Time flies, without explanation

Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007 | 7:43 a.m.

In the spirit of intrepid investigative reporting, the Sun purchased two $5 cards to call Colombia, home to family and friends.

One, "Gol Latino," promised 150 minutes. "Ay Caramba," graced with a caricature of a Hispanic man in some sort of paroxysm, surrounded by exploding bright colors, had a special offer: 241 minutes for $5!

I suppose that explains the explosion.

However, the girl behind the counter blithely offered that many posters "say one thing, but then it's different."

Later that evening, I heard my wife saying in Spanish that something didn't make any sense, that the call was cut off too soon.

She had used "Gol Latino" to call our aunts in Cali , Colombia. The first call didn't go through, but a recording said she had two hours, 25 minutes and 30 seconds available.

The same thing happened again, but the voice this time said three hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.

Finally, she got through, at 7:02. The call went dead, before she could sign off to Aunt Elida, at 8:31. That's 89 minutes - not 150.

She called the 1-800 number on the back, but was told something about the different ways 150 doesn't really mean 150.

The next day, she tried using the bonanza card, the "Ay Caramba"!

She couldn't get through.

She wound up leaving the card with a friend, also from Colombia.

He made a series of calls of less than 10 minutes each. He calculated how much money was deducted after each call, showing that the rates varied according to whether he called a cell phone or a land line. This detail is not explained on the card.

After 14 calls, he had 42 cents left on the card. He had spoken a total of 44 minutes.

Ay caramba!