I am going to Thailand and the Philippines on Thursday and I'm not going to write any more about the political situation here, it is getting very complicated. Only to say that what I do find ironic is the independistas complaining about "abuse of the law" after having run a steamroller through the laws of Spain. I guess it is a case of choosing the laws you agree with and rejecting the ones you don't like. Er, nooo. That is not how it is supposed to work!
I had quite a drama arranging somewhere to stay in Pereira, Colombia from 28th December till 1st March. I had already decided that I wanted to live near to my adopted "family" in Cuba (the district of Pereira, not the country!) It is out to the west of the city, near the airport. Previously I stayed to the east, next to the bus station.
I was recently in touch on WhatsApp with Milena who used to service the room where I stayed previously and somehow she persuaded me to rent an apartment from a separate person, Oscar, in the same building. But she was worried what her previous employers would think - me too! She left a few months ago to have a baby. I felt that, since I would be passing their office every day, we had to be open about it and I said that I would speak to them on the phone.
Their response was to offer me a much better deal, so I decided to take that and compensate Milena for the commission she was losing with Oscar. Hey, I was getting swept along with this, totally forgetting my original plan! Cuba is a 30 minute bus ride away from the bus station. I even sent my credit card details only to be told that the owning company had not approved the price and that it was now much higher. It was 11pm here and I got rather annoyed and stressed about it. But they did me a favour.
I went back to Milena but by now I was tired of the whole thing so I said that I would start again, this time where I originally planned to stay.
I looked on Airbnb and there were two apartments exactly where I wanted to be. I sent a request to the owner of the cheaper of the two but he came back saying that he had let it out on another site. So I clicked on the more expensive apartment and got an immediate confirmation from the owner. It is about €520 for a month. I booked it for January but the owner is giving me "first refusal" for the second month.
I wrote to my friend Nini and she was overjoyed that I would be their neighbour for 2 months. I know part of that joy is that I will be going with them to the supermarket! I had a look at Google Maps and it appears that there is a 10 minute walk through a park between the two locations.
https://www.airbnb.es/rooms/20175717
I even requested an oven in the new apartment because it only has a microwave in addition to the gas hob and the owner was very helpful. Maybe I will pay for all or part of it, I don't know.
And I will be looking for a property to buy.
But before Colombia, I am off in the other direction!
The Blog of Steve Brown in Celrà, Girona.... and Arrecife, Lanzarote.
Glad you're getting your Colombia trip sorted successfully. But you say 'property to buy'??
ReplyDeleteMy intention is to look for a property to buy while I'm there this time, yes. A small house or apartment is not expensive in Colombia and I have savings in my bank doing nothing. Initially I plan to spend the winter months of November to February there and let it out for the rest of the year. But then it is there for me if I decide to move full-time to Colombia. Obviously I'm waiting to see what happens in Catalunya but no other part of Spain really attracts me very much. The first step is to get an ID (CE - cédula extranjero) and then a bank account.
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