Day 4 – Possible Apartments…

Day 4

We went to café for breakfast called Carlo’s Café and met Carlo.  He’s got a 75 year old espresso machine from Italy that he is very proud of.  We had some great coffee and a decent breakfast.  This place is definitely a better option than cheesecake and nachos for breakfast!  We chatted with Carlo a bit in spanishabout his beloved espresso machine and we will definitely return.  I almost asked him if he knew any apartments for rent, but I figured we should patronize at least once more before I start asking for favors.

We return to the hotel to engage in my least favorite task – finding an apartment.  It’s so hard to communicate on the phone.  I call a million people – the room is already rented or it only has a single bed or the person you are looking for is not here.  Mexico city is huge, and it could easily take us over an hour to get to class if we end up too far.  We sort through listing after listing.  I call Gabriel, she doesn’t remember me, I remind her that we spoke in the bathroom.  She says that we can see her apartment for rent, which has a great view of the city, on Saturday.  At least we have something lined up.  But her apartment is even further south of the city than the university.

I call a woman off the list we got from CEPE, Adriana.  She speaks slowly and clearly and I’m sure she’s dealt with foreigners over the phone before.  She has a room available for rent in her home, there is a double bed.  We can see it tomorrow! The apartment is about a 5 minute walk to the Metro stop and it is north UNAM.  Good location. We can’t wait to see it.

So basically we have 2 leads on apartments.

Its been raining all day. So we muster up the enthusiasm to go out.  The plan, check out Garbriela’s apartment and the neighborhood surrounding.  It seems like it might take awhile and we don’t really know exactly where we’re going.  We walk outside, it’s pouring.  We walk towards the bus, it’s really pouring.  Well, I’ve decided I’m not going anywhere until we have an umbrella.  We try to find an umbrella in a few convenience stores, but there aren’t any umbrellas to be found.  We stand in the doorway of the oxxo convenience store and I eat peanuts because I’m on the verge of hangry (hungery + angry). I just stand there, I’m not going to budge until I have an umbrella.  Eventually, after I’ve eaten my peanuts, we decide to duck into a bar and watch some futball instead.  I find an umbrella in some bourgeois boutique and it’s of the highest quality, of course.  From there we walk around a bit in the neighborhood.  We wander into a bookstore, open late, and enjoy the rain from their covered rooftop balcony.