Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Last night we went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep quickly, and woke/got up at 6:15.

We were genuinely surprised to see it was raining but luckily it had stopped by the time we left our room. My ankles are killing me from the walk yesterday.

We had breakfast in the “El Gaucho” buffet nearest to us and the sea. They had fruit, pancakes, waffles, eggs made to order etc. Several employees walk around filling coffee cups and taking drink orders.

On the beach we were lucky to find a vacant “cabana” not sure if that’s the right term, with a couple recliners. I stayed in the shade and Teresa moved in and out of the sun. Not a bad view from here.

I found one of those little lizards, 2”-3” long and was playing with it and catching it in the sand until its tail fell off. Oops! It didn’t seem to be affected by it so I suppose it will grow a new one.

We had the nearby buffet lunch and more sun afterwards.

We learned where the nearby stops are where you can catch the tram.

Surprisingly, Teresa wanted to go for coffee. I stopped a guy on a golf cart to ask and he took us to Cappuccino Cafe and said there was no problem that we weren’t Platinum members.

Inside the small open café we each had a latte and shared a waffle with Nutella and ice cream.

More beach time and we stopped at the massage area and saw how expensive it is. Hard to believe people actually pay that much.

After we cleaned up in our room it was supper back at the main buffet by the lobby.

Back at our room it was hot inside and I couldn’t get the A/C to work no matter which buttons I pushed. Also our safe didn’t appear to work.

I called Guest Services but there was no answer. I called Information and was told a worker would soon arrive. It was now just after 9pm and I knew I couldn’t sleep in this heat. A guy arrived about 5 minutes later and showed me how the A/C control works and I had him set it to 20C. I had him look at the safe and he said it needs new batteries. I can call tomorrow and he’ll come right out and replace them.

We got to bed at 10:15 and woke up at 6:15.

 

EL ARROYO SIGNS

Monday, April 8, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 8:15, fell asleep quickly, but woke up at 3:15. I got up and took my shower then Teresa got up.

She made coffee and poured it in my gym thermos and added a little milk.

I packed up the last of my toiletries and my laptop and we were ready by 4:30 when Bryan was downstairs waiting for us.

The ride to the airport was uneventful and we arrived a little after 5am. The ride was 150mil as usual and I tipped him 10mil.

We quickly checked our 2 suitcases (20kilos for Teresa’s but 17k for mine) but then were told we had to fill out some form. I downloaded it

to my cellphone but it was a devil to complete. It wouldn’t allow me to enter Envigado or Medellin for our city and for my birthdate it didn’t have a drop down list like for the year and month and it wouldn’t accept my typing the day of the month. There were other problems but a couple nearby helped us fill it out. (I think they just filled out the same thing by the paper I saw in his hand.) I think it took about an hour with lots of moments of frustration built in.

I was starving as we sat down and ate the tortilla sandwiches with coffee.

We checked in with TSA then got in the immigration line. Teresa got in a long line for Colombians and I got in a much shorter line for foreigners. I answered a couple questions on their Bio-Mig screen and they scanned my eyes. I was through but had to wait at least 15 minutes for Teresa.

By the time we got to the gate they were boarding. (Good thing we decided to arrive 3 hours before takeoff.) We were one of the first passengers on and took our 16C & 16D seats about halfway back of the plane.

The flight was almost 2 ½ hours and as we flew over La Hispaniola the plane suddenly increased speed like we had to do a go-around or something.

The flight was nearly over when I noticed this USB charge on the back of the seat in front of us.

We landed fine and went through immigration, baggage claim and customs pretty quickly.

No one asked to see the form we filled out. ☹

Outside the airport it was chaos with lots of people in a small space hawking taxis and other rides, and people waiting to be picked up. There was supposed to be someone with a sign with my name on it to pick us up. We found a relatively quiet place off to the side and I walked up and down looking at all the signs for pickup. I asked one guy to turn around to see his sign and it had my name. He took 2 of our suitcases and guided us through the parking lot to his minivan. It was a 25-minute ride to our hotel. He dropped us off by multiple porteros and while they kept an eye on our bags we went inside to check-in. We were about 90 minutes early for check-in but it went smoothly and the guy gave us bracelets and said we could go for lunch. After lunch we got in this tram with our bags and after waiting for others we were finally on our way. The place is HUGE and they dropped off others and we were the last ones off. They took our bags up to our room and I tipped each of the guys 2 crisp $1 bills and apologized I don’t have more dollars.

Our room is very nice and open with a bedroom area, living room area and large bathroom including a bathtub. I need to take advantage of that before we leave.

There is an iron and a nice golf-sized umbrella in our room. 😊 Are they trying to warn us of something?

The resort gifted us a bottle of Dominican rum I’m taking to gift to Wilson.

We unpacked some of our stuff and walked around a bit.

This is our first view of the Caribbean sea.

Beautiful blue sea, not ugly gray like Cartagena.

There are lots of peacock roaming around.

We found ourselves in the Platinum area with restaurants only for members. We came upon a nearby restaurant El Gaucho but it was reservation only. They serve buffet breakfast and lunch but at night it’s a steakhouse.

We walked back to the lobby to have supper at the main buffet. We walked in and an employee stopped us and said I couldn’t enter with a sleeveless t-shirt. The shorts and sandals were okay but not the t-shirt. At the closest table I saw a teenager wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and a woman came in with a fancy blouse that showed more skin than I did.

As we prepared ourselves for a long walk back to our room we came upon a store selling t-shirts, 3 for $60 or 1 for $30. I bought a Punta Cana t-shirt and paid for it with my Capital One debit card.

We had supper back at the buffet. The restaurant is huge with lots of tables, lots of fish and seafood but I did manage to find something to eat. Lots of desserts including ice cream.

After, we stopped at Guest Services with a few questions and I learned how the safe works.

We stopped in a store where I charged $20 for facial pads and 2 bottles of some type of facial oil for Teresa.

Outside we took a tram back to near our building – building #26 but in the dark it wasn’t so easy to find our building #29. Finally we did, only to walk up 2 flights of stairs and our apt wasn’t there. We had to backtrack and go to the other side of the building.

I had bought a pack of Breathe Right strips and hopefully one each night will prevent me from snoring so Teresa can sleep well.

We unpacked some more and were in bed by 9:30.

 

EL ARROYO SIGNS

Sunday, April 7, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 8:45, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 3am, couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up at 3:30 and worked on the computer a bit, went back to bed at 4:30, finally waking/getting up at 7:30am.

Troyclough resigned our latest game on the 26^th move increasing my rating to 1563.

I read an interesting article on my Flipboard news feed about the Vans logo.

The article explained the logo was the square root over ANS representing the answer. 😊

Teresa informed me that Esmeralda’s sister has schizophrenia. She’s now in a mental hospital but it’s 90 minutes from Medellin.

All my shorts and sleeveless t-shirts are packed away so I put on my convertible shorts, a regular t-shirt (too warm) and my Teva sandals.

I left the apt at 8:30 and met Glenn with Bianca in Olivenza at 9am.

Most days he now walks to Starbucks in Poblado, has coffee there and returns to his apt. At least he’s getting more exercise. He also is making his own biscuits that he has with his coffee.

He left at 10:45 and I left at 11:15.

I stopped in Ara at Teresa’s request and bought a frozen chicken breast and a bag of milk and returned to the apt.

I left the apt at 3pm and took a Didi to the mall.

It’s now 1:30 on Wednesday and I’m going to try to recreate the past few days.

I printed our boarding passes in Auros, purchased another padlock in Decathlon, and bought a 3-pack of underwear and another tube of SPF cream in Exito. I returned to the apt by taxi.

I sent a text to Bryan to remind him of our pickup but he didn’t’ respond right away. Just over 2 hours later he apologized because he had just returned from Guatape.

He told us tomorrow is pico y placa and asked us if we could leave at 4:40am. We agreed.

Teresa made sandwiches with chicken and tortillas and wrapped them up for tomorrow.

We finished packing and I went to bed just after 8pm.

 

EL ARROYO SIGNS

 

Yeah, my external hard drive with screenshots is back at the apt so the El Arroyo signs will have to wait until I return.

VACATION

 I'm going to start posting our vacation posts.

Saturday, April 6, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 4:30, finally waking/getting up at 6:30am.

I received this message from Alicia Matthew on Facebook, “Hello, I know it’s a little weird talking to someone you don’t know, but your personality is adorable and you have a beautiful bright smile. Seeing you in the suggested friend option, I was drawn to your timeline and every message you post is fascinating and worth reading. I will be happy to be your friend and have a friendly conversation with you. I would love to add you so we can be friends, but it would be rude to do so. I hope you don’t mind sending me a friend request. Let’s be friends, best wishes.” Interesting that I’ve received this exact message from “her” before. 😊

At 8:30 I started the Didi request for 7,900 pesos and still arrived 12 minutes early for my 9am haircut appointment. His dog Malu greeted me at the door, I think we’re friends now. During my haircut Daniel announced he’s getting married Friday May 10^th and he’ll be closed from the 8^th to the 20^th. I congratulated him, checked my calendar and my next two haircuts should be on Saturday, May 4^th and June 1^st so his off days shouldn’t affect me.

I took a Didi to Viva Envigado for 9,000 pesos. I printed my airport transfer in Auros after waiting about 15 minutes in line. I withdrew 2,000,000 pesos from an ATM, then paid our cellphone bills in Claro. Downstairs in Urbania I had a latte while working on my cellphone. Oops, I see my Notes on our airport transfer said our flight arrives at 11:45PM instead of AM. ☹  I left at 11:30, bought a few things in Exito before returning to the apt by taxi.

I checked us in online with Avianca and they sent our boarding passes to my email address.

Teresa informed me Kelley was coming over about 2pm to give her a massage. I left at 1:30 and walked to Parva where I had a latte with a pastel de guayaba.

I received a call from an unknown number and reflexively deleted it. (I usually automatically delete numbers with no name in my contacts because it’s usually spam or Claro trying to sell me something.) Then I remembered my brother Jim was having lunch with my cousin David and my goddaughter Jenni. I quickly added the number to my Contacts list and called him back and talked to my cousin and my goddaughter. I know I haven’t been a very good godfather.

A waitress came over and gifted me a snack. I understood it was a combination of bread, cookie and chocolate chips.

I left at 4:15 and bought a large cup of coconut gelato in Antonio’s for Teresa before hurrying back to the apt.

I chatted with someone from Transfers Punta Cana and got my AM/PM mistake corrected. 😊

I’m missing a padlock so I’ll have to buy another one tomorrow in Decathlon and print our Avianca boarding passes in Auros.

The ice maker isn’t working, the chute must be blocked again. I’ll fix it when we return and I’ll probably have to do it in the future every couple months.

I finished reading The Terminal List by Jack Carr on my Kindle.

 

EL ARROYO SIGNS

Friday, April 5, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6am.

Teresa will be skipping gym today and heading for the beauty parlor. Depending on timing we may have lunch together at home or I might be on my own.

I completed my workout from 8:45 to 9:45. Today was relatively quiet compared to last Monday, with lots of machines available.

Now Teresa informs me she has a doctor’s appointment at 3:30 in Clinica Medellin then she wants to go to Santafe mall for a waffle with ice cream.

We left at 3:15 and took an Uber to Clinica Medellin for 12,730 pesos. Teresa went inside the office. While I was waiting in the main waiting room a mother and daughter approached and asked me something. I replied, “lo siento. No hablo mucho español.” Teresa called and informed me they were running late and I should go downstairs for coffee. I bought a café con leche in Il Capuccino for 5mil and took a seat.

Teresa came down 20 minutes later and bought a bowl of fresh fruit.

We left and, to beat traffic, we returned to the apt by taxi for 14,700 pesos.

I stopped in Ara and bought a bag of milk and a bag of salt before returning to the apt.

I found Teresa's Claro bill on her phone and sent it to myself so I can pay the bill tomorrow.

Teresa’s already packed for Monday and she helped me get started with my packing.

 

EL ARROYO SIGNS

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, woke up at 5am, couldn’t fall back asleep, finally getting up at 5:45.

Btw, I occasionally receive FB (Facebook) friend requests from people I don’t know. If you’re one of my blog readers and want to follow my (boring) life on FB just send me a direct message either there or on my blog and I’ll befriend you.

The Weather Channel is predicting a high today of 76 degrees so I put on pants, shoes and socks, and a t-shirt.

I left the apt at 8:45 and had a café con leche in Parva. Marcos arrived about 9:15 and we talked politics, the NFL draft, exercise and apt rentals. He says he still walks on his treadmill for over an hour but he’s exhausted the rest of the day. I told him he’s abusing his body and he should cut back on that and give himself at least an off day between workouts. I think I finally convinced him. He left at 10am and I left at 11:30.

Teresa decided she wants to change the locks and called a locksmith (Locksmith chapas de puerta in my Contacts and Whatsapp) to make the change. The muchacho was here 5 minutes, changed the deadbolt and gave us 5 keys and the charge was only 140,000 pesos ($37). (I wonder how much this would cost in the US and how long would I have to wait to have it done?)

Teresa informed me her Medipiel package is in the porteria.

I booked an airport transfer to pick us up at the airport and take us to our hotel for $27.

Teresa asked me to bring her a package of cotton balls if I go out.

I left the apt at 2pm and walked to Los Porteños for a latte. It poured off and on while I was there. I had a couple visitors that didn’t mind getting close to me as long as I didn’t make any quick movements.

I read this article about people with green eyes:

Just one reason my eyes are so tired and why I wear sunglasses when I’m out.

Teresa called and asked me to bring her a pan de queso. There was a lull in the rain so I left about 3:30, bought the cotton in Pasteur and bought 2 palitos de queso in Parva. I found when I returned to the apt Teresa wanted pan not palito. ☹ I did bring up her Medipiel package from the porteria so there’s that.

I spent most of the evening switching between CNN, MSNBC News and The Football Network.

I went to bed at 10pm. The next few days I’m going to go to bed earlier each night and hopefully at 8pm Sunday night since we have to get up about 4am on Monday.

 

EL ARROYO SIGNS