Final Decision

Despite consistent polling suggesting we move to Republica de el Salvador, we chose the Cordero and Tamayo penthouse, perhaps because of the view, perhaps because of the craziness of the place, its size, the adventure it suggests. We will meet the owners tomorrow to walk through the apartment requesting repairs and asking them to remove most of the furniture. And then we go shopping. Isabel insists she will take me to 'SuCasa' at El Jardin to buy sheets and towels. We will need to equip the kitchen, and we will buy plants, lots of them, to cover up piles of dirt in several places in the apartment. I will have to pay more attention to our plants; in Baltimore I overwater and subsequently kill all my plants, in Quito everything seems to grow well.

I am relieved that we have made a decision and that we are moving forward. I expected to feel excited, but this apartment search has gone on too long and I am simply glad it is over. I am feeling overwhelmed in anticipation of all that has to be done with the move. We have made the difficult choice this time (again!), but I am eager to get moving and make our new home.

It was uniform buying day today. Maya was not thrilled with the sweat pants I insisted that she buy. She refused to buy the skirt (you know I do not wear those things) and resolved that she will wear jeans everyday (that is part of the uniform).

Maya and I went to see another apartment near Catolica, just as a comparison effort. It was the third floor of a house, about the same price as the penthouse, but did not make the grade. We walked down past the new apartment and took the Ecovia in the wrong direction before we jumped off and reversed course and found Ziro, the uniform store on Seis di Diciembre. I told the clerk to tell me what I was supposed to buy for Einstein, and she had no idea. Maya was quite dismissive of everything she tried on, all of which was huge, but I was hesitant to buy size 8, so I insisted that we would wash everything and shrink it. When I was about to pay with my Visa, I was told that if I paid cash I would save nine dollars, so I actually went back to Isabel's house to get the cash!!!

I was to meet another real estate person named Patricia at 3 PM on the corner of Moscu and Republica de el Salvador. I had looked at the ads in El Comercio this morning and it appeared that she was showing most of those on the first page (there were 420 ads for the 'Norte' section of town). I wanted to see other 2 bedroom apartments in the area to compare to the one we decided was a contender. She did not show up for Maya and I, so we stopped for treats at 'Cyrano's and went home. Once we arrived, Erika told me Patricia had called and was late for our appointment and wanted me to go back and meet her in a half hour. I rushed upstairs, got my cash for Ziro's, taxied to the uniform store, waited for all my forms to be rewritten, the items to be checked off, and to pay and wait for the five cents that was missing, and got out of the store at 4:27. The streets were packed with cars which did not appear to be moving, so I took the Ecovia and walked to the meeting point. Eric was there, but Patricia was not. We almost left and there she arrived careering around the corner in her daughter's beat up car. She explained that she had crashed her car and borrowed her daughter's until hers was repaired. We figured out very quickly what her car problem was, as she sped through the city, almost crashing into children on bikes and pedestrians and other vehicles, talking nonstop on her cell phone and in between phone calls revealing more about her personal life than was comfortable. Eric was not at ease with her at all. She did show us one place in the area we wanted, but then took us to 'Las Bromelias', a gated community too far from the main part of the city, as well as El Batan, close to the 'Metropolitan Park', but neither were suitable. I had simply wanted to comparison shop before we made the move, but nothing quite made the grade today.

Eric tried to contact the apartment owners several times, and was finally successful, so I do believe we are moving into our own place in a few days. Whew!