Home Sweet Argentina!

We have an apartment! We have an apartment! Yes, that's right, after two days of searching we now have an apartment. We were warned about the "guaranteer," the scary person who must be specifically from Mendoza, not just Argentina and whose signature is required to rent any apartment. Yet, we beat the system with a little help from Jorge, our new savior.

Who knew calling a random number on the side of the building would turn out so well.

This morning I woke up with a little resaca, so as we waited for Jorge to finish his breakfast, smoke multiple cigarettes, and make a couple of calls on our behalf, I didn't know if I was going to make it. Luckily, a short 30 minutes and a whole bottle of water later we were flying down the streets of Mendoza in our oh so smokey taxi. It was time to find an apartment. Apartment 1: A garage turned apartment, no go. Apartment 2: Much larger but stinky. Todd thought it was fine, but it smelled.

Apartment 3: Winner! Small, but it has a full kitchen, everything is half size, separate bedroom with a little bed for guests,

and a big kitchen table. Even the bathroom has character. A bite size closet bathroom, coined a shit, shower, and shave by Todd, with toilet and sink like you imagine, but it also has a shower head on the wall. So we just have to remember to move the toilet paper before we shower. And lucky for us, the place comes with its own squeegy. What more could we ask for. Oh yea, no guaranteer necessary, no deposit needed. Simply, 4 months rent up front and a super steep fee for our inmobiliarias. So for the next 4 days we will be visiting the local atm. And in the meantime,

the job search begins. Apparently, Jorge is not only a rental agent, he also owns an underground night club, wants us to off load some wine, has a couple tricycle tour bikes, and knows a guy who knows a guy, etc.

All worth the hunt. So today

we leave the hostel, our last (maybe) on this journey. I am excited and nervous and hoping they properly cleaned the apartment (which no matter what I will most likely wipe down once more). I will let you know how it all turns out.