Choosing Your New Apartment

During my 3 months here I lived in 2 different apartment buildings. The only reason why I changed locations was because the first place was a little too far from downtown. If I wanted to go to the beach (i.e. the hotel zone) I had to take two buses.

The first place was close to the main road Portillo, on the West side of the city. It really felt like I was living with "the people". Whenever I stepped outside I never heard any English, the families were picnicking in their backyards or playing music out of their windows. This last thing was really annoying though. The people here really love their music and when one neighbour is playing and another wants to play too, what happens? They crank up their volume. Sometimes, two different audio systems would be blasting away for few hours at a time. Once till 1am, although usually the music stopped around 11pm. This love for music is also evident when you visit the supermarkets. The audio systems are the first thing you see when entering the front door. And most of the time they are also turned on and blasting away. There were stores beside which I had to walk and cover my ears because it was so loud. Another source of noise was the water guys who would come around everyday and honk away for a few minutes at a time to let you know they were there, ready to sell you water.

At the second place I could hear the music from some bars nearby but that was usually on the weekends and didn't really bother me, I expected that. The problem, however, was my neighbour who's got 4 dogs and 2 of them are the yuppiest dogs ever. I resorted to sleeping with ear plugs pushed-in really deep after few nights of broken-up sleeps. Later on I discovered that he wasn't cleaning the dog's poo very often so on hot days I could also smell it and I couldn't open my windows to let fresh air in. As for the cost, I was paying 3000 pesos per month. To start, I had to pay the last month's rent plus an "administration fee" of 1000 pesos. So my first payment was 7000 pesos.

Therefore, in summary, if you can put up with some occasional noise or find a place in a quiet area you'll be set. What I loved about living downtown was the proximity to everything. I didn't need a car. Groceries, buses, movies, shopping malls, were all within walking distance or a short bus ride away.