Yesterday Colombia lost to Peru in a World Cup qualifier that was played here in Barranquilla. They had way more chances but couldn't convert, and the Peru goalie stole them of a couple (one a great play with his foot that was probably mostly luck), then they gave up a soft goal in the waning moments. Colombia hasn't fared too well and I fear they won't qualify. That would be a shame because I was here during the last two World Cups and it was great. In 2018, I was in Cartagena watching them play against England where Colombia scored in the last minute on a corner kick to send the game into extra time. In 2014, I was in Bogota when they played against Brazil in the semi-final. Exciting times. I hate soccer but I pull for Colombia and like to see the excitement and joy of the people.
Colombia vs. Peru highlights
You can kind of see the
kick save here at 6:00. Not sure why it doesn't show up in the other highlights because it was huge.
Yesterday I checked in with Maria in the afternoon. She told me that she was watching the game with some friends but we would get together afterwards. About 7pm she wrote and told me she was finishing her beers, then around 8pm she said she was going to head for my apartment. That seemed a little strange for her but it turned out that she and her friends had gone to a bar close by to watch the game, and they had a car and dropped her off. I went down to get her and she was looking very cute in a little black tube type top and jean skirt. She said she had to go to the bathroom badly so we started up but the
portero said she had to register first. She was dying to go to the bathroom but we got her registered and hopped on the elevator. She seemed pretty well lit to me and said that she'd had about 8 beers. We got upstairs in time with no issues, then went walking over to Buenavista to find some food. She told me that she had class at 7am the next day (today), so I figured she was telling me right off the bat no late night. I asked her several times if she was ok because she was not quite stumbling, but having some balance issues walking. The whole time from when we got on the elevator, were in the apartment a bit, and walking, she was leaning on me, putting her arm on me, putting herself in position for me to put my arms around her, etc. When I saw her a couple of times back in Sep. she was very affectionate in this way as well, it was just there was no payoff at the end lol, barely even a kiss.
We got over to the mall and the food court was packed with people who had been out watching the game. A sea of yellow jerseys. We found a restaurant to sit in and ordered food. She literally ate her meal with her left arm around my shoulders, her left leg on my right knee, and her head laying on my right shoulder, just using her right hand for the food. At times when she put the food down she would put her other arm around me as well. We had some Cokes and after a while she seemed more tired than drunk. We finished up and walked back to the apartment, she went to the bathroom again and I turned on some music. She came out and got on the couch next to me, laid down, and put her head in my lap. We listened to music for a while, she was reaching up playing with my hair, I was kissing her shoulders, rubbing her leg, etc. After a little while she said she had to go and pulled out her phone to call a car. It needed charged so we stood up to plug it in and while standing she started dancing with me to the music that was on, doing all that sexy latina stuff. After a few minutes of that she checked her phone, hit the app for the car, and within 2 minutes there was a car outside waiting. When I saw her in Sep. she had insisted both times we went out for me to ride a car to her place to pick her up, and this time she wanted me to accompany her home. As an engineer I find that annoying, as I'm paying double for no reason, but it's a $5 round trip so whatever the lady wants I guess. We went out into the hall and before she put her mask on I went in for a kiss. She reciprocated there and in the elevator, but no tongue
. On the way home she said something about being able to see me again today but we didn't make any official plan. I'm not sure what to make of her, exactly. This was the third time we've been out, she's always acted interested in seeing me and been super affectionate each time. But little in the way of kissing and certainly nothing more. Going slow? Maybe inexperienced (though that's hard to believe from just about any girl these days, much less a colombiana)? I'm starting to question how much fun she would be
, but she seems like a good person and I have fun hanging out with her so I shouldn't think like that
.
Got back to my building and asked the
portero about registering her, because it seems like sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. He said that they're supposed to register everyone and that the administration is always looking on the cameras, so he tries to register everyone, especially at night. We talked for a while then I got in the elevator to go up. I was almost to my floor (in between my floor and one floor down) and I heard a boom, the elevator shuddered slightly, and the lights went out
. I was on the elevator, between floors, in the dark. I said you've got to be kidding me, then thought if only I'd stopped talking one minute sooner
. I remembered the last time I was here one of the
porteros had told me that there was a backup generator in the building that was used to power the lobby, the lights at each landing, and the elevators in case of a power outage. I tried to wait calmly, hoping that the guy downstairs would remember that I had just gotten on the elevator in case I ended up stuck. After about a minute, the lights in the elevator came on and it slowly started inching downward in small start/stop movements. When it got to the floor below mine, the doors slooooowly started opening and as soon as I could squeeze through I got out of there and headed up the steps to my apartment. The power was out in there but it came on about 20-30 minutes later. 30 minutes after that it went out again, and it was about 12:30 by then and I decided to just go to sleep and hope it was fixed by the time I got up. Actually, from my balcony I could see some guys working on the lines across the street. I'm up and writing this update now, so all good!