our new digs

Sabado (Saturday) was a great day.  We moved into our own "home."  We stayed in Lula's B & B for two weeks, reveled in the views from our terrace and thoroughly enjoyed Max's cooking, but it was time for us to move on.

Julie found a promising place online, and after some difficulties connecting with the owner, we finally were able to see the place.  We liked it and rented it for one month, potentially longer.

It is quite small, especially when compared to our place last year which came complete with a maid's quarters.  This one has a small living room, a small eat-in kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom/closet upstairs.  Size aside, it has many attributes.  It is actually a part of a "compound" which is within a gated community.  The owners live in the rest of the compound, and we have a lovely garden out our glass front door.  The unit also includes a picnic table and a grill.  The apartment has been recently redone, so we have tile floors, granite counter tops, new appliances, furniture, etc.  We also have cable TV, complete with HBO and Cinemax, as well as a CD player and wi-fi.  What more could one ask for?

Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment:

Here is the door knob that provides entrance to "our" compound.

As you enter, you see the rectangular garden with beautiful flowers and plants.  The table is right in front of our patio door entrance.  The rest of the buildings belong to the owner. 

Here is another view of the garden, along with a view of the grill which we can use (under the gray cover).

Here is our front door, and the window off to the left is our kitchen window. 

You enter the front door into our living room, complete with a brand new leather couch that is also a sofa bed.

Moving around the living room, this decorative wall and table is straight across from the door (the couch is on your right as you look at the picture).  And yes, that's "moi" in the mirror.  It's hard to take a picture of a mirror without having your own image in the mirror -- unless you are a ghost, which I, apparently, am not. 

And the last wall in the living room holds the TV, VCR, etc.

Here is our pint-sized kitchen, which does everything it needs to do.

And within the kitchen we have a table/chairs (we obviously won't be doing much entertaining, but there are a couple more chairs, just in case).  The circular staircase you see goes up to our bedroom.

Next to the staircase, we also have a nice-sized pantry and frig.

This is the little hallway between the kitchen and living room.  
It goes to the bathroom.

And here is our bathroom.  No problem with hot water  :-).

And here is our bed (rather sloppily made, I see). 

And lastly, we have our clothes closet. 

It meets all of our needs and has the plus of being very quiet.  The price is $600 per month which is a bit high (although less than we paid in Ecuador for our "mansion"), but it has other assets that we couldn't dismiss.  In addition to the beautiful garden, we like the owners, both of whom speak decent English.  Cesar is an accountant for a copper mine.  They have a gardener and at least two maids (I only have Harold).   It is somewhat close to downtown and is in an area of town which has some good restaurants.

So, life is good in Peru!