Since the 8th of June, my life has COMPLETELY changed here. And by completely, I mean completely!
Perhaps the biggest change is that I now live in my own apartment. We´ll get into the specialness which is Peruvian apartment hunting in a bit.
Another big change is that I actually have friends here now! My newest friends are Paolo, Amy, and Naomi. They make my life 900000000 times happier.
Okay, so I guess there were only 2 changes, but they were big changes and that makes it seem like there were more! ;)
So that brings us to... apartment hunting in Perú.
First of all, you don´t need to fill out an application. You don´t need references. You do, evidently, need a professional maid once you find and get an apartment. So if you don´t need an application or references...or proof of employment, how do you get an apt here, you ask? Easy. You get a newspaper and you randomly call all of the apts in the district you want to be in. None of them give addresses, so you have to call to find out. By the time you call, most of the good sounding apartments are already gone. When all else fails, find a friend, combi, or taxi to randomly drive through the area you want to live in. Most likely, you will find some awesome signs in windows of apartments for rent. That´s how I found mine.
Once you find the apartment that you want, you must act fast. I´ve been told that they will give the apt to the first person with the security deposit and first month´s rent in cash and in hand. I just called the number on the sign in the window, and let Paolo do the rest. ;) When you call you are supposed to negociate the price and all that jazz, btw.
Let me tell you about one awesome apt that I saw with Paolo and Amy. This has to be the nicest apartment I´ve ever been to in my life. First of all, there were like 4 buildings with the same address. The owner showed up late (we are in Peru, folks..) and we went in the right one. Once inside, we noticed the slightly unkept garden and a strange smell. There were two apartments to see in this building. Soooo... we went to the first floor, 1 bedroom apt first. It was about 700 soles a month, I believe... or roughly $250. You walk into the main room. There was nothing. At all. You walk into the bedroom. There was nothing. At all. You then walk into the bathroom, where you soon notice there is pee in the toilet...and there is no shower. Until you look up. And that´s when you realize...the bathroom is the shower!!! Sweet, hey? ;) Can´t even tell you how much I wanted it. But I knew I had to go look at the second one. So we went upstairs. You walk in, and surprisingly enough, there was a really nice kitchen...though it was small. That´s where that ended. The other 2 rooms were just like in the 1 bedroom downstairs...though this one didn´t have pee in the toilet, and the shower was separated from the bathroom with a curtain. Even though this one was lacking the pee in the toilet, and the shower was significantly smaller, it cost more. 1240 soles for this treat...that´s about $410. The area was superb too. You have the cerros in the background...and as my Peruvian friends say, the people in the cerros come down to rob the houses not in the cerros. That´s their job.
Unfortunately, I did not get those hottie apartments. I know. I can´t believe I passed them up either. What a stupid!
We went and saw a bunch of apartments....though those ones were obviously the best ;) I ended up going to the zone that I actually wanted my apartment to be in, and we drove around...and low and behold...we found one in the exact area with a sign in the window!! So we call and we go see this apt. It was pretty big...unfurnished, but at least it had kitchen cabinets ... and closets... and an actual shower. The electricity had been turned off cuz the people who lived there before had not paid their bill in two months. How responsible, hey? ;) It was two stories and had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room / dining room. It was my #1 choice next to a one bedroom apartment that belonged to a friend of Paolo. However, he didn´t want to move out for 2-3 months. Screw that!
Anyhow, we called, we saw the apt... we called again... we made an appointment to sign the contract at a notary in Miraflores. (Everything has to be signed by notaries here...weird, I know...) Then we got the keys after doing some money exchange on the street... real safe... and went to my old room, got my stuff, and took it to the new place. Luckily enough, Paolo had air mattresses for me to use. Otherwise I would´ve been sleeping on the floor...woooooo!
That all happened between June 20 and June 22. I signed my contract on Monday, June 22. That´s when I moved in, too. What an adventure!
Next I shall tell you about furniture shopping in Lima, Peru...
TO BE CONTINUED!
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