Back Home Again

Got back to Va11arta on Monday morning. I took the red-eye leaving JFK at 1am and arriving here at 10am. I had thought it was a good idea because I'm such a night owl. It was good to just spend all day packing and doing last minute errands (Tr@der Joe's Yay!). But I was pretty tired on the flights and I can't ever really sleep more than a few minutes at a time on a flight unless I get multiple seats free and can lay down. I arrived exhausted and then had to nap awhile so my day was pretty much shot. I don't think I'll do the red-eye again.

Anyway, as expected there was a bit of an issue with getting my keys from the cat sitter even though I confirmed with her twice she'd be at her job at 11am. But I met her at another location on the way so it worked out in the end. I came home to a filthy apartment which is also somewhat to be expected. Va11arta is really dusty and dirty and add 3 cats to that and no cleaning in 3 weeks...not a pretty sight. It's taken me until tonight to be fully unpacked and have the place clean again.

I realized part way through my first day back that my gas had run out so no hot water or cooking. Fine; it's hot and I can deal with a cold shower. And I just snacked on tofurkey slices and soy cheese that I'd brought back. The great thing was that the following day, I was up early-ish (having stayed up late hanging out with Alej@ndro and Jonath@n, crashing for a little while in the hotel room they've apparently been staying in for a week, and getting up early to do the Walk of Shame home wearing my cute outfit I'd worn out to the club), the gas guy came pretty promptly and I also got a 19 liter bottle of water from my favorite water guy who only passes by around 10:30am.

I've been running into people I know and many have asked about my trip. And if they didn't know about it specifically, they've asked if I'd gone away because they hadn't seen me in awhile. It's the positive thing about living in a small neighborhood.

Luckily I still have water but I'm living in fear of it stopping any time which is very unpleasant. I went to the town hall to try to make a complaint about the situation but they said come back tomorrow because the office closes at 4pm. In the meantime, I've been doing laundry and hanging it out to dry on clothesline I've strung up on the patios (since I've been denied access to the roof which I used to love to use).

Yesterday I started my apartment search. I looked at a place really close to where I currently live (which is where I want to stay). It was a bit disappointing. The good things were that it has a patio, a balcony off the bedroom, air-conditioning in the bedroom, is bigger than my current place, lots of storage, comes furnished, has a washer and slop sink as well as a place to hang clothes, and a full sized fridge. But the place itself needs painting, doesn't have much light, and is nothing special. And it's about $170 more than what I currently pay. I just gotta keep on looking.