In Search of A Place To Live
After several days of learning my way around, I decided it was time to dive into the deep end. I decided I was going to get moved into an Airbnb for a while. I used the Airbnb app to find a place. I still wanted something close to Centro but also wanted to stay in a place that was in a real neighborhood. I called around and made arrangements to see a place north of where the hotel was.
As usual, I decided to walk. I wanted to know how long it would take me to get to Centro. I was about an hour’s walk from the hotel, but if I decided to stay there, it would be about a 30-minute walk to Centro. As I walked to the Airbnb, I noticed how the neighborhoods changed. It felt uneasy at first being in a new place and depending on Google Maps to get me to where I had to go. I stayed on the main streets as they had more traffic and people, but I soon noticed not one person paid too much attention to my presence. It was like I belonged.
I finally arrived at my destination, well almost. There was this hill I had to climb. This hill would later be named “The Hill of Death.” All kinds of thoughts ran through my mind. How was I going to climb this hill with groceries and bags? One thing was for sure—I was only going to do this hill once a day, going and coming.
In Mexico, they don’t have addresses like we do in the States. They use landmarks to identify places, like the blue house next to the red house on whatever street the place is located. I was in a section called Arroyo Seco. The houses were fortified. It had a set of steps that led to a metal door with cameras on the outside. As I entered the door, it looked like a small village. Two apartments on the first level, two apartments on the second level, and two on the third along with a rooftop. My first impression was that I was safe. My host was very friendly and showed me around the building. It was a one-room apartment, something you might find in a rooming house in the States. It had a large room with a kitchenette, including a sink, fridge, and gas stove, and a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink.
If I could live in the woods, I could live here with no problem. But it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought it would be. The rent was fairly decent compared to the States—450 US dollars a month. Yeah, tell me about it, you can’t beat that. I asked about where the grocery store and the laundromat were located. She told me they were both nearby—two blocks from the laundromat and four blocks to the supermarket.
I told her I liked it and would be moving in on the weekend. I decided to check out the laundromat. It wasn’t what I thought it would be like. This was a place where you dropped off your clothes and picked them up the next day. I introduced myself and got familiar with the process and the prices. The next stop was the supermarket. The supermarket was located two blocks away from the laundromat, both situated on “Niños Héroes.”
The supermarket was a pretty good size and had everything one would need. It reminded me of a Costco in many ways—you had to bring your own bags, lol. I was feeling pretty good about my decision to choose this community to live in for a while. Up the street from the market was another major street. I couldn’t wait to venture out and find out more about this place.
It was getting late in the afternoon, so I decided to start heading back to the hotel. I still didn’t feel too comfortable about walking around at night and still needed to find wings. I started walking back, taking the same route I had traveled to get there. I decided to stop and have some dinner in Centro. I was in familiar territory, so I felt comfortable walking back to the hotel from there even though it was getting dark.
Once I got to the hotel, I processed the payment for the Airbnb. Wow, I was going to live here for a while. It was exciting and scary at the same time. In two days, I would get to live out my dream—to live in a foreign country.
QUICK PICs and GALLERY
365 GEARUP
