Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Saturday July 7, 2018 KIA Picanto GT

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Saturday July 7, 2018

We had no plans today except to go test drive a new car and Cristina decided to tag along. First I felt an obligation to go talk to the guy at the Chevy dealer because he had a link to what I thought was a reasonably priced used Chevy but he kept coming back with an old Renault which wasn't in town for viewing so we looked at new cars. There was a interesting pair of cars, wrong colours, and missing some items, but worst of all is they offer only a 2-year warranty...!! It would not leave my head that KIA was offering a 7-year warranty for an equivalent car at a better overall price, because it included many of the comfort features we came to enjoy. A center armrest may not seem like a big deal at first but it was among the things that made me move up to the KIA Picanto GT series for 2019. It is loaded, minus automatic, sunroof, and cruise control. We test-drove the KIA Picanto and it was predictably soft with the 1250cc engine but I am not the speed-demon I once was. I sacrificed the automatic in the interest of about 18% better fuel economy, especially since we will be residing in the country. It does have little creature comforts like the center armrest, electric fold-in mirrors (handy for parking in the new garage), back-up camera, fog lamps, signal/clearance lamps in the mirrors, 15" tires (for the urban pothholes), fold-down rear seats, alloy wheels, and much more.

The price even includes the taxes, licence plates and all.

I had not slept well so I probably shouldn't have bit the bullet today like I did, but every niggly detail kept pushing me to choose this model. They had my color white with red trim right on the floor so we decided to cement the deal so we could get it sooner.

Only when we were in the process of the paperwork did they come back to say that that particular car had already been sold but they had a grey one available. Thanks but no thanks. I will wait 2 weeks if necessary to get my white one... So Monday we have another stop at the Registro to give my fingerprints so that I can properly purchase the car in my name. Cristina refuses to drive, too nervous at the wheel, car or bike.

The fun began again when I went to leave a deposit using my USD Visa card, and it was refused (a third time in Colombia). Then my Debit card was refused too... Somehow, my Canadian dollar Visa was acceptable, thank God.

When I got home I found a phone message from CIBC Visa Fraud Services saying they refused my card for suspicious activity. I wrote again to CIBC online services for the umpteenth time telling them to stop this BS. Then I got on the phone to Visa Services and tore a very loud, wide strip off the Toronto idiots for embarrassing me yet again. I told them to either remove the blocks on my card forever or I will be changing banks, short and simple. If they can't get their bloody act together and read the notes on my account then they will lose my business after about 40+ years. Uuuugggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody please kick Murphy out of Colombia.

Oh, and still no word on my home sale papers from Ecuador.... No word from the brother-in-law's lawyer either about helping with the Visa application. No wonder I am completely grey.

The World Cup again went against my predictions today so I guess I was just a flash in the pan....

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

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If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

These photos are borrowed off the internet, much better than my phone attempts.