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Hi to all,
Hope that everyone is in the pink as usual. We, and particularly Jean, have not been so much in the pink. She has had a persistent problem with stomach wind and we finally persuaded Dr. Mauricio that she should have a definitive test for H-Pylori bacterial infection. The only way to do a serious test was to have an endoscopy which duly happened at the Clinica Las Vegas. The test itself was performed under a mild anaesthetic and was no problem but the stomach scans revealed a severe H-Pylori infection. This is a bacterial infection that something like 80% of populations have, but usually there are no symptoms so people never even know they have it. If left untreated in severe cases like Jean's, it can ultimately lead to stomach cancer and/or ulcers. Thank goodness nothing like those latter conditions was detected. So, kicking and screaming she was persuaded that a course of serious antibiotics was the only effective way to deal with it - however, she was resigned to that anyway! We're happy to say that she is very much better now, having finished the antibiotic course. However, all the internet research indicates that antibiotics are not the complete answer. They provide a springboard to recovery, but they need to be followed up by beneficial diet and an array of natural health treatments including water kaffir from a culture obtained from our friend, Monica, no dairy, kombucha, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil and Slippery Elm. Jean is a very assiduous researcher on all things to do with natural health and we have been buying items from the US via a shipping company in Miami (Caribbean Shipper) which organises on-shipping to Colombia. Then of course it was strongly suspected that Jim may also have it, but there were no symptoms. In his case however it was not necessary for an Endoscopy thank goodness - just a breath test which gave a negative reading.
Apart from that the knees play up at times but we are still mobile, which is the main thing. Even going down stairs is usually fairly pain free. We buy collagen from the farmers' market which is so cheap, so whether that's helping - who knows? At least it can't do any harm. In addition the new pool heater keeps the water temperature at a very comfortable 28 degrees C so there has been much swimming exercise. Jim walks in chest deep water for 180 metres and then swims the same distance. We'll miss the swimming while in NZ.
We made a decision to travel to NZ in mid March for 2 months for all the usual reasons and to finally deal with our last possessions in storage on our friends' Whangarei property. They are going to a wedding down south soon after we arrive on March 15th. so we will be babysitting their property (incl. 2 dogs and a cat) while we finally sort through everything. It will be a matter of deciding which items we will ship to Colombia.
Jean's nephew, Vinay, finally left in mid January after 3 weeks and went down to a resort on Colombia's Pacific coast - Nuqui. Don't know what his plans are after that.
We did have a quiet but pleasant Christmas with Vinay and our neighbour, Janet and her daughter, Erica who is about to start her legal internship prior to becoming a fully fledged Colombian lawyer. However, Jean could hardly eat anything due to the then suspected H-Pylori in spite of cooking a delicious meal for the rest of us. This included a magnificent Pavlova. It turned out to be quite an exercise because we spent at least an hour in a local supermarket trying to get the correct ingredients - mainly the correct sugar. They didn't actually have everything we needed so we had to make do to some extent and what with translating everything on the phone, we were inclined to flag the whole deal. However, we persevered and the result produced universal acclaim!
Then on top of the health issues of course there was the December financial markets meltdown which we are fully exposed to, apart from the apartment. Every day we watched the market declining and as we were invested through a UK based insurance company which in turn invests in various well-known funds, it was not a case of just picking up the phone and saying SELL!! In the meantime we had got rid of some Sterling funds that we had due mainly to concerns over Brexit, so that was something. Since then markets picked up to roughly where they were pre sell-off so we have issued instructions to sell those too. Anything British grinds along exceedingly slowly which is so frustrating - no wonder Brexit is such a shambles. Now of course we have to agonise over where we might re-invest. We were going to bring some funds to Colombia but their tax regulations took a serious turn for the worse on Jan. 1st., so that's out of contention.
One good thing which we have alluded to before - the cost of living in Colombia is so reasonable - we have fixed costs of around NZD600 per month and that includes health insurance for both of us, apartment insurance, cable TV, internet (20 mbps), landline, Body Corporate fees, electricity, gas and water, and property rates. Add to that cheap food in supermarkets and eating out and just about everything in between except clothes which are roughly equivalent to mid range clothing in NZ - as far as we recall from 2 years ago!
And finally we have the usual Trump comments. Last night we watched the State of the Union speech on Fox News and it was a triumph - despite whatever Granny Herald, being such a disciple of the Washington Post, might have waffled on about. Trump listed all the achievements of his first 2 years and called the Democrats out over many topics, including abortion. The most horrifying news we have seen recently concerns the fact that New York and now Virginia have voted to legalise infanticide. The Governor of Virginia is actually a paedeatric neurologist, so it is doubly horrifying. On top of racist claims against him, there are strident calls for his resignation by members of his own party, who one suspects are more concerned about the negative effects on their own re-election prospects than any real concern for murdered children. Then there is the deputy governor who is facing accusations of sexual harassment. How the tables have turned and what hypocrisy surrounds this vexed subject. Nice to see the socialist Democrat hypocrites getting theirs in spades!
Trump has asked for Congress to pass legislation banning abortion over a certain foetal age - not sure just what that is. It remains to be seen whether Congress will pass such life-saving and humane legislation, or will they simply allow their hate for Trump to override humanity - just as they are doing with the southern border. Trump WILL get his wall built, and once again the Democrat opposition will throw into sharp relief their hypocrisy and lack of concern for protecting their country and its citizens. Just in the last week or so there was a seizure of a large shipment of Fentanyl (origin China) - enough to kill 50 million Americans. Then there are the sex and child smugglers, gangs, etc. The Democrats are prepared to sacrifice the interests of America for their own nefarious political ambitions.
Well, sorry for the politics, but the hypocritical antics of the Trump haters should deeply concern us all.
Looking forward to seeing some of you in NZ very soon now.
Cheers and lotsaluv from us in Medellin...........
Jim and Jean
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