What an adventure. It suprises me at times even. I mean nothing works as I think it will and the road is always circuitous, but the fact it keeps happening....and it never gets old. I mean people say God has a sense of humor, but I say he's trying for a stand up comic of the year award. So, here is how it went down this time. The issue is never If, but HOW. I know these things work out....but what are the steps. HOW do you get there?
I arrived in Tacna Wed night at 8pm. We had dinner and looked at the options I had circled in the paper. Richard started calling and out of the 9-10 possibilities only 2 were still available to rent. One was $270 and the other $450. We currently pay about $175 so this was.....out of our range. I mean he gets a small raise with the promotion, but most of it will be taken with taxes and such and....the costs of having a wawa... (baby in quechua) that $ is long gone.
So, what now? We decided to look at the lower priced one just to have an idea, but I was starting to make contingency plans and figure out how to accomplish this. Richard is mentally occupied with his job and didn't have any other idea other than...keep looking.
Thurs AM I made an appt to see the $270 place at 2:30pm. and then went down to the front desk and asked them for ideas of how to find a place to rent. He showed me on the map where a calm residential zone is near downtown and suggested to look around for FOR RENT signs.....okay. We had lunch and then took a taxi to the area to look around and see if we could find anything in the heat of the day. We did find it to be a really nice, quiet area with lovely houses, of course where the $450 house is located. We came across a security guy on a bike and Richard asked him if he knew anything. He directed us to a house that was being worked on and ready for rent. The guy doing the renovation and cleaning let us in to look at it and answer questions. It was the first floor a a multilevel house. 2 small bedrooms, kitchen, combined dining/living room and a small maid's quarters with an outside laundry space. We called the owner and he wanted it for the same price we pay now. There were several downsides, but for the price we knew we had to take it even if only for 6 months. So we left not loving the place as it had several drawbacks like no closets, few cabinets etc but we were resigned to take it for the great price and the location. It was "good enough".
I was even thinking how this must be the place because this is how things work, guy on a bike shows us a place that's not even advertised for rent yet...blah blah...we had made an apt with the other place so we thought we'd go ahead and just check it out, even thought it was out of our price range.
It was on a bit busier street, but looked nice from the outside and is only a 5 minute walk to the main plaza and downtown. A nice lady answered the door and told us that it is a building/house with 4 units and the one for rent is on the 2nd floor. She was a talker. I think she liked us instantly because she was really selling the place. They liked it quiet there, lots of light, lots of storage space, very secure and safe etc. So we climb the stairs and open the door and recently restained/cleaned hardwood floors greet us with bright yellow walls and big windows with a view and I think to myself...."yea....of course...we had to look, now I am going to know what I am missing. I'll just walk through and walk away." It has a large open living/dining room and 3 bedrooms all with lots of natural light and 2 bathrooms, the main one with....hot water. A small kitchen, but ample storage space. Also a maid's quarters and outdoor laundry area. It was lovely. A lovely view on 2 sides, cheerful and of course we are like yea.....cause it costs more.
They told us how many people had called and called but they wanted the right people and I guess we were it. They really wanted us to take it, but I thought.....no way Richard would agree to this. He turns to me and says, "What do you think?" I didn't know what the right answer was. Yes? No? He could already tell by my face that I liked it much better than the other one. Before we entered this one I was mentioning my concerns with the first one and he said I was complaining too much. Anyway, I said that it depended on him completely. He has to be happy with it, but that I liked it. (see how loving and diplomatic I am). He asked again how much they were asking and well, after great negotiation they lowered the price a little. They obviously really want us there. As you guessed from the beginning....we took it. We sign the contract tomorow. It also has a garage below the building that we can use and a security guard in the area and a secure entryway to the building.
So, I went to info Peru office today and got the scoop on all the major questions I had about where things are located or how to get there etc and I feel sooooooooo much better. It is so crazy. It always turns 180 on me. Darkest before the dawn. I was telling God that it would be great to work it out and just guide us to the right place. I feel that prayer has been answered. It is a cheerful place with plenty of space, near everything, but also secure. It may be a bit more, but I think it will be a much better life/experience for us. Grace is so crazy. I mean you don't deserve it. You don't earn it and yet there it is in abundance. I am very thankful and humbled yet again for how these things continue to unfold.
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