Author: Rudy

It’s the last full day in Rodadero. So we went out for breakfas to the corner cafe. When we got there I realized I’d forgotten my wallet, so Naomi ran back to get it while I sat down to enjoy my almond croissant and cappucino. Naomi soon joined me and had a tall orange juice. When we got back to our place Naomi headed down to the pool and I read the news.

We both read for much of the afternoon, and then I suggested that we should ‘celebrate’ the end of our good times in Rodadero by going out for supper — and what better place than our old favourite, back in Santa Marta. It’s about a 20 minute bus ride from our place here in Rodadero to the Parque de los Novios, which is just a block from where we stayed for a week in early February. We waited until sunset before setting off to catch a bus, trying to avoid the hot sun. It ended up being a lovely and comfortable evening. It was a short walk from where the bus drop us off to the park. Lots of people out and about on a Friday night. Our restaurant is called Donde Chucho and it’s in the far corner of the park. When we got there we managed to snag a table for two right in the middle of the outdoor courtyard, with an oscillating fan next to it. Great!

This was either the third or fourth visit to this restaurant and I’ve ordered the same meal each time — a lovely grouper fillet covered with shrimp and a delicious sauce. Did not disappoint. The evening was lovely, the restaurant was full and people lined up waiting for a table, the musician was a bit too loud but folks at tables around us seemed to enjoy singing along. After we’d finished our meal Naomi happened to check her phone and announced that the Jets were leading the Devils 1-0 in the first. What? There’s a hockey game on tonight. Why don’t we hurry home and catch the last 2 periods.

We were riding along in the crowded bus when, about halfway home, I put my hand in one of my shorts pockets, looking for my apartment card-key. The card gets us into our room, and then we have to slide it into a receptacle on the wall in order for the lights and air conditioners to turn on. Quite a few of our Airbnbs have used this system. It’s a bit annoying to only of the one key, and to come back to a warm apartment if you’ve been out for a couple of hours.

Well, you KNOW what happened next. Oh oh. Can’t find my key. After we got off the bus I told Naomi. Are you sure? She checked her shoulder bag. Of course it wasn’t there — I knew I’d put it in my pocket. In fact, I was pretty sure I knew how and where I had lost the card. It must have fallen out when I took my phone out of that same pocked as we were leaving the restaurant — the key card is much like a credit card and will have ‘stuck’ to my phone and then fallen away. Oh, this is NOT good! It was 3 or 4 blocks from where the bus had dropped us to our apartment, and as we walked back Naomi was already texting the owner of our apartment with the bad news. What were we going to do? We have to be on the road by tomorrow morning at 9:45, and we need to get into our apartment and pack our stuff before that. It’s Friday night and how will we get in touch with our host, “Santiago”? And what can he do to help? I think he lives in Bogota.

When we got into the front lobby there were two guys working the desk. We did our best to explain our situation and they got to work. They phoned Santiago. One of them went up to our room, then returned and motioned for us to follow him back up. He punched in the ‘secret code’ on the door entry panel and the door unlocked! Great! Ah, but when we opened the door a wave of warm air hit us. Oh yeah! What about our A/C and lights, etc? We need ‘the card’ in order to be able to sleep in here and gather up all our clothes and get packed.

Naomi stayed in the room — she opened up the patio doors and plunked herself down on a chair on the balcony and read her Kindle book. Mr Concierge  and I went back down to the lobby. In the meantime, Santiago is texting us, telling us it’ll all be okay, don’t worry, no big deal, they’ll figure something out. The other front desk guy is already phoning our restaurant, and WhatsApp-ing the a photo of a similar key card he happens to have — asking them to check if anyone has seen or picked up our card.

Things are looking grim. I considered getting a taxi to take me back to the restaurant so I could look for the card — but I really wasn’t very sure that that’s where I lost it. And it was getting close to 10 o’clock — closing time for the restaurant. And then Santiago texts, “Sol María will be with you soon. Give me 10 minutes Naomi.” (I guess Sol Maria is the cleaning lady.) Then, “We are working on” followed by “Rudy you are in a good hand. The card is not a big deal” and “You are safe in the apartment . Sol María has extra card.” And shortly after that text, there’s Maria, smiling and waving at me as she comes through the door into the lobby. She digs through her purse and fishes out another key card. Bingo! We’re in business. I thank her a few times and run upstairs to see if it works. I slip it into the slot and kaboom! the washer, which was almost finished a load when we left earlier (and obviously did NOT finish because when we left I took the card out and thereby shut off all electrical power in the place!) started up. Then the A/C and the loud ceiling fan started up again. We’re good to go! Thanks to Santiago and Sol Maria and the two guys at the front desk.

Oh, and by the time I’m settled back into my comfy living room chair and opened up my laptop to catch up on the latest news, the Jets are done with the Devils — winning 6-1. How about them Jets! Good night.

This morning I let Naomi have a quiet visit with some of her family on WhatsApp while I went out to the little cafe around the corner from our apartment. I was really looking forward to a nice cappuccino and maybe a pastry. On my way there I encountered a fisherman selling his morning catch. A resident from our building was negotiating a sale with the man, who had a little cart with a nice assortment of fish and a cooler with camarones (shrimp). I also stopped to have a look, and the fisherman proudly showed me his atun (tuna) that he was happy to cut into smaller portions.

Well, I wasn’t going to buy a fish, and it was already a bit too warm outside for me to stand there much longer — so off I went to the cafe. Breakfast was a treat. The croissant was filled with almond slices and some almond paste and the pastry was warm and flaky. I’ve been making my own coffee from time to time, but lately I’ve preferred the cappuccinos — which are very nice and very cheap ($2.00).

When I got back to the apartment Naomi was just off the phone and cutting up some fruit for her own breakfast.

After breakfast we went down to the pool so that Naomi could swim a few laps and I could splash around a bit. The pool is large and often not very busy. It’s super clean and has great loungers where I can stretch out and do a sudoku.

Naomi here. Rudy has passed the blog off to me to finish as he is deep into a hockey game. Winnipeg Jets are up 4-0 against Philadelphia.

During our time in Colombia I have had the opportunity to read quite a few books. The one I finished today is a Louise Erdrich book called, The Painted Drum. I have read quite a number of books by her over the years. One of the pulls for me is the fact that she is a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nation and  their traditional lands border the Manitoba Turtle Mountains just south of Boissevain where I grew up. The American colonial Indigenous relationship shares many similarities to the Canadians Indigenous and colonial one.  And for that reason I am always interested to learn more from various perspectives.  On a more general level I like novels that explore the themes of identity, both personal and cultural.

We also watched a movie today that Rudy had downloaded. It was one of the Oscar nominees called, The Nickel Boys (based on a novel). It was hard to follow because of the camera angles that followed the perspective of the various story tellers. It also juxtaposed historical footage from the time period  (1960s) and often it forced the viewer to take a big leap to make connections. The film explores the Nickel Reform School and the atrocities that happened there, mostly to young black boys. I definitely recommend the film.

Well,  I guess that is about all. I’ll go and do a bit of drawing before I head to bed.

 

 

Last week Friday, Naomi and I took a walk to see where our next Airbnb was, and to have a look at the neighbourhood. On a street corner very near our apartment we passed a large and very busy restaurant. There were many tables all along the two sides that faced the streets, and inside were many more tables. And most of the outside tables were occupied. The place was humming. And it looked like mostly locals — fishermen, taxi drivers, and families were enjoying breakfast. We made a note of it: if the locals eat there and the place is busy, it must be good.

We’ve already had one evening meal there (I really like my pollo asado – roasted chicken). But the menu is extensive, so tonight we went back for another round.

I have been using my phone to ‘Translate’ the menus so far. My Spanish lessons from twenty years ago haven’t really helped me at all on this trip. Naomi’s Spanish is MUCH better than mine. She had mentioned a street food called ‘salty peppers’ a few times on this trip, So when I decided to try one of the ‘Salchipapas’ dishes, Naomi knew exactly what that was. She said basically it was sliced up wieners mixed with french fries, and it had been a favourite for her and her family when they’d lived in Guatemala for a year some 30 years ago. Well, wieners and fries are two of my favourite foods, so I was looking forward to this. In fact, I decided on the ‘Choripapa’ — which substituted wieners with chorizo. Even better!

I was already enjoying an Aguila cerveza (an original Colombian beer, delicious, and like all the local beers, around $2 Canadian in a restaurant!) when the waitress brought us our food. Here she comes with a big white bowl, filled to the top with white cheese! This was a lot of food! Well, below that cheese topping was lettuce, slices of fried chorizo, salsa, lettuce, onion slices, and tomato slices. It was DELICIOUS! And with a little help from Naomi, I finished the whole bowl. Just describing it here makes me hungry — and I’m quite sure that won’t be my last ‘Salty Pepper’.

Woke up this morning– another beautiful morning. It’s our last full day here at La Mansión. Naomi made pancakes for breakfast. We topped them with  mangos and bananas and pineapple. After breakfast was cleaned up I sat around as I usually do, reading the news or watching last night’s late night talk shows on YouTube.

In the early afternoon Naomi made a guacamole dip to go with our taco chips. A couple of cold ‘Poker’ beers to go with that. I think it was shortly after our lunch that I saw the ‘Breaking News’ that Trump and Zelensky had had a major spat in front of the press. I turned on our TV. Both CNN and Al Jazeera were replaying the meeting at the White House. Already the US newspapers were calling it a most-shocking exchange, a disaster. Trump and Vance were berating Zelensky, blaming him for the war, and not letting him explain how it was the Russians who had been the instigators and aggressors. Topsy turvy. Every time you think you’ve seen it all, every time you think things can’t get more bizarre, that ‘very stable genius’ takes it down another notch.

It was unsettling. Especially for Naomi. When I suggested we go out for an ice cream cone she wasn’t in the mood for it. Said she didn’t even like ice cream! Topsy turvy. I eventually convinced her to come with me to the mall next door. She could go get herself a chocolate bar, and I’d get myself an ice cream cone.

At the mall Naomi headed upstairs to buy herself that chocolate bar and I went to the ice cream shop. There were two employees working at the counter. They appeared to be much too busy to have time to take care of a paying customer — me. One of them had a clipboard and was taking inventory. The other was cleaning one of the ice cream ‘pots’. I stood there for quite a while, pointing to the flavour of ice cream I wanted. They ignored me. I finally turned around and left. I would find my ice cream cone where someone would be happy for my business.

I headed to the supermarket at the other end of the mall. I found various ice cream treats in a cooler near the back of the store. I took out a ‘drumstick’ and took it to the checkout at the front of the store. There were three cashiers, all huddled at the only checkout that was open, looking at their phones. The one customer ahead of me had his small cart of groceries on the counter waiting to be scanned. I guess the first item needed a price check — and one of the three cashiers sauntered off with the item. And I stood there with my drumstick, waiting. I looked at two remaining cashiers, trying to catch their attention. Finally I spoke up: Could you just scan this melting ice cream cone and let me through? The guy ahead of me nodded his approval. But the cashier waved her hand at the groceries waiting to be scanned and shook her head. What? Really? I took my cone back to the freezer and left the store.

I don’t understand what’s the issue is. The Colombian people are friendly enough — but this business of super long, super slow line-ups, of people jumping the queue or butting in line, of store clerks ignoring customers like E.G Penner service people do — it’s starting to piss me off.

I finally opted for an ice coffee from the Juan Valdez coffee shop. Even here, although I was the only customer at the counter, all three workers on the other side of the counter ignored me. One was acting busy, but the other two were just standing there, looking at their phones. I had to ask for their attention, could they please take my order, etc.

By the time I got my coffee, Naomi had nearly finished her chocolate bar and had texted me “Where are you?” messages. She was sitting at a table in the central atrium of the mall. I joined her and told her the whole sad story of my ‘shopping’ misadventures. Instead of the customer doing the business a favour, here it seemed that the business was doing me the favour, allowing me to part with some of my money for their poor service. Topsy turvy.

And then I was lying on the floor beside our table. Huh? What happened? I gathered myself and struggled to get back up. The plastic chair I’d been sitting on had collapsed and I’d gone ‘topsy turvy’ to the ground. People at the tables around ours were all staring at me. One of them came running up with a different type of plastic chair — explaining that the chair I’d been on was a terrible design with very flimsy legs. I’m not sure what was more painful — my left shoulder or my pride.

We went home and spent another few hours reading and puzzling and wasting time. At around 7pm we went back to the mall for supper. Up in the food court, we enjoyed another pizza, our second this week. We were going to watch one of my downloaded movies, but once we got back home Naomi had a long phone call with one of her daughters and I started on the blog.

And that’s about it. Tomorrow morning we’ll pack up and head on down the road to our ‘new’ place.

No interesting photos today — so I’ll conclude with a couple of uninteresting ones: the complex that we’re in here at La Mansión has buildings that feature many angles so that our windows–of which we have many–give us a view in many directions.

I first noticed it yesterday afternoon. Naomi asked me to download a couple of books for her kindle and texted me the name of the author. For sure the author’s name had way more letters in it than I could remember by the time I got to my computer type it into the search field, so I waited for the text. Didn’t get it. Hmm… Check WhatsApp. No, not there either. Send it again. Nothing. I finally went to look at her phone to see if she’d actually ‘sent’ it. Yep. Well, I never got it. I copied it into my computer, letter by letter: ‘Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’. See what I mean?

Later that afternoon, I headed out to the beach to take a look at the crowd of people that were winding down their day there. And I looked at all the little drink stands and ceviche bars. And I looked at the gorgeous sunset. And I took a bunch of photos of all of that. I sat down at one of the stands and had a small order of fries. While waiting for them I sent a text to Naomi about my whereabouts. Funny, no cell signal here. No wifi either. No sending of texts. No phone calls. Something is fishy with my phone.

I stopped by the mall that is next to our ‘resort’ and explained my problem to a couple of young workers at a little phone sales booth there. The guy looked up the serial number on my phone, then logged into an official government website — where it was confirmed. My phone has been ‘blocked’. Apparently, in order to discourage bad people from stealing other people’s phones, the government keeps a record of ‘unregistered’ phones. And it turns out that that ‘nice lady’ at the airport who double charged me for my super-duper phone plan not only ripped me off — but ‘forgot’ to ‘register’ my phone, as all sellers of SIM cards and phone plans are supposed to do. So what now? Well, the guy says, I need to go to the one ‘official’ Claro phone store in the big mall 10 kms away in neighbouring Santa Marta — and they can ‘release’ my phone if I can prove that it’s legitimately mine.

And that’s what led to today’s adventure.

I wasn’t sure how best to get to that mall this morning, so I did a bit of ‘research’ on my computer, asked ChatGPT for some advice, and shortly after breakfast (toast and yogurt, in case you’re wondering) I took my ‘useless’ phone and headed out to the street to catch a bus. I knew what route I should be taking, but after watching a few buses go by, wasn’t sure exactly which of the posters plastered onto the windshield of the bus would tell me what route they were going. So I ended up just jumping onto a bus, saying the name of the mall (Centro Comercial Buenavista) to the driver. He looked at me quizzically. I said it slower and louder. Huh? Even louder. He motioned for me to hand him some money and go sit down. By now all the other passengers were clearly a little ticked that this gringo was slowing down there ride.

Well, you probably already guessed that about 40 minutes into the hot and crowded ride, it became clear to me that this bus was not going to get me to the mall. I showed the lady with the baby in the seat beside me my ‘useless’ phone, which showed the Buenavista place name on google maps. No, she shook her head. She ended up getting off the bus with me, waiting at a very warm bus bench for the ‘right’ bus, pushing me onto the bus while yelling ‘buenavista’ at the driver. And just like that! only about 30 minutes longer than it should have taken, I arrived at the big beautiful Buenavista shopping mall.

I found the Claro store near the big cinema at one end of the mall. There was a waiting line. There is ALWAYS a waiting line. I waited patiently for my turn to speak to the expert who was ‘screening’ the customers. (One thing I’ve learned about Colombia: they have a lot of line ups. The ATMS have long queues at each machine, and people sure do take their sweet time at the machine. Here there were several booths with workers just waiting for the next customer — but no, they have a system!) When it was my turn to explain my issue (that is, the two of us typing into my ‘translate’ program, since no matter how loudly and clearly I put together a few Spanish words, she didn’t seem to understand), it turned out that yes, I had come to the right place, but no, they couldn’t help me today. I gathered that the problem needed to involve the government department ‘releasing’ my phone’s serial number, and the government was not working on Domingo, a Sunday.

Really? you mean I came all this way for nothing? I wandered around in the mall for a while. I even stood in a 2-person line at the KFC ice cream cone booth, waiting ever-so-patiently for my little treat. And that wait got even longer when a lady barged in right in front of me just before I was going to order, and when she was done and I was just standing there giving her the evil eye, and she motioned to me to just move ahead and order. What’s the matter with you? A good thing that I was a kind and polite Canadian, and that today is Domingo; I ordered my cheap little ice cream cone and headed back out to catch a bus going back home. I guess I’ll come back tomorrow.

When I got home, Naomi was having a delightful morning, painting at the kitchen table. I was hot, tired, and frustrated. So Naomi got right to work in the kitchen, making us a delicious lunch (Denver sandwiches, in case you’re interested). And after lunch she went out to the pool with her sketchpad. And I did Wordle.

There was some talk of going for a walk on the beach, but by the time Naomi had finished a few calls with friends and family, she declared that she was too hungry to do anything else. We headed to the food court at the next door mall and ate our supper (fried chicken and fries, in case you need to know) at an outdoor table. We stopped at the grocery store on our way home. (Man, beer is crazy cheap in Colombia.)

Back at the ranch, Naomi did a bit of laundry while I wrote this super-long blog post. But before I say goodnight, let me show you the interesting bag of nuts that Naomi bought today.