Fast Forward..... moving day to my longer-term Oaxaca apartment is upon us...well, upon me and unsuspecting Rulla
Well, OK, post after post after post after post about Guanajauto, and suddenly I am shifting into Oaxaca mode? Well, I warned you about that, so bear with me. Call me Tony, as in the Time Tunnel, if you remember that goofball show from the ancient days....
Anyways, yes, after almost 3 months here as a visitor in Oaxaca, I am soon to be in my own longer-term rental in the San Felipe area, which is up closer to the mountains, albeit 30 minutes into the heart of the city.
The move coming up very soon, I figured now might be a good time to give you all a look at where I have been staying for the since late July. It is an apartment, normally an AirBnB, setup, that is in the outskirts of the Centro, or, in other words, within the Periférico, which is the bottom half of the loop highway that people use as the border of the centro. I guess you could think of it as the Beltway, Oaxaca version, albeit with a bit less traffic and pzazz.
Being at the outskirts of the historic core, it is not an especially pretty or interesting area. It is definitely a mixed use area and non-touristic, and at times somewhat, well, ugly. It is in a way a very generic area that could easily be mistaken for a part of Torreon or of Hidalgo or of even the less hipster areas of Mexico City. There is not a real here...here. But it is pretty safe, there are places to eat, you can get to my new apartment by bus within 30 minutes, and the people are friendly, or at least not hostile (depending on where you are going and with whom you are speaking).
The landlord at this apartment is the nicest and most patient guy on earth. His sister....well, she struck me the wrong way on our first meeting, and I have never been able to get past that. I remember asking her where I could get arena por los gatos (cat litter, or literally- sand for cats), and she said, rather flippantly - at the river. Nah, don't talk crap about kitty related things! LOL. I am a grudge holder, aren't I? :D
Well, OK, so enough of the bla bla bla, let me show you some photos of the apartment that I will soon be leaving. I will comment on some photos, not on others. I mean, I am not that creative!
First of all, this is my street, or rather my block - Calle Colón. (Christopher Columbus haters, bear with. Es lo que es). As I mentioned, it isn't beautiful, and it is not touristic, but it is not at all bad.
Here you see the front door that leads into the courtyard. (the black one to the left of the white one). When I first moved in, you entered with a regular key, but the owner later installed a keypad device, which turned out to make things much easier, especially since some guests would sometimes screw around with the old locks, not knowing what they do, amen, and make it impossible to get inside without waking up, or at least bothering, the landlord.
Once inside the gate, this is what lay before me. The owner's sister's house and apartment to the left, and his place and apartments in the back. There were a lot of lovely plants in this walkway, so although it seemed mildly odd, it was strangely beautiful.
Almost always there to greet me upon my return was Dino, the owner's sister's dog. He was a cute dog, and was very friendly. He would not let me go until I had pet his head, under his chin, and his back sufficiently.
On warmer days, I would often find both Dino and the house cat, whom I called "Koshki" (variation on the Russian "koshka" (=cat - oh my, how clever I am lol) lying outside enjoying the rotation of the earth - or maybe the revolution of the earth around the sun. I never thought to ask them which. Dang! Life is a series of missed opportunities, isn't it!
There was also a small parrot as I made my way back toward my unit. I don't know what his name was or is, but I had him imitating my hahaha's and saying Ni Hao. However, after taking a video of him.... he stopped talking.....like permanently! Talk about cameras zapping one's soul!
As you got to the back of the courtyard, you could see my apartment up there on the 2nd floor.
The landing or entryway to my apartment was to the left of the photo. The first door leading into the bedroom, and the 2nd door leading to the living/dining/kitchen, to use the Japanese parlance, albeit quite liberally, since it was basically a kitchen with a square table, two chairs, and....a sofa.
And the interior, well, you can see what it was like, more or less, in the video above.
Rulla, btw, was very fond of sitting in this location, from where she could see what was going on outside.
So, that is, or rather soon to be was, the apartment. Now, I will provide you with a a few neighborhood shots so that you can see where it was i was marching around while in my hood.
This, for example, was my lavanderia, the place that kept my clothes smelling spring fresh, or thereabouts. 12 pesos a kg for two day service, 15 pesos per kg for one day service. The guy there was also my source for bus information.
This was my corner market. It is here that I would buy my Coke Lite, Cacahuates japoneses, cheese, and tortillas. The workers, save for one, were very nice.
The shop on the left (the one with pink, and not the unfortunately names, or at least signed, spot to its right) is where I would go to get things printed.
On the corner, two of four corners, actually were these women, who I was told - by just about everyone in the neighbood, - were indigenous, were these stand selling cooked Spanish rice, boiled eggs, black bean puree (oh, God, please, no!), tortillas, tortillas stuff with chile relleno (and, of course) black beans, and rice, and taquitos. I never actually tried these two, but instead tried the one near the bus top where I'd get off the bus when making my way back home. Very nice woman and her daughter running that stand, but once school started, they stopped selling. A real mom.
Also very nearby was this cafe that I intended to visit, but....never did.
Finally, the only place of note in the neighborhood, and that 5 blocks away, was the Casa de Cultura. I have no idea what is inside this place, as I never once went inside, but it was a great map and taxi reference point.
Well, that is all for now. Soon I will put out my post on the new apartment and neighborhood. Stay tuned.
Anyways, yes, after almost 3 months here as a visitor in Oaxaca, I am soon to be in my own longer-term rental in the San Felipe area, which is up closer to the mountains, albeit 30 minutes into the heart of the city.
The move coming up very soon, I figured now might be a good time to give you all a look at where I have been staying for the since late July. It is an apartment, normally an AirBnB, setup, that is in the outskirts of the Centro, or, in other words, within the Periférico, which is the bottom half of the loop highway that people use as the border of the centro. I guess you could think of it as the Beltway, Oaxaca version, albeit with a bit less traffic and pzazz.
Being at the outskirts of the historic core, it is not an especially pretty or interesting area. It is definitely a mixed use area and non-touristic, and at times somewhat, well, ugly. It is in a way a very generic area that could easily be mistaken for a part of Torreon or of Hidalgo or of even the less hipster areas of Mexico City. There is not a real here...here. But it is pretty safe, there are places to eat, you can get to my new apartment by bus within 30 minutes, and the people are friendly, or at least not hostile (depending on where you are going and with whom you are speaking).
The landlord at this apartment is the nicest and most patient guy on earth. His sister....well, she struck me the wrong way on our first meeting, and I have never been able to get past that. I remember asking her where I could get arena por los gatos (cat litter, or literally- sand for cats), and she said, rather flippantly - at the river. Nah, don't talk crap about kitty related things! LOL. I am a grudge holder, aren't I? :D
Well, OK, so enough of the bla bla bla, let me show you some photos of the apartment that I will soon be leaving. I will comment on some photos, not on others. I mean, I am not that creative!
First of all, this is my street, or rather my block - Calle Colón. (Christopher Columbus haters, bear with. Es lo que es). As I mentioned, it isn't beautiful, and it is not touristic, but it is not at all bad.
Here you see the front door that leads into the courtyard. (the black one to the left of the white one). When I first moved in, you entered with a regular key, but the owner later installed a keypad device, which turned out to make things much easier, especially since some guests would sometimes screw around with the old locks, not knowing what they do, amen, and make it impossible to get inside without waking up, or at least bothering, the landlord.
Once inside the gate, this is what lay before me. The owner's sister's house and apartment to the left, and his place and apartments in the back. There were a lot of lovely plants in this walkway, so although it seemed mildly odd, it was strangely beautiful.
Almost always there to greet me upon my return was Dino, the owner's sister's dog. He was a cute dog, and was very friendly. He would not let me go until I had pet his head, under his chin, and his back sufficiently.
On warmer days, I would often find both Dino and the house cat, whom I called "Koshki" (variation on the Russian "koshka" (=cat - oh my, how clever I am lol) lying outside enjoying the rotation of the earth - or maybe the revolution of the earth around the sun. I never thought to ask them which. Dang! Life is a series of missed opportunities, isn't it!
There was also a small parrot as I made my way back toward my unit. I don't know what his name was or is, but I had him imitating my hahaha's and saying Ni Hao. However, after taking a video of him.... he stopped talking.....like permanently! Talk about cameras zapping one's soul!
As you got to the back of the courtyard, you could see my apartment up there on the 2nd floor.
The landing or entryway to my apartment was to the left of the photo. The first door leading into the bedroom, and the 2nd door leading to the living/dining/kitchen, to use the Japanese parlance, albeit quite liberally, since it was basically a kitchen with a square table, two chairs, and....a sofa.
And the interior, well, you can see what it was like, more or less, in the video above.
Rulla, btw, was very fond of sitting in this location, from where she could see what was going on outside.
So, that is, or rather soon to be was, the apartment. Now, I will provide you with a a few neighborhood shots so that you can see where it was i was marching around while in my hood.
This, for example, was my lavanderia, the place that kept my clothes smelling spring fresh, or thereabouts. 12 pesos a kg for two day service, 15 pesos per kg for one day service. The guy there was also my source for bus information.
This was my corner market. It is here that I would buy my Coke Lite, Cacahuates japoneses, cheese, and tortillas. The workers, save for one, were very nice.
The shop on the left (the one with pink, and not the unfortunately names, or at least signed, spot to its right) is where I would go to get things printed.
On the corner, two of four corners, actually were these women, who I was told - by just about everyone in the neighbood, - were indigenous, were these stand selling cooked Spanish rice, boiled eggs, black bean puree (oh, God, please, no!), tortillas, tortillas stuff with chile relleno (and, of course) black beans, and rice, and taquitos. I never actually tried these two, but instead tried the one near the bus top where I'd get off the bus when making my way back home. Very nice woman and her daughter running that stand, but once school started, they stopped selling. A real mom.
Also very nearby was this cafe that I intended to visit, but....never did.
Finally, the only place of note in the neighborhood, and that 5 blocks away, was the Casa de Cultura. I have no idea what is inside this place, as I never once went inside, but it was a great map and taxi reference point.
Well, that is all for now. Soon I will put out my post on the new apartment and neighborhood. Stay tuned.
I suppose that the sign writer of the sign for the unforunately signed electronics shop had intended it to read "electronica Canal 51" using the sweeping tail of the too-shallowly-curved un-C-like C to incorporate the names of the goods and services offered by the shop. Unforunately, green was a poor color choice, making it seem a separate entity to the red characters in the sign. I would have gone with red and curved that C a bit more !
ReplyDeleteI suppose that the sign writer of the sign for the unforunately signed electronics shop had intended it to read "electronica Canal 51" using the sweeping tail of the too-shallowly-curved un-C-like C to incorporate the names of the goods and services offered by the shop. Unforunately, green was a poor color choice, making it seem a separate entity to the red characters in the sign. I would have gone with red and curved that C a bit more !
ReplyDelete