It certainly has been a unique set of events regarding my apartment hunting in Guadalajara. I arrived Sunday early evening and enjoyed a lovely night chatting with my hosts. All my research was as done as could be before heading into the actual city on Monday.
Turns out, Monday is a national holiday so everything is closed and everyone is out and about so traffic is abysmal and my lunch doesn't exist.
Also, today was the last day of the Mexican Black Friday: Buen Fin. Everyone was out to get the very last deals of the day. Whew, there are a lot of shoppers in Guadalajara! Almost felt like I was in Japan with the sidewalks and crosswalks so full they were spilling over into the streets with people.
After driving, or rather sitting, in my car for hours today, I've seen two apartments and had almost identical experiences.
I'm not a typical renter, even as an expat, in that I'm not retired, I don't have a formal job, nor do I know a land owner in Guadalajara (another city in Mexico doesn't work) which makes it apparently quite difficult to rent, even to non agencies. Both couples I visited today to see their apartments immediately retracted their generosity when they found out I didn't have the "formal" job, nor a land owner in Guadalajara to vouch for me. Both are required.
Interestingly, both gentlemen were quite willing to offer various alternatives, while both women were various levels of adamently angry with me for seemingly wasting their time and urged the rules that must be followed. Knowing I'd probably end up having to deal mostly with the women because of their ernest overtaking of the situations, I'm a little concerned with my current options.
I'm finally done with driving as far as apartment hunting goes today. I've seen quite a bit of the city and will see two more apartments tomorrow. Hopefully these will go better than those today. One is with an agency that specializes in expat situations so I'm crossing my fingers for more hospitality.
There were so many downsides to the holiday today. First was that everything is closed so getting a feel for a neighborhood is difficult because outside of Centro and a bit of Av Chapultepec, all doors were shut leaving an impression of undesireableness. Where things were open, pretty much the entire town was out walking and driving around creating a huge deadlock that is abnormal (I'm told), however, still my first (and only) impression.
Another downside was trying to eat. So many restaurants are closed that I walked an hour without finding one open and had to drives hours to a different part of the city to eat. Hours, mostly because traffic was a deadlock and I found myself on a north-bound street that didn't allow left turns for miles. Insane!
Good news is that I found a sushi and sake bar. Fried cheese and bananas, tepinyaki fish, and cold sake for me for dinner tonight! I ended back up in Chapultepec as it was at least the right direction toward home and restaurants were open when I drove through earlier in the afternoon. They aren't all open now, but at least there are a few. Thank heavens as I was really hungry!
One thing I have noticed that I really am excited for is the bike lanes in Guadalajara. There are actually a lot of them and bicyclists are everywhere. I'm excited to get out there without my car! If today is any indication, I'll get places much faster on a bike. Yes, if you're wondering I left my bikes in the USA. However, my couchsurfing host has a friend that is selling exactly what I need for super cheap (so I'm told) so hopefully I'll have a city bike within the week... Denny Crane in the basket on the front of course!
Still so much to do tonight to prepare for tomorrow. My host will be back at work tomorrow so I won't have my interpretter with me, which has really helped keep things short and understandable. My Spanish is just fine for a normal conversation but specific words for renting are not in my vocabulary yet. I'll be sleeping with a rotating Spanish dictionary tonight lol!
Turns out, Monday is a national holiday so everything is closed and everyone is out and about so traffic is abysmal and my lunch doesn't exist.
Also, today was the last day of the Mexican Black Friday: Buen Fin. Everyone was out to get the very last deals of the day. Whew, there are a lot of shoppers in Guadalajara! Almost felt like I was in Japan with the sidewalks and crosswalks so full they were spilling over into the streets with people.
After driving, or rather sitting, in my car for hours today, I've seen two apartments and had almost identical experiences.
I'm not a typical renter, even as an expat, in that I'm not retired, I don't have a formal job, nor do I know a land owner in Guadalajara (another city in Mexico doesn't work) which makes it apparently quite difficult to rent, even to non agencies. Both couples I visited today to see their apartments immediately retracted their generosity when they found out I didn't have the "formal" job, nor a land owner in Guadalajara to vouch for me. Both are required.
Interestingly, both gentlemen were quite willing to offer various alternatives, while both women were various levels of adamently angry with me for seemingly wasting their time and urged the rules that must be followed. Knowing I'd probably end up having to deal mostly with the women because of their ernest overtaking of the situations, I'm a little concerned with my current options.
I'm finally done with driving as far as apartment hunting goes today. I've seen quite a bit of the city and will see two more apartments tomorrow. Hopefully these will go better than those today. One is with an agency that specializes in expat situations so I'm crossing my fingers for more hospitality.
There were so many downsides to the holiday today. First was that everything is closed so getting a feel for a neighborhood is difficult because outside of Centro and a bit of Av Chapultepec, all doors were shut leaving an impression of undesireableness. Where things were open, pretty much the entire town was out walking and driving around creating a huge deadlock that is abnormal (I'm told), however, still my first (and only) impression.
Another downside was trying to eat. So many restaurants are closed that I walked an hour without finding one open and had to drives hours to a different part of the city to eat. Hours, mostly because traffic was a deadlock and I found myself on a north-bound street that didn't allow left turns for miles. Insane!
Good news is that I found a sushi and sake bar. Fried cheese and bananas, tepinyaki fish, and cold sake for me for dinner tonight! I ended back up in Chapultepec as it was at least the right direction toward home and restaurants were open when I drove through earlier in the afternoon. They aren't all open now, but at least there are a few. Thank heavens as I was really hungry!
 |
| Who knew lightly fried cheese and bananas on a stick were crazy delicious?!?!? |
 |
| Meh. The appetizer was much better but my glass is almost empty :-) |
One thing I have noticed that I really am excited for is the bike lanes in Guadalajara. There are actually a lot of them and bicyclists are everywhere. I'm excited to get out there without my car! If today is any indication, I'll get places much faster on a bike. Yes, if you're wondering I left my bikes in the USA. However, my couchsurfing host has a friend that is selling exactly what I need for super cheap (so I'm told) so hopefully I'll have a city bike within the week... Denny Crane in the basket on the front of course!
Still so much to do tonight to prepare for tomorrow. My host will be back at work tomorrow so I won't have my interpretter with me, which has really helped keep things short and understandable. My Spanish is just fine for a normal conversation but specific words for renting are not in my vocabulary yet. I'll be sleeping with a rotating Spanish dictionary tonight lol!
No comments:
Post a Comment