Apartment Safari

It's a jungle out there, but I think I have found my new home for the next couple of months. It all started with Levi needing to move out sooner than expected. Since that has happened I have been on a mad search for a place to live that I could afford, that would be with Agrentines so that I could practice my spanish, and that wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere, requiring me to carry pepper spray at all hours. That being said it seems like a pretty simple task, but let me assure you- it is not.

First of all, the apartments here are really expensive. Now, if you live in the Bay Area you may think that these seem like steals, but you have to imagine that I make on average 15 pesos an hour, or $5 US an hour. And I'm not working right now. So the apartments that are in the $250-300 range (everything in US dollars) are incredibly high for a BA salary. That being said, that was the cheapest I could find.

My first stop was to the internet to look up places that are furnished and in locations I could live with (read: not San Telmo, Once, Boca, Baracas, Flores...). OK so I am a snob when it comes to where I live, but come on. Why go somewhere that has discount remote control centers and really run down panaderias every 15 stores, where you have to dodge hurtling colectivos and beggars on the corner trying to sell you plastic bra staps or whetever happens to be in their hands at the time, when you could live in a clean, charming part of the city where your biggest problem is stepping in dog poop left behind by the well dressed, high-heeled owners of very posh purebreds of every size and color?

So the first place I saw is just minutes walk from my friend Anna, is in a nice, clean part of Palermo and is just 20 minutes walk to the mall, movies, and the D line. It's $300 a month (yikes!), has wireless and a really cool lady who lives there with her boyfriend and a dog, something resembling a very small and limp-haired lion. The room is upstairs but the bathroom is downstairs...eek...I have full kitchen access and there's a little terrace upstairs for sitting out and reading etc. It is also right next to a very fancy grocery store, something I have been missing these last few weeks, as we are surrounded by Chinos and a very small and crowded Coto.

Next place is owned by a kind of strange lady, an artist, who works in home and out, and gives lessons during the school year. Sha has a cat who she adopted off the street, who got jealous of me during my visit and attacked her legs quite viciously, but I think her pants hid the blood. The apartment is in a really cool old building in Palemo Viejo, with really high ceilings and a lot of big empty space. It's walking distance to Plaza Serrano and just down the street from Davin. There are 2 rooms, $250 and $260, repectively, shared bath and small kitchen.

The last place I looked was a place in Belgrano. I met Marta and immediately thought "Wow, this lady sure can talk!!!" She gets tons of students who stay with her, and right now there are two girls from the US in the two big rooms, and the only one left is an interior room. There are 3 bathrooms, a terrace, a balcony, big kitchen, big living room, and it is in a new area of the city for me, so it would be an adventure. Still, she wants $285 for the room which is tiny, and to get to the terrace you have to go through another girl's room!

So, in the end, I took the first place and I will be moving in in 2 weeks. I am hopefully going to have lots of practice with my Spanish, and also the lady seems cool and has tons of people stay with her, so she is used to having people around from different parts of the world. In fact, she was in Berkeley during college, so she knows all about the SF, too! Should be fun, an adventure anyway!