Hi all,
I had another packed day today. At 11 I was supposed to me a guy who was going to show me two apartments in La Roma. He didn't show. But I did come across another place that I was able to see. I no longer remember what it looked like. That's been my biggest problem. I spend 6 hours walking aroun and making phone calls and taking pictures and taking notes and when I sit down in the evening to organize my thoughts, I can't think past the last thing I saw. I guess that means that the ones that I am able to remember are the ones I should remember. The headmaster's wife, who helps look for apartments for those who get here last minute and for those who don't know Spanish (no sympathy for them on my part needless to say) went around together on Wednesday for most of the morning and early afternoon. I had a couple of appointments in the evening and later that night, she asked me for my info. I gladly passed on to her a variety of places I've seen but kept the phone numbers to myself to prevent any competition. C'mon, I'm not that nice :). This is one of the hardest things I've done in my life. Fortunately, I needed this week to go by slowly and contrary to what usually happens when Murphey has any say, it actually did go by slowly... incredibly slowly. My days have been incredibly long. Today, I came home for an hour to eat lunch and to download my photos from the morning. Then I headed up north to meet with a guy who has a place in San Rafael. It was ok but learned that he and his business partner have another place in the south of city, closer to Coyoacan and Del Valle (where Mauricio lives). So we took the Metro Bus together all the way across town. I was happy to hear that we were going by metrobus because I happen to have P$96 worth of credit on my card. It costs P$3 to ride it. I had a mental-currency block when I put credit on it my first day. The broker, Juan, did not stop talking for the entire time we were looking at the first apartment, until I got off at my stop after having traveled across town, looked at the second place, walked for 15 minutes to the subway, realized that we needed to take the metrobus, walked to the metro bus, and traveled half way up for me to get off at my stop. I felt that they should have given me the apartment for having suffered through incessant speech. He is a biologist who is an animal trainer and travels all around the world to work with actors in films using the animals. So, some of what he was talking about was interesting. Ask me how to wrangle a crocodile and I'll tell you - in Spanish. I got home around 5pm, anxious to collect my thoughts and chat with you guys. But, the whole place was a mess and reeked of unnaturally potent orange cleaning solution. The cleaning lady hadn't come so Barbara was cleaning the entire apartment. So, for two hours I helped. Then Mauricio came to pick me up because I asked him if we could check out San Rafael to see how safe it seems at night. It's not one of the neighborhoods the school recommends (God forbid I live near other Mexicans) so I wanted to make sure it's on ok area for me to live. I've narrowed down the apartment options (before talking to my future roommate) to three places: the more expensive one near La Condesa, a small furnished one in San Rafael, or a long shot which I am aiming for which involves one of Mauricio's friends informing me that she kicked out her awful roommate so that I can move in. Or there's the unfurnished place I saw in La Roma, or the new furnished place in Escandon, or the place near Mauricio's apartment, or the steps of Westhill Institute. After the ever generous Mauricio drove me around San Rafael, we met up with a friend of his from college who lives in La Condesa. We walked down to little corner Argentinian restaurant called "El Diez" (for Maradonna). They had a cool tin sign up that said, "El Rey es Pele, pero Dios es Argentino." I didn't appreciate that, but the food made up for it. AMAZING... photos to come. JT, I'm not going to disappoint. I got home around midnight, happy to see that there was a note for me that I'm going to get picked up at 6:45am tomorrow. Mauricio and I had already planned my route which involved a walk to Felix Cuevas, a pesero to the metro Mixcoac which would take me to Tacubaya which would scare the shit out of me while I look for the transfer line to Observatorio. There I would take a taxi to the school in Santa Fe. Needless to say I'm happy about getting a ride tomorrow morning. I leave in five hours, so I best conclude this email.
Muchos besos y abrazos!
Hannah
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