Dont Leave Home Without an
Don’t Leave Home Without an Apartment
January 17, 2006
Last year, we negotiated the lease of a home in San Miguel de Allende over the Internet and paid up front for the entire duration of our stay. It was a big mistake. The location and condition of the home were terrible and we were forced to cut our vacation short just to relieve ourselves of the problems. This year in choosing Oaxaca, we weren’t going to be fooled twice and leased only for the first month of a three-month stay. If the house wasn’t to our liking, we could endure for the month but then find something more to our liking. It was a big mistake.
The accommodation we selected turned out to be just fine. The location was excellent, the landlady was excellent and we were very content. Therefore, it was an easy decision to ask for a two-month lease extension. “In my dreams” was the answer. The place was booked through to the end of April. Oh well, we will just find something else.
For over a week, we scoured this city from one end to the other. My new shoes need imminent replacement. We recruited every friend we knew, we searched on line, we read the classifieds in every paper and finally, we hired a cab for three hours to drive us around in search of rental options. The net results were discouraging. We could find a selection of nice properties to the north of the city in San Felipe del Agua. These homes were quite new, in excellent condition, had terrific amenities but, you essentially needed a car to function. We found a couple of apartments closer to the centre of the city. The first had the feeling of a concrete bunker and the other was a casita attached to a lovely home. It has some nice features like a pool and high-speed wireless Internet, but it was very small, poorly furnished and well off the beaten track.
Many of our friends came to the rescue with phone numbers but little information. Calling these leads is not as simple as you would think. Phones in homes are a rarity in Oaxaca. There was no phone in our current apartment so I went to a store and bought a calling card for a pay phone. These are ubiquitous in Oaxaca but there are two problems with this process. First, the pay phones are on the street and the streets resonate at just under a thousand decibels. Secondly, the folks answering the phones don’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish. After a little coaching, I was able to say quite well the following.
Hola, habla Englise.
Oh
iene unu departemento disponsible con servicio?
Slow down please, er por favour
Click.
No worries. I recruited my Spanish teacher to do the phoning and help out screening places. Results, NIL.
By now I am starting to get concerned. Will I be a street person in my retirement? It would be apt since I was already doing my banking with Bancomer which literally translates as the “food bank”. My wife and I were beginning to have restless then sleepless nights. This can’t be happening to us. We have American dollars. Some enterprising Oaxaquenian must want them enough to give us a roof over our heads. Fat chance chucko; everything is booked.
After five days we are able to find some nice properties but they are all available for March first. We start to make contingency plans to travel to other centres for a month. How about a week in Puerto Escondido, a week in San Cristobal, a week in where ever?
Today, our depression grew deeper. We had hired a lady about town, with strong real estate connections, to find a long list of options. She knew the people and the places and she promised results. After giving her four days to produce a list, she found nothing and so I continued to pound the pavement. Exhausted and frustrated I returned to our house and crashed on the bed; unable to face this task again. I lay there for the next hour and a half knowing that I would have to pull myself together to get to Spanish lessons at two.
Knock, knock, knock, there is a knock on the door. It is the landlady. The people, who had rented our place for the next two months, can’t come. Would you consider staying longer? Let me think about it for a couple of days. Okay.
And so, our anguish ended. It wouldn’t have been that bad if Oaxaca was a dump of a city. But, it is delightful. The people of Oaxaca are delightful, the city is a marvel, the friends we have met have been real friends, the sights we had seen were extraordinary and we just plain didn’t want to go.
So let that be a lesson to all of us. If you plan to stay in Oaxaca for a long period of time and don’t want to pay hotel rates for the privilege, make sure you have a place booked for the duration. Also, don’t expect to find the quality of homes available in places like San Miguel de Allende. Some of our friends are living in places that would make you cringe. They don’t care; they are in Oaxaca.
a
January 17, 2006
Last year, we negotiated the lease of a home in San Miguel de Allende over the Internet and paid up front for the entire duration of our stay. It was a big mistake. The location and condition of the home were terrible and we were forced to cut our vacation short just to relieve ourselves of the problems. This year in choosing Oaxaca, we weren’t going to be fooled twice and leased only for the first month of a three-month stay. If the house wasn’t to our liking, we could endure for the month but then find something more to our liking. It was a big mistake.
The accommodation we selected turned out to be just fine. The location was excellent, the landlady was excellent and we were very content. Therefore, it was an easy decision to ask for a two-month lease extension. “In my dreams” was the answer. The place was booked through to the end of April. Oh well, we will just find something else.
For over a week, we scoured this city from one end to the other. My new shoes need imminent replacement. We recruited every friend we knew, we searched on line, we read the classifieds in every paper and finally, we hired a cab for three hours to drive us around in search of rental options. The net results were discouraging. We could find a selection of nice properties to the north of the city in San Felipe del Agua. These homes were quite new, in excellent condition, had terrific amenities but, you essentially needed a car to function. We found a couple of apartments closer to the centre of the city. The first had the feeling of a concrete bunker and the other was a casita attached to a lovely home. It has some nice features like a pool and high-speed wireless Internet, but it was very small, poorly furnished and well off the beaten track.
Many of our friends came to the rescue with phone numbers but little information. Calling these leads is not as simple as you would think. Phones in homes are a rarity in Oaxaca. There was no phone in our current apartment so I went to a store and bought a calling card for a pay phone. These are ubiquitous in Oaxaca but there are two problems with this process. First, the pay phones are on the street and the streets resonate at just under a thousand decibels. Secondly, the folks answering the phones don’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish. After a little coaching, I was able to say quite well the following.
Hola, habla Englise.
Oh
iene unu departemento disponsible con servicio?
Slow down please, er por favour
Click.
No worries. I recruited my Spanish teacher to do the phoning and help out screening places. Results, NIL.
By now I am starting to get concerned. Will I be a street person in my retirement? It would be apt since I was already doing my banking with Bancomer which literally translates as the “food bank”. My wife and I were beginning to have restless then sleepless nights. This can’t be happening to us. We have American dollars. Some enterprising Oaxaquenian must want them enough to give us a roof over our heads. Fat chance chucko; everything is booked.
After five days we are able to find some nice properties but they are all available for March first. We start to make contingency plans to travel to other centres for a month. How about a week in Puerto Escondido, a week in San Cristobal, a week in where ever?
Today, our depression grew deeper. We had hired a lady about town, with strong real estate connections, to find a long list of options. She knew the people and the places and she promised results. After giving her four days to produce a list, she found nothing and so I continued to pound the pavement. Exhausted and frustrated I returned to our house and crashed on the bed; unable to face this task again. I lay there for the next hour and a half knowing that I would have to pull myself together to get to Spanish lessons at two.
Knock, knock, knock, there is a knock on the door. It is the landlady. The people, who had rented our place for the next two months, can’t come. Would you consider staying longer? Let me think about it for a couple of days. Okay.
And so, our anguish ended. It wouldn’t have been that bad if Oaxaca was a dump of a city. But, it is delightful. The people of Oaxaca are delightful, the city is a marvel, the friends we have met have been real friends, the sights we had seen were extraordinary and we just plain didn’t want to go.
So let that be a lesson to all of us. If you plan to stay in Oaxaca for a long period of time and don’t want to pay hotel rates for the privilege, make sure you have a place booked for the duration. Also, don’t expect to find the quality of homes available in places like San Miguel de Allende. Some of our friends are living in places that would make you cringe. They don’t care; they are in Oaxaca.
a
posted by John and Marie | 7:26 p.m.
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