Day 6 - My New Home

Day 6

My New Home

One of the most frustrating things to me is living out of a suitcase.  So you cannot imagine how good I feel to know my things are out of suitcases and in a real closet.  Yes, I finally found a place to live. 

I started looking for places to live in March.  My friend, Carmen, took me to see several places when I came to visit then.  I think got frustrated because of the places were really nice, so she found a real estate agent to help.  Ximena took me to four or five places in March and got a feel of what I wanted and where I wanted to live.  My first afternoon back, after my exhausting trip here, Ximena took me to a very nice place on the First Ring, near the Cometary.  It was a beautiful place.  The only thing I did not like about it was that it was on the opposite side of the Plaza than I wanted to be.

Monday she took me to see two more places.  I was excited about the first because it was four blocks from the plaza and two blocks from a nice market area, Siete Calles.  But I was very disappointed.  The living room had a big pipe in the wall for air conditioning and it could not be removed.  The windows in the living were covered with newspaper because you could see the entire apartment from those windows; so no running around in my underwear there. 

From this view from my apartment you get a glimpse of the Plaza

The big building you see out this window is one of the nicest super markets in town. 

The trees behind it are the Plaza Blacut.

Then she took me to a building near the Plaza Blacut.  I was staying at the New Tribes Mission House on the Plaza Blacut, so I knew the area.  I had been out exploring it for three days and knew it a little from when I lived here in the 80s.  A very nice neighborhood.  When I walked in, I knew immediately that this was my new home.  The electricity was off and we were looking at it with our phone lights, but I could tell it was beautiful. It is not big, just four rooms: kitchen, living, bath, and bedrooms.  But it is what I needed.

Tuesday evening, I met Ximena and Alexandra, the owner, at a notary to make it official.  Then we went to the apartment, where I paid and got my keys.  In Bolivia, I pay the first month rent, two months’ rent as a security, and the real estate agent gets the equivalent of a month.  So I paid for four months’ rent yesterday.  I am broke for a bit.

I walked over to the mission house and paid for my five days there.  I took a taxi the five blocks with all of my things, threw them in the apartment, and went for food.  I went back to my chicken place, Chicken Kingdom, but brought my food home.  The lights were still off so I ate by computer light. 

When I awoke this morning, my lights were still off.  I had to go to the Plaza to order a Wi-Fi connection, so I decided I would figure it out after I got back.  The deposit and first month of Wi-Fi cost a little less than $100.  When I got back my lights were working and a little while later the Wi-Fi was installed. 

I spent the rest of the morning buying food and things I need in the apartment, though I still have a lot of little things to buy.  I cleaned my house fairly well for a bachelor.  And I washed some clothes, especially shirts that smell like a suitcase – they just got a quick rinse is all.

Now I am sitting here with all four windows open to the 65 degree breezes and writing you.  I have two more blogs written, though I don’t think I will post every day.

Luke 10:5 “Whatever house you enter, first say ‘Peace be to this house.’”  Pray that my house would be a house of peace for me and others.