I have a few more days in this apartment and then I am off to New Orleans. I want to spend the holidays with my friend Valorie Hart. I like New Orleans. People are friendly. I like their accent. It is a big change from Buenos Aires.
I am having baking withdrawals. I have not been able to bake since I left my old apartment. I am happy to go to Valorie's. I told her I have to bake everyday. It will be February before I will be able to bake again. Baking is my therapy. I don't care if I eat what I bake, but I love the whole process.
I realize that living in this rental owned by "La Rata", I miss being in my own place. This place is a nice dump. The owner could care less about any problems. A couple days ago the manager of the maintenance gave me the 24 hour notice from the electric company. The sum to pay is 800 pesos, which means he hasn't paid the bill in months. I would deduce at least 6 months.
I sent him an email and a text message which both went unanswered, like usual. I emailed Airbnb and they responded right away. They contacted "La Rata" (Rata means rat, but when used here in Argentina it is a person who takes advantage of a situation.) My oh my. He was angry. He told me first, that there must be a mistake. Could I please send him a copy of the notice. Right genius. How am I supposed to do that when the only contact I have is either text message or the email system of Airbnb. Aren't good hosts suppose to apologize and come over? Not this guy. He is sinvergüenza. (Without shame)
He told me I have no right to contact Airbnb as there is no problem. Then he admitted, maybe he "forgot" to pay the bill. I owned an apartment. There is no way you can "forget" to pay a bill. You have to make an effort to do so. Airbnb pressured him to pay the bill, so far I still have electricity.
Tomorrow my little man, Jerrybrown goes to Sam's on his mini-vacation. I feel sad. Like I am abandoning my child. Mr. Brown has never had a vacation of his own. I won't be able to bring him home until at least the end of January. Maxi is going to Marcelo's in Banfield. She loves it there. Marcelo is young and she can run with him. She has her friends in the barrio. The problem is she hates coming home. Hopefully this time she will like her new place.
My new place. The deed transfer will be in January. No later than the 20th. I hope before. I have to do some remodeling and painting. This place is not an easy floor plan. It is tall but not wide. It needs careful planning. I have lots of ideas. Unfortunately the architects are not listening. What is it about Argentina? People always do what they want, regardless of who is paying. I hate that. There is lots to like about living in Argentina, but this is not one of them.
When I come back from NOLA I will be in another rental. This guy tried to be cute. He wanted more money outside of Airbnb. No way. I almost wish he would cancel me. Maybe if I wish hard enough...I don't know what is wrong with Airbnb hosts in Buenos Aires. I never wrote about the ones where I checked out their apartments and thank God,did not rent.
Anyway, have a wonderful holiday season. I want to thank everyone for being faithful readers of my blog. It is amazing to me that people still read it. In January it will be 11 years!! Yes, the book is in process. Hopefully next year I will publish it! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! Here is a little bit of Pugliese to celebrate with.
I think anytime you do a remodeling job no matter where you are in the world, it is difficult. I don't think any one country has an exclusive on being difficult to work with.
Posted by: TangoSpam | December 19, 2016 at 05:02 PM
I am going to need some interior design work done and your post didn't exactly made me eager to start them. It is so hard to work with Argentines, sometimes!
Posted by: Isa | December 19, 2016 at 04:56 PM