New Living Arrangements

I recently moved to a new apartment, also in Miraflores. The original plan was to stay with Tere a week or two upon arrival to Peru then move, but Tere had graciously invited me to extend my stay in her apartment for over a month to give me more flexibility in my apartment search. However, upon my return from Buenos Aires, she would begin traveling (to Brazil and Europe!) and I would need to find my own place.

I met a couple of young professionals at a party with Tere in a beautiful high-rise apartment overlooking the coast. After the party, we went back to their apartment with the younger attendees and continued to talk through the night. I got to know them well enough that they offered me a room in their apartment. The 3-bed, 3-bath apartment was very nice and centrally located, so we agreed on a price and I would move in upon return from my trip.

Both in their early thirties, Hector and Carlos are friends and complete opposites. Hector is very serious and careful. He is a lawyer for a company that owns and manages several hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. In his spare time, he assists an NGO that rescues, vaccinates, cleans, feeds and tries to find homes for stray street animals (ie, dogs and cats). I plan to help him draft some grant proposals in English to submit to some animal rights groups in the States. He strikes me as very responsible.

Carlos is at the other end of the spectrum. My first image of Carlos is drunk at the party and trying to seduce several of the older (50+) women, some of which might have had husbands. Carlos’ family owns a company that produces fruit concentrate that is distributed in grocery stores throughout Peru. He helps run the business. Carlos is the type of guy that puts his arm over your shoulder and says “Escuchame, escuchame… (“Listen to me” - number of times depending on how much he has had to drink), bróder (Spanish pronunciation of “brother”)…” and then sometimes goes on to make a point. When it is not a Saturday night, he is much more sedate. Carlos’ parents own the apartment and there are several pictures of his family, including his two adolescent sons and his ex-wife.

The first week has gone fairly well. The first night was a little crazy, since it was a Saturday night and I had to tell Carlos to turn down the music at 5:30 AM. But since then, both roommates have made several gestures to make me feel comfortable. Among other things, Hector has taken special care to get a plumber to fix my bathroom and Carlos left his TV for me to use while he was away visiting his parents in Piura.

I think the situation is possibly the best I could ask for. I am constantly speaking Spanish and hanging out with my new roommates. A nice 24-hour supermarket is half a block away, my gym is one block away and the happening parts of town are within a 5-minute walk. I have cable TV, wireless internet, hot water… what else could you ask for? Plus, a woman from my office lives 5 blocks away and offered to take me to and from work as long as we practice her English on the drive.