently dead) with a machete. It was probably the same branch that was struck by an Ara truck as it left earlier. I wonder why the urgency? Was someone hurt? Or did Ara just request it removed?

 

Fun pix

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 9pm, got up once at 2:45, again at 6am, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

With my nose plugged up that means I have to breathe through my mouth that really dries up the throat.

I ordered a birthday present for my son.

I spent the bulk of the day in and out of bed.

 

Fun pix

Friday, February 3, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 9pm, got up once at 2:45, again at 6am, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

I got my haircut at Dan’s barbershop then took a Didi to Viva Envigado.

I picked up a Gente newspaper then had a latte in Santa Leña. Teresa was supposed to call me to meet at La Bahia for lunch.

At 12:30 I paid for my latte and headed over to Cine Colombia.

The Spirits of the Island movie directly translates from Los Esperitus de la Isla but the original title is actually The Banshees of Inisherin (7.8). Now I understand why they didn’t do a literal translation as it would probably make no sense in Spanish. Anyway, I don’t think it’s something I’d be interested in unless I want to tease my Irish roots.

I replaced my TENS 3000 electrodes and now it works fine again.

My nose is dripping like crazy so I stuffed pieces of toilet paper up each nostril.

 

Fun pix

Thursday, February 2, 2023

It’s Groundhog Day! Sorry folks! Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and there will be 6 more weeks of winter.

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

After breakfast I had another hour-long nap.

Teresa took 250mil and left at 9am. I understand she and another lady are going to have private gym sessions with a personal trainer this month.

New movie openings today in Viva Envigado are

The Whale (8.0) at 3:10, 6:10 and 9:10.

Knock at the Cabin (6.0) only dubbed at the moment.

The Spirits of the Island at 2:30, 5:40, and 8:20. I can’t find this title on IMDB so I’ll have to go to Cine Colombia to find the original title.

My brother texted me his flight has been moved up an hour but he still thinks there’s enough time to continue with our original plan.

I left at 12:30 and took a Didi to my brother’s hotel. Carlos arrived right on time at 1pm.

At the airport we waited in a long line for Jim to check his suitcase. We still had time to go upstairs to Avocado “something” for lunch. He had a salad and I had a ham sandwich. I got half of it to go. At 2:45 he checked in with TSA and was on his way.

I went downstairs and got on an airport bus to San Diego Mall. There were only two other people on the bus when I got on but 15 minutes later it was full and we left.

I made a trip to the restroom then took a taxi back to the apt. The usual routes were so slow the driver took the expressway back to the apt.

I did a TENS3000 session but when I finished I noticed one of the electrodes had fallen off. Obviously they’ve lost their stickiness; good thing my brother brought me 4 new sets.

I’ve got a cold but I managed to stay up until 9pm.

 

Today I got in 2,926 steps.

 

Fun pix

 

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

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

I met Jim at Los Porteños at 10am and Marcos and his cousin Marshall soon joined us. We chatted for about 45 minutes then they left. At 11:30 Jim and I moved to Otra Parte where we had a limonada de coco. We left just before 1pm and walked the few blocks to the apt where Teresa served us lentil soup then short ribs.

Jim left to spend some time in the sun at his hotel and we took a nap.

Teresa had an abbreviated massage from 5:30 to 6pm.

At 7pm we took a Didi to La Matriarca and Jim was at an outdoor table waiting for us.

We went inside and were seated at a table in the lower level. They had live music and was nearly packed including people celebrating birthdays. At one long table we noticed one man and 8 women and at another there was one man and 10 women. Hmmm.

I had their sauteed sirloin which is served in a wok, Teresa had her usual salmon and Jim ordered something Colombian.

Jim mentioned that this was his first time in Colombia where the waiter came over and inquired if our food was okay.

Our check came to 161,485 pesos ($35) and we returned to the apt by Didi.

 

Today I got in 2,603 steps.

 

Fun pix

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

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

Teresa will soon be heading to the gym then spending the day with her mother.

My plan is to go to the mall this morning to pay some bills then see Babylon (7.6) in Oviedo mall at 3:30. That should get me out about 7pm when traffic should be beginning to lighten.

I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to the mall. I paid for the apt, my health insurance, and Teresa’s gym membership with no problem. I made an ATM withdrawal with my CS debit card with no problem. (We’ll see if it still works in 2 weeks without having to create another Travel Notice.) I went down to Urbania but didn’t find any available seat so I went to Santa Leña. I left at 11:30, stopped in Exito to buy a large package of toilet paper and returned to the apt by taxi.

I watched Whiplash (8.5) on Netflix.

At 12:30 I remembered that Teresa was going to be out all day with MT. At 1:30 I took a Didi to Oviedo mall. I went upstairs to Cine Colombia where I added 40mil to my card and bought my general seating ticket for 10,800. Note to self: for the afternoons, always buy a preferred seat in the middle of the back aisle.

I went down a couple levels where I bought a large latte and a blueberry yogurt muffin at Juan Valdez which also gave me access to their wifi. I went back upstairs and took one of the few tables they have outside the theaters. Fifteen minutes before showtime I made my last trip to the restroom then went to concessions but there wasn’t any worker there. I got a guard’s attention and gave him the universal sign for “I don’t know what’s going on”. He came over and called in the back and finally someone came out and I got my order for a small popcorn and a large soda.

Inside I had just missed the same Colombian short I’ve seen all month. 😊

The movie started and the first (and later the last) scene was a party that was so loud I had to put my fingers in my ears. Not sure if the fault is the movie maker or the projectionist. The movie is a tad over 3 hours long, I had noted 4 pee times using my RunPee app and used 2 of them plus added one of my own. Not to self: cut back on the liquids before and during the movie.

This is the end of the month and I already have 6 movies toward the required 30 I need to be eligible for a Platinum card again.

I saw Teresa had texted me requesting I pick up a small bottle of Coke that she can use for preparing the ribs for tomorrow so I made a trip to Carulla before returning to the apt by taxi.

 

Today I got in 5,511 steps.

 

Fun pix

Monday, January 30, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, got up 3 or 4 times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:45am.

I see K.C. beat Cincinnati 23-20 last night, so it’ll be the Philadelphia Eagles vs the Kansas City Chiefs in the Superbowl in Arizona on February 12^th.

Jim texted me he was on the metro approaching the Envigado station so I walked to Las Chachas in Parque Envigado where I found him waiting for me. A block away Jim found a stand where they make fresh orange juice. While waiting for him I observed a golden lab sniffing around the area. His owner soon arrived and we were shocked to see her feeding it fruit. Besides the pineapple, papaya they were sharing she said it also eats avocado.

We continued on to Todo Drogas where I bought my medications for the month for 185,605 ($40) and Jim bought a couple things that are much less expensive here than in the stats.

We walked to La Buena Mesa where we had coffee at one of their outside tables.

We agreed to meet for dinner tonight at 7pm at Hatoviejo (Calle 16 #28-60). It’s a Polynesian looking building we see every time we come down Las Palmas from the airport and we say we must have dinner there sometime.

Teresa agreed but she insisted on meeting at 7:30 because traffic is too heavy earlier.

At 6pm she asked me to get dressed. I reminded her we’re not leaving until 7pm so I have plenty of time. She reminded me again at 6:30 so I dressed and started ordering a Didi for 12mil. After 10 minutes of searching gave up and switched to InDrive. I couldn’t get it to allow me to enter my destination until I added it as a midway point. I offered 20mil for the ride and it was immediately accepted. We left just before 7pm and arrived at Hatoviejo at 7:15. Jim arrived at 7:30.

Teresa had her usual salmon which she said was delicious and I ordered the solomito (steak) with backed potato and mine was delicious also.

We had a churro with ice cream for dessert which was great also.

The total bill for Teresa and I was 165mil ($35).

We easily ordered a Didi to return us to the apt.

I went to bed at 10pm.

I had just laid down when Teresa came in the bedroom and informed me she didn’t have her cellphone and we needed to call the Didi driver. I started going through the usual process of restarting my phone and calling her number just to make sure it wasn’t in the house when she came back and informed me she found it. Sigh!

 

Today I got in 5,131 steps.

 

Fun pix