Today is a day for a big adventure. As you have read on Sunday’s post, Rudy is without a phone and this is something that needed to be remedied. Who is all calling him, you might ask? Well really it is just me when I need to get back into the apartment (there is only one key ever) and he is out gallivanting. How often does this happen? Well so far on the this trip I can count that on one finger. But we have nothing more pressing to do and Rudy is an expert on how to get to this mall across the city so off we go. I am looking forward to bus travel as we have not yet done it on this trip and it really tends to give a feel for the pulse of a place and its people. And if nothing else, we will really work up a sweat.
The bus ride over the mountain into Santa Marta is beautiful. There are miles of walkways along the highway on their own separate metal structures and they are something to look at, hanging over the edges of the gulches.
The ride is long and we are at the back of the bus. On one particular road we almost break our tailbones as we race along at breakneck speeds and hit hug potholes. (Manitoba, in spring, has nothing on the massive chunks of missing road here in Santa Marta.) Finally, after some interesting fights between the driver and various people who try to sneak on the bus without paying, we arrive at a spot on a large road where the driver stops and yells at us to get out. We have to walk the rest of the way. Luckily it isn’t far.
The mall is massive, the stores very fancy, and the air conditioning pumping out great gusts of cold air. Rudy goes to stand in line at Claro and I wander around. It is basically like a North American mall except the walkways are so wide and filled with tropical plants. I wander to an art store and search for big pieces of watercolour paper. Soon Rudy is done. He is in need of some new shorts so we look. Most places are designer stores but we do find some stores for regular people and Rudy finds what he needs. We relax in the coolness for a while and eat some mall food. Then we need to brave the heat and the crowded buses and go home. The bus fare is 2,600 COP (which is 90 cents Canadian ) for a regular bus. Occasionally there are air conditioned buses and the fare is 2,700 COP (93.5 cents Canadian). We hope for an air conditioned ride and figure that we can spend an extra 7 cents for the both of us but we are not in luck. The trip home is hot, but fun. There is lots to see and experience.
Once home I immediately get my bathing suit on and head down to the pool. Within a few minutes even Rudy has joined me so that is an indication of how much he needed to cool down.
The evening is spent doing what each of us likes to do best: Rudy watching the Jets game and me reading my new book. Both the new book and the Jets game are real nail biters so it turns out to be a really satisfying evening.
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.)
Manitoba nuts! I didn’t know it gave such!
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.
It’s the weekend and the flavour of things around here have changed. Rudy and I noticed it last night when we went out for an evening walk. The malacon was hopping and all the thousands (and this is hardly an exaggeration) of souvenir and trinket shops were open. It seems hardly possible that a person could make a living owning one of these shops. All the merchandise is exactly the same and who really wants this stuff. But I think I underestimate the desire for the average Colombian beachgoer for this type of memorabilia.
This morning when I went for a beach walk I was surprised to see who the beach goers were. Basically they are all Colombian. At least that is how it appeared to me although I did not interview even one of the hundreds I saw. Basically they were families. Whole families walked down the sidewalks toward the beach. Old grandmas and grandpas held the arms of the younger generation, some of them barely able to walk. It was delightful to see the elderly being led into the ocean and steadied in the waves by their people. Families built sandcastles. One young girl I passed had created an elaborate castle in which she had placed her barbie and her barbie’s boat. Bathing costumes were varied. Body shapes were diverse. Everyone was in for the fun and it appeared to me that these Colombians really embraced a day at the beach.
Business was also brisk. Vendors with fleets of huge blow up unicorns, mattresses, kayaks, and ancient paddle boats stood in the shallows, their merchandise on leashes like dogs on a walk. Food vendors and vendors selling plastic pail and blow up life jackets and floaties walked the strip. And yes, the Colombians were buying. I walked to the end of the beach strip and then it was getting hot so I returned home to make breakfast and then go for a dip in the pool.
The pool is my new favourite place and even though it is busy on the weekend it still is worth going for a swim. The water is exactly the right temperature and it is glorious to immerse oneself.
Rudy went down to the beach in the evening to take some sunset pictures. The beach was still full with beach goers.
True to Central and South American culture, things were hopping last night, even in our own patio gardens. The music was loud, the laughter was exuberant, and it all carried on long past midnight. Lucky for us, Rudy and I both are not bothered by noise and we fell asleep to the sound of beats in the courtyard.
Woke up this morning in our new place at Rodadero and I feel rejuvenated and ready to adjust my schedule. In Minca, because we had a shared space, I never really felt like I could set up my art stuff. So, although I did some sketching (pencil drawings) when I was out wandering, I never got to take those sketches and explore what I saw with paint and pencil crayons, markers. Now that we have a whole apartment to ourselves I have set up an art station on the dining room table. Rudy is beginning to expect that I will take over a section of each place that we rent and seems to be okay with it. And really, in this place, there is plenty of room for both of us to spread out.
One thing that I have not done for a week is cook anything in our place. Well today, that all changed. After going out to forage every time we wanted a bite to eat it was pure pleasure to scramble up some eggs with cheese, toast some bread and pour some juice. This is only a small pleasure and I really never think of it at home but when I have not had the opportunity to cook and suddenly I can do something as simple as scramble eggs I am over the moon.
After breakfast I spread out my art supplies and checked with my art instructor, Debbie. Debbie has no idea who I am but she always has some insights for me on Utube or bits of information about what she is painting and what techniques she is using. I hadn’t tuned in to anything of hers for a whole week and my drawings were getting tight and fussy. Now, with new resolve I worked on finishing something I had started. It is a study of leaves and rocks in a stream below the waterfall in Minca. I was kind of happy with the feel I got with the flow of water. It still seems tight but I like the movement.
Photo
Watercolour and Pencil Crayon
I checked out the ocean this afternoon and it is very nice but oh so hot. I waded in the water but that was all. Instead I went back to our place and went to the pool. It is massive and I can swim lengths. I was the only one there for quite a while. The water is so warm and it is so clean. I wished I had someone to swim with. I know that my kids would probably jump at the chance. And there is even a shallow kids area and a waterslide for older kids.
I am looking forward to more of the same activities tomorrow.
