A Saturday afternoon in La Mesa
Saturday June 22,, 2024 -Anapoima, Colombia-
A day of hanging out here at home would’ve been nice but important business needed to be done; restocking the fridge! I mean the trees provide plenty of fruit for orange juice but, more is needed than that. Morning came and went, what has become a typical day with peanut. Lots a smiling in the morning then after breakfast, he starts to wind down for his “after breakfast nap”. Sweet schedule! We devised a plan that once he woke up, we’d jump into the car to go to town, saving his bottle until we were sitting at a table for lunch. Holding him over till then was his bottle of fresh squeezed mandarin juice which we recently discovered he loves! Our plan worked pretty good though we did not leave in the timely manner we planned.
Goofing off with peanut as he starts to drift off into his mid-morning -nap-gaze.
Then my children got a hold of my iPad and decided to bully their old man papi.
It was a good time during his nap. We even all did some reading. Good stuff.
A little family reading and quiet time.
On the way into town, on the side of the road, I saw a huge snake and pointed it out to Claudia, who then screamed. By huge, remember I’m a Minnesota boy, it was probably 5-6 feet long…and had its share of food in its life as it was a pretty chunky thing. To be honest, and don’t judge, my reaction was to try and run it over with the car. Just being honest! It was almost like instinct. Don’t worry, I didn’t get it. There were two bicycles about 100 feet behind us riding that direction. I only tried to save their lives! The kids didn’t get to see it. I yelled snake and Santi looked out his back window on the wrong side and Nani was playing with peanut in the car seat. Sorry, no pictures. It happened fast.
In town we went to a restaurant called “Fire Moon” that was pretty highly rated. It was ok. Not sure I’d go back because of all the different options. Our plan worked pretty good for peanut. Well behaved during lunch. Man, you’ve got to pay attention to those little hands! He has no interest in the things you bring to entertain him, he wants everything else. The things you bring? Well, he loves the “dump n chase” game. He dumps stuff on the floor and you chase it to pick it up. He’s a natural at that game.
After lunch, we had about 45-minutes to kill before mass. We went to a little grocery store across the street and personally, I was a bit disappointed. We had a list but this place had so little of what we needed. Don’t be offended for those who like it but me? I do NOT like going to Aldi at home. They never have everything you may need so you need to make another stop. It was just like that. So we got SOME of our stuff but another stop was going to be required. We went to mass at Santa Barbara. This was the main, “newer church “ that was built off of the older one that I shared pictures before.
“Newer “. Built in 1910.
Well, we didn’t exactly get to sit together again. Little peanut is so awesome but we need to get him “church broken”. Too much fussing so Clau stayed in the back with him then when time came to receive the Eucharist, we switched and I was in the back. He wasn’t a crabby peanut, just restless. I got hi, outside, threw him up in the air, looks him in the eye and said “ that’s it, now I’m going to bite you!” and procedded to bite and blow making noises on his belly. The screaming laughter was hilarious. Thank goodness I had stepped outside the church. Lots of giggling (and drooling). Fun times. I’ve come to realize that I am associated with goofball stuff and why he smiles. It’s what I do.
After mass, a quick stop for ice cream which I had built up in my mind how peanut would like it. It was if I fed him a worm! Scrunched up his face and spit it out. In fairness, I chose my ice cream poorly and didn’t like it myself. But, there is time to familiarize my son with the finer things in life which ice cream would be one of those things.
Note: we’re pretty sure he has never really had anything cold served to him before.
A previously not mentioned low tire was concerning my wife so we needed to check it out. She had mentioned it a few days earlier but I dismissed it as the car parked awkwardly making it look low. But when someone else noted it may be low, I was time to act or I wouldn’t hear the end. My initial thought was to just add air but my lovely bride wanted a real inspection at a tire place. I was less than thrilled with that idea thinking of what I would do at home; add air and monitor. There was nothing obvious wrong upon visual inspection but she insisted. We stopped by a shop across the street from the grocery store so she took my big one, Nani to get a head start on that. I had my lil men with me. Peanut fell asleep in the car so he was a non-factor. The mechanic:
Removed the tire from the car
Inspected the tire with soapy water and found bubbles coming from a tiny hole
Disassembled the when and tire
Identified hole from the inside of the tire.
Dug out of the hole a sheared screw that wasn’t visible on the outside.
Prepped and installed a patch, reassembled wheel and tire
Installed on my car
Serviced remaining tires
Any guesses what that cost me? Cost of living is so awesome down here! Side story, the day before we left on this trip, our schedule was packed. We were so busy trying to get out of town, I discovered a nail in the tire of my car home. The mighty CRV for the secon time in like 4 months picked up a nail. I dropped it off at the closest Midas to my home and the repaired the tire. Same thing, removed nail and installed a patch. That cost me, if I remember correctly, $58. Cost here?
10000 pesos ($2.50)
20000 pesos ($5)
40000 pesos ($10)
60000 pesos ($15)
80000 pesos ($20)
The correct answer is 20000 pesos. $5! Ugh! I’m never going to hear the end of this from my sweet bride!!! Verbally, I refuse to acknowledge her correct thoughts on the matter. Never! Kidding, good call amor!
WARNING! Near death story of the day!
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WARNING! Near death story of the day! 〰️
Grocery shopping behind us, we headed home. It was kind of late. We never intended on staying out that late with little dude, it just happened. Peanut down to bed and attempting to get the big ones down, Nani came running out of the room, “there is a huge spider in our room! Big and furry!” Having rescued my family from a deadly showdown with what I suspect was a tarantula one other time before, I sprung into action. Ok! In reality I slowly stood up to avoid getting a head rush or throwing my back out, sauntered outside to get broom and dust pan and headed to the room to evaluate the situation. No stranger with certain death, I cautiously entered the room. There he was! Oh yeah, it was big! The hair ( one only) on my back stood on end and I felt a lump in my throat as me and the spiders eyes met! It wasn’t as big as the tarantula we encountered a few years ago in Santa Rosa (which ended with no casualties but with me sweeping the cute fella onto a dust pain and taking him for a walk to a wooded area to be released back into the wild). Still, this beast was probably 4-inches in diameter sitting on the floor. It would have sat nicely in the palm of my hand if I were insane enough to try something like that. If I were to have hunted it, it would have been worthy of a mount over my fireplace but I digress. The difference between the tarantula and this beast was…this thing had wheels! It was quick with uncanny dexterity and it did NOT want to be taken alive! I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have taken a picture before the battle began. I moved into action. I proceeded to sweep it off the wall and it came charging after me! Ok, I may have not appeared very “manly” trying to evade this creature. Wearing flip flops and I’m convinced he was eyeballing my big toe like some luscious grape or something. I put on some great moves worthy of a dance competition to evade the Arachne-onslaught. I broke into some sort of combination of Russian style kick dancing, Irish river dance, and a ballerina from a scene from “The Nut Cracker”. My children having already deserted me in a time of need, left me for dead to be eaten by this alienesque creature, which I have now affectionately named Dwight. Alas, with devilish dexterity, Dwight darted past me and headed for a seemingly certain escape under the bed but was thwarted by the forward thinking broom toting flip-flop wearing dancing hero who placed a last line of defense in front of the “under bed” boundary prior to battle. Feeling certain pressure of the pursuit, the grotesquely intimidating nimble arachnid, Dwight, attempted to take refuge under one of my daughter’s old abused Adidas tennis shoes. This was a pivotal moment & critical error on his part in this battle. How could he have known that : A). He was too fat to fit in the area he wanted to hide. B). He could never have anticipated the noxious odor & toxic fumes that would overwhelm his senses. C). The disorientation he would experience by the proximity of the shoe entrance. One final note I believe is pertinent, I could swear I heard a tiny dry heave as he staggered out from under the shoe. Having closed the gap and taking full advantage of his disoriented condition, I swept him into my dust pan and hastily departed the bedroom He played dead, or at least he was on the verge of death from oxygen deprivation. Here he lay, victim to something my home has become all too familiar with; toxic Adidas. I respectfully carried this valiant warrior out of the house to an area of shelter, an of recovery. You fought with great nobility Dwight. I salute you!
The drama was over but not without a last minute search under the children’s beds for whatever evil may lurk. That night, Mariana would sleep on the top bunk with Santi. Big chicken!
Dwight. Near death but once out in fresh air, he ran for the hills!