It is going to be another low key day. No aggressive site seeing. No running around looking for beer places. Probably no uber! I have a few things on my list of things to get. First and foremost, either a thin paperclip or an actual sim card ejector thingie. There is an Apple store here (several I think) so if all else fails, I can get something there. I hope to get a paper clip from the hotel office. Then off to stationery or office supply stores if need be. Then the Apple Store. Though I might just go to the apple store anyway. I have always liked them…

Also on the shopping list, sundries for travel. I have some leftovers that will go with me on the planes so that I can eat reasonably at the airports without having to spend money on airport food and snacks. A small bottle of water that I will be able to refill. Some nuts or something similar. And maybe something else if it strikes my fancy. If nothing else I will have those to tide me over.

After that, lunch here at the apartment. Later, pool at a pool hall I saw on my wanders. And dinner tonight at the Wallace. Where they have a whopping twelve taps! 12!! Woo hoo! Not 88 like at a Saucer, but still, a decent amount. Sadly people in this part of the world seem to like Gose quite a bit. Not a taste that resonates with me. And also still am not a fan of sours. They just taste spoiled to me. Different strokes don’t you know.

Later still, back at the apartment – a shower, packing and a good night’s rest. I planned my travel badly for tomorrow and Wednesday. Next time, I am booking my tickets separately (not through Expedia) since I will not be booking long hotel stays where I am going. Happier flight times and fewer legs. And I am thinking, B being willing, to drive to B’s place in Kingston, leave my car there and then take public transport to the airport from there when I head to Europe in the fall. Maybe an Uber to the airport if the price is right. It would save me a lot of money. And the car would be in a safe place. I wonder if she still has two cars…

That’s the plan. So, when the rain it stops a-raining…

Well, that all took less time to do than it took to type. Yessica, after me changing saying “clip” to the spanish “clip(cleep)” said she had one! At first she game me an actual tool for sim card changing. I told her I wanted it forever and so she took it back. And then gave me a regular paper clip that she graciously said I could keep. Which meant I didn’t have to/get to go in search of a stationery store.

Off to the Mac Store. Too teeny to even go in. Since I wasn’t planning on buying anything, I didn’t want to go in and waste some salesperson’s time.

Back to the grocery store. I bought nuts ($5 instead of $15 at the airport) some pork rinds and a bottle of water. And without thinking I refused a plastic bag. When I could have actually used one for tomorrow’s trip. The food should live in a plastic bag, I think. Silly Augustus.

At the room, I heated up some leftovers – they don’t really have anything to use to heat things up in the oven, so I used a plate. And used some socks as hot pads. And I was lamenting that they had no forks (for which I know the Spanish word) when I looked in the dish drying rack and there they were! Woo hoo!

Now, not much happens until the pool place opens at 3.

Well, of course I find my places on the day before I leave. In retrospect, going to the pool place would have been a good idea yesterday. I guess I was just in too much of a funk to even think of it. Oh well. So, I went and they had a good number of full sized tables – 4.5’x9′. Most blue, one red. For some reason they insisted on racking the balls on the head string instead of at the foot of the table. And I couldn’t convince them otherwise. Heck, I may not be a good pool player, but I do know a good bit about pool. Oh well. It was cheap during the day – $4 an hour. I played by myself for about half an hour and then a kid – could have been 16, could have been 24, came and we played a few games of eight ball. The pockets were intensely tight! Two balls needed to be squeezed into the corner pockets! Wow! But I did ok. He was not very good, luckily. Made me feel much better about my pool game. Of course I fell in love with Juliana the manager from Medellin. Sigh.

The other place I went was The Wallace. A teeny place that had a lot of beer! Lots and lots, actually. Not as many as a Saucer of course. But they had twelve beers on tap. And probably another fifty in bottles. My server, Michaell (with two LLs for some unknown reason (even to him)) wanted to practice his English, so I humored him. I had three half pints of three pretty good beers. And then a couple of chicken curry sliders! Despite not having a staff that appealed, nor a pool table, I liked the place a lot and could see it as being one of the places I frequented if I were to somehow mysteriously end up living in Panama City Panama. Animal Brew, Frank’s Place, Central, Tres Gatos, Beer and Pool and The Wallace. My places here.

The Courtyard at my hotel

I am home now. Still so happy I moved from the other place and ended up here in a place that was almost paradise.

I have done a bunch of packing. All that’s left is to pack the kids and the computer backpack and I will be done. Later a shower. And then up early and to the airport. And the journey home.

hopefully the house will still be there. And before that, the car. With enough charge to get me to a super charger if there isn’t enough to get me home. I think, if everything goes smoothly (hahahaha) I will be in my own home by 5 pm on Wednesday afternoon. My next blog post, though, will be from the Medellin Airport as I wait an ungodly amount of time for my flight to the US.

So, how has the trip been for you? Good, I hope!