floundersgreatadventure

It seem every time I go on line and look at the news somebody has gone into an office, school, market or mall and started shooting. What the hell is going on in the world? You know just because you have a gun doesn’t mean you have to kill things with it. I’m having a hard time trying figure out why I know people say too much violence on TV, bad parenting, mental disease but I’m leaning towards there are people who are just born bad that and far too many guns out there. If we’re going to have crazies running around let’s try and make sure they can’t get their hands on guns and I don’t care what the NRA says we need to make it harder for them to get guns. I mean when was the last time you read about someone going into a mall and killing 15 people with a bat, knife, or sword. That’s too much work for most nut cases they’d rather go down to the local sporting goods store and pick up a fully automatic AK47. Whew I’m really pissed off and depressed now so I’m going this is Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia. OH BY THE WAY IT’S JEFF’S BIRTHDAY TODAY

It was announced back in Oct of 2013 that Starbucks the coffee café from America was going to open 50 stores in Colombia WHOPPEE. Somehow I can’t see even the most sophisticated of Colombians going up and ordering a Caramel Macchiato from 8800 Pesos to 10400 Pesos. I know the economy is improving but this isn’t the United States where spending stupid money on exotic coffees is considered being cool. They sell Colombian Coffee in America for around 25,000 pesos for an 8 ounce bag. Most people down here find 8000 pesos expensive. But if they succeed in coming down here the availability of good coffee in the supermarket for the average Colombian will decrees and they will have to drink substandard coffee or change their habits. I’m an American and have lived here for two years and have subtle price increases and lower quality fresh food recently. Some can be blamed on the weather which has been very wet but I think most can be blamed on big American companies coming down here and buying up the good stuff and sending out of the country. Most of Colombia would be considered below middle class but the desire to be like America causes people to use the easy availability of credit to try and live that style. They should take a real close look at my country and see how many poor people there really are. Well that’s enough complaining from Jeff for today this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin Colombia.

It’s Monday and I’ve always wondered why people get so upset with Mondays. I know it means going back to work or school but it also means seeing friends you might not have connected with on the weekend. It also means you get to share what ever adventure you had on the two days you weren’t there. I’ve read where Monday morning can be so traumatic as to cause nervous break downs and heart attacks as well as a whole bunch of psychosomatic diseases in humans. To us animals Monday just means another day where we get to relax and don’t have to entertain you humans. I think if you hate going back to work so much you need to change your job or retire like Jeff. It’s just not worth it to put yourself through hell if you not going to be happy. So maybe a few dollars less but piece of mind is a good thing. But then again I’m just a cat and what do I know, this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin.

You all have seen the report of the former Miss Venezuela being gunned down in her native country along with her husband, but aren’t you the least little outraged that when someone in the entertainment or political world is killed the authorities go right out and usually catch the killer. But the poor person whose child was just gunned down in the street by a drive by gone wrong is largely but on the back page. We have talked about the disparity of rich and poor never is it as obvious as when people of different class are killed and how the authorities react. The killing of Monica and her husband has even gotten the president of Venezuela involved. This from the leader of a country that has one of the highest murder rates in the country. What happened mister President this wasn’t some person who was just taking up space; this was someone the world knew. So I guess now crime is important, like Brazil trying to clean up the largest slums in South America so they can show the world how great they are during the World Cup and Olympics. No crime should be investigated based on the victim’s social status and I don’t mean to make you think this is strictly a Latin American problem this is a worldwide problem that need s to be addressed. But as even a cat like me knows that ain’t going to happen anytime soon. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin

So we talked a little about Medellin yesterday today we’ll talk about some of the more humorous trends in Colombia such as what’s depicted in the picture above. If a young girl is wearing shorts and her ass cheeks aren’t hanging out the shorts are too long or the girl is applying for entrance into a convent. If the girl bends over and you don’t see a thong but conventional underwear the same applies. No matter how poor that kid is he has two things a cell phone and a great pair of sneakers, this is also true in the US. It he young man isn’t wearing jeans and a T- shirt he’s probably getting married that day. No matter how poor a female is they will have more shoes then they need and will have no trouble getting breast implants. These are just a few of the happy trends in Colombia my favorite is the shorts of course, but what do I know I’m a cat this is Flounder saying CIAO from Medellin, Colombia.

The above picture is typical of the view from the train from Bello to Medellin while traveling along the river. Yes that’s a homeless man living I a storm drain the only thing you don’t see is the tons of garbage along the river. Yesterday we went into Medellin to see a live nativity pictures are on Facebook, but the trip was sad because of what you see on the way. on another time we had been Christmas shopping with Ruby’s son John in Medellin and as we were driving back I saw all the homeless people living on the median. I said to John alcoholism is a very destructive disease; he said they weren’t drunks they were mostly addicts. When he said that I looked again and was amazed if these hundreds of people are all addicts then the drug problem in Medellin is beyond epidemic it’s something even more horrible. It means that drugs are easier to get then candy and are probably cheaper I have no idea what they could do to stem the tide of this disaster or if the people in charge really want to. After all it keeps all these homeless people mellow so they aren’t going around and asking for aid or housing. Two things about Medellin it’s a beautiful city but it has problems that symptomatic of the whole country one is extreme difference in wealth from the wealthy to the desperate. If they were to start building rehabilitation centers for all these addicts they would have to build high rises there that many of them. I think the government should start treating them and the other homeless first not by putting them in jail but by putting t them to work cleaning up the river bank and the neighborhoods surrounding it. I don’t mean gentrification where the homeless are just moved someplace else and the rich move in I mean help them make the areas better and help them in improving their own lives. I wish I could get some pictures to show you but its really difficult and not that safe, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. This is Flounder saying CIAO from Colombia.

Lets talk about optimism for the new year do you people feel optimistic that the new year will bring positive changes or do you think that 2014 will be the same or worse than 2013. Well I for one look forward to the New Year with a positive attitude but that could always change by tomorrow. I don’t think that we can afford for it to worse that 2013 and still survive at least in the US. Down here one of the reason this country is considered to be one of the happier ones is that they don’t have great expectations so if they don’t get robbed or shot and they have a job and they can feed and house themselves maybe buy a big screen TV things will be fine. America on the other hand seems to be more pessimistic now than in the past. Even kids getting out of college aren’t expecting as much as they did when I was a kitten. Jeff thinks part of the problem is America has lost its identity when people want a mayor or governor they no longer have their traditional candidates. I mean to say that in some cases they have to look at people of different cultures and ethnicity so know they start to think in less positive ways. Then when they look at their traditional politicians that they’ve elected year after year they see useless lazy greedy people and they can’t believe they have been deceived. I think human nature will prevail and eventually Americans and others will become optimistic once again. This is Flounder looking fondly into the future saying CAIO from Medellin Colombia.

Well I see you all made it to 2014 the last party just ended a few minutes ago at least around here. So what did you all do? Jeff went to his brother in law Nacho’s house to be with Ruby’s family which included EL JEFE and Camilo as well as Hader and Nelida. It was a good time but you can tell the family is beginning to slow down a little. I of course had to stay home and listen to the party across the street which sounded like it was in the room with me. Do they make Excedrin for cats cause I got a butte of a headache? Well I need to take a nap so this is going to be a short one glad everybody made it thru see you tomorrow this is Founder saying CIAO from Medellin.Wait a minute that son of bitch just turned the music back up OHHHHHHHH my aching head.