Today my last two meetings are scheduled. My first meeting is not until 1PM, so P. and I had agreed to meet that morning for a workout in the hotel gym. I called down to the front desk to see if my other suitcase had showed. Nada. Which meant that I still had no shorts or tennis shoes. However, I decided I could still get an upper body workout in my jeans and tank t-shirt. I had been waiting before buying more stuff (tennis shoes and workout clothes) in hopes that my other suitcase would show but with this phone call I’d pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it was gone for good. Glad I bought that insurance. P. shows up around 9:00, changes clothes and we head down to the hotel gym. When we get to the front desk in the gym, I find out that use of the gym is not included with apartments in the Plenitude. However, for 12.000 pesos (a little over $5.00) apiece we can use it to our heart’s desire. Kind of steep, I thought, but P. really wanted to workout so I choked back the tears and paid up. As I said earlier, the gym is pretty nice. It’s equipped with sauna, whirlpool (I think) and big aerobics area for classes (which they offer every day) and plenty of weights and machines. We get in a good workout, go back to the room and shower and change, and in the remaining hour or so before she has to leave, we go down to the computers to check email (P. doesn’t have a computer at home so she really appreciated the opportunity to do some email w/o having to pay), then walk out to the courtyard to take so photos and talk for a while. It’s a beautiful day and the courtyard of la Fontana is absolutely gorgeous. It houses a clock tower, a small chapel, and of course, a fountain. They are having some sort of service in the chapel and I notice that many that day are walking around with a crucifix drawn on their forehead with some sort of paint. Almost looks like a tattoo. I ask about it and find out that there is some sort of Catholic observance today. Anyway, we take some shots, and grab a table out in the courtyard and enjoy the weather and conversation. At around noon, I walk her to the lobby and get her a taxi, however, we will be meeting again that evening.
After P. leaves, I head back to the room for a bit. I have around 30 or 40 minutes before I have to walk over to Odee to meet my afternoon date. So far, my days have been pretty full and I need a little time to myself to think about all that’s happened and to decompress so I’m thankful for this brief reprieve. I chill for a bit then walk on over to Odee to meet my date for lunch. L.T. and I had shared a few emails and at first I thought she wasn’t really that interested. Eventually, though, I came to see that she was sincere and agreed to meet. At 35 y/o, she was a bit older than what I preferred and I really didn’t think much would come of our meeting. When I arrived at the office, I walked past a very classy looking and gorgeous Colombiana talking on a cell phone down in the lobby. I walked upstairs to the office and found the only one there again was Angela. We jaw-jacked for a couple of minutes then in walks the same woman. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that the woman I’d admired a few minutes earlier was L.T.! She looked only a little like her photo but DAAAANG!!! She is a very nice looking woman. Sleek and slim, very well dressed. Turns out she speaks more English than she let on in our emails. She’s has a degree in finance, I think, and currently works in management and sales for a small company. She only has a time for lunch this afternoon so we agree to eat at the Restaurante Los Arcos in the hotel. We have a very nice conversation during lunch and I’m really enjoying this. She is very mature, asks many questions and is clearly a good conversationalist. She’s traveled a bit as well, mainly to Italy and speaks Italian in addition to a little English. We had a great lunch but she has to leave after a couple of hours. Once again I am wishing I had more time here. This one was a surprise and I would very much like to spend a little more time together. We agree that if time allows before I leave for Cartagena, definitely we will meet again. I walk her over to Unicentro where she has parked and we start to say our goodbyes. Then we both note that today there are WAY more soldiers and police around the mall, including the bomb squad. Not a good sign, we say and get the heck out as quickly as possible. She gives me a ride back over to the hotel and heads back to work.
Now I am starting to become a little confused and overwhelmed with all this. Good thing I have 2 or 3 hours before P. arrives again to try to sort some of this out. As I think I am beginning to have a sense that P. and I aren’t really connecting on some level and that in reality the age difference between us is probably too great. Also, the communication between us has been a little difficult for some reason. She speaks a little English and can understand a lot of what I say but for some reason there is always some point in our conversations or time together when I would like get some point across and we just can’t seem to communicate. It is becoming very frustrating. L.T. speaks only a little English as well and L.M. spoke none, but I never seemed to have a problem communicating an idea or getting some point across. I blame myself primarily for this, my Spanish is just not good enough at this point in time. Anyway, because of these two things, I decide that tonight I would talk to P. about it and would tell her that my sense was that we probably weren’t a match in the long run. My hope was that this would free up Wednesday to meet with L.T. and L.M. I decided not to meet up with O.L. to do the photo thing in El Centro. If this panned out, I would only have the one day free and I wanted to spend it with potential relationships, not someone who’d only ever be a friend. “Maybe on a future trip or when I return from Cartagena,” I thought. So that was my plan. I’d talk to P. tonight, set up dates with L.T. and L.M. for Wednesday, spend the entire day on Thursday with T.I., then bust up to Cartagena on Friday for a weekend with the last lady I had arranged to meet while in Colombia.
Well, P. and I met up later that day and went to a place around Parque 93 for dinner, el Restaurante San Angel . Again, very nice with an almost southwestern ambience. While we were eating, I noticed that two of the tables adjacent to us were filled with Americans. Looked like military, but I don’t know for sure. Well, up until earlier in the day, I’d made it fine here drinking and eating about anything I wished. Today, it caught up with me. I typically eat very healthy at home and I think my system was reacting to the different ingredients in the foods rather than any biological source. My Honduran friend here in Atlanta tells me he experiences the same thing when he returns home. It’s not incapacitating, just a little irritating. I manage to hang tough and we walk around Parque 93 after dinner and window shop a couple of really high dollar shops. Then we grab a taxi to an area close to the Atlantis to try to find some dancing. We find a club, (I don’t recall the name or address and it’s not important. It wasn’t all that hot.) and dance for little bit. P. shows me a little salsa and I do my best. She is very good at it. While we are there they play a Carlos Vive song and a song by Bacilos. I absolutely fall in love with both of these and tell P. that before I leave I want the CD’s. All this time I’m trying to find an opportune time to talk with her about the things I mentioned but it doesn’t seem to come. My digestive system is in revolt and to be honest I just didn’t feel much like dealing with might turn in to a protracted and emotional conversation. By the way, she still was not aware I was going to Cartagena and was assuming that now that my meeting slate was pretty much clear, it was me and her from here on out. Not a good thing but I just wasn’t up to dealing with it on this night. After what seemed a pretty short stay in the club, I told her I wasn’t feeling well (I wasn’t) and that I’d like to go back to the hotel and turn in early. She agreed and I had to put off speaking with her about all this until the morning. I figured I’d call her before she came to the hotel but that I would let her decide if she still wanted to spend some time together that day. My hope was that I’d have time to meet up at least with L.T. again. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Next: Day Five, Wednesday March 5th
