As I mentioned in Part 1, I had found a fabulous apartment! It was spacious, well-lit, and had high ceilings and great ventilation….and a terrace for the puppies! It also had bars on the windows (to keep would-be intruders out) and was on the top floor, which meant no upstairs neighbors. Bonus! The 2 things that kept me from jumping with joy and forking over the cash at that very moment were: 1. The rent was $500 pesos (approximately $50usd) more per month than my last apartment, and 2. It was completely unfurnished. (When a place in Cancun is ‘unfurnished’, don’t expect it to even have lightbulbs.)

We told the owner we’d contact him in a few days and sadly left behind the place we desperately wanted to be our new home. I reasoned that the extra $500 pesos a month wasn’t bad and that I was fortunate to have never had my rent increase in the entire time I’d lived in Cancun. If I took inflation into account, an extra $500 pesos a month wasn’t too much…especially for a place that was much nicer than my current home!

The next day, we started pricing furniture and appliances. The thought of owning such things was a bit overwhelming to me. I mean, buying a refrigerator is a big deal. It’s a MAJOR commitment and will likely last longer than most marriages. Once I got over my fear of commiting years of love and devotion to appliances and furniture, I decided I wanted the new apartment. Actually, I think my love of the new apartment made me get over my fear of making such major purchases.

We soon realized that we could have the things we needed immediately (bed, stove, fridge, and air-conditioner) for around $2,000usd. Up to that point I only had belongings that could be carried in my luggage…granted, it would require many pieces of luggage to attempt such a feat these days. It was all very exciting and a little scary. We called the new landlord to say we wanted the apartment, but that we wanted to see it once more.

We walked through the apartment again and could already see ourselves living there. We asked important questions like “Does the apartment have hot water?”, “Can we add an air-conditioner?”, ” Can we get internet with the cable company here?”, and “Have the power bills been paid up to this point?”. These are things you don’t even consider in the US, but you have to ask here.

Many places do not have hot water. That is not something I have ever considered to be a luxury item in a home, but apparently it is in Cancun. Putting in an air-conditioner requires cutting a hole in the concrete walls so it’s a bit more complicated than simply shoving an a/c into a window and securing it. Cable internet is very wide-spread but always best to make sure they offer it in the place you are considering for your new home. As for the utilities, it’s a rather strange system here. The utilities are not in the name of the individual, but are listed by the address of the house. If a previous tenant/home-owner didn’t pay the bills, you are out of luck unless you pay them all to reconnect the services. It’s hardly fair, but that’s the way it is.

After weighing all the pros and cons again, we made sure the landlord understood we had 3 dogs and that we’d be bringing them along on this little adventure. Once he said that was fine…and gave us satisfactory answers to all of our other questions, we told him when we’d be back to pay the deposit.

Since I had not yet signed a lease, I only told my closest of friends the exact location of the apartment. I didn’t trust the landlord to hold the apartment for us before he actually had money in hand. As it turns out, a friend called the new landlord to inquire about another rental property that was available at the time and the landlord told them about my new place…and that is was vacant!

A few days later, we paid the deposit and set the move-in date. That transaction took place on the front porch of my new landlord and I was still not entirely convinced the place would be vacant on the day I showed up with a moving truck full of my belongings, but I thought positive thoughts and just hoped it would all work out for the best.

Now, the fun was about to start…..packing!

To be continued…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 1:38 pm and is filed under General Blog Entries. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. We reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.