Yes, I know I'm a gypsy. In the space of one week, I had THREE residences. Surely that's a record for even me. I was living in a hotel room, a new apartment, and a completely different apartment.
Yep, the cute little place I wrote about in the posts below continued to flood. It's the rainy season here, so this was something I was going to be looking at on a daily (nightly) basis. The roof leaked like a sieve. The effect was sort of like living under the canopy of a tropical rain forest.
And then there was the MIRACLE OF THE GAS LEAK. Read on: As I wrote in the post below, the gas man came and installed the gas tank. So far, so good. Warm showers. Great. He even showed my how to use the gas burner stovetop.
Midafternoon, I lay down to take a nap. I was really sleepy (wonder why?, hmmm...) I awoke to the sound of a torrential rainstorm, and water dripping from the ceiling onto my leg. Once I was awake, I noticed the powerful smell of GAS. Checking out the gas stove, I found that one of the on/off knobs was broken. You couldn't turn it completely off, the knob just spun around without a hard stop. I turned off the gas intake valve below the cabinet and opened all the doors and windows.
And that was about enough of that. I called the landlady (on my nifty new cellphone) and told her I wanted my money back. Thankfully, she didn't kick. Well, she said she could get the roof fixed in 3-4 days if I'd stay. "No, gracias." The last night there, I 'camped out' in another unfinished (dry) apartment in the building (with no water of working bathroom).
Happily, I was able to get into a different apartment the very next morning. It was the place I had looked at about a week ago. Still available. What luck, huh? It's more expensive--5,000 pesos vs. 3,500 pesos. But that's still only about $380 US/month or $13/night. That's a lot cheaper than staying in any hotel. I love having my own complete kitchen. It's got 2 bedrooms (only need one). There are 3 other apartments in this new buidling occupied by long-term American residents. And the landlady here lives in the front. She's like a mother hen taking care of her tenants....very solicitous that everything is A-OK.
I'm posting some photos of the place above. I'm really taken with the apartment. It feels more like a home. The last place felt like a hotel suite. This feels lived in.
Tonight, I'm off to the baseball stadium for another game of the Oaxaca Guerreros.
