2nd year, 2nd apartment

other than studying for a week in oaxaca, our primary mexican summer adventure was moving from our first place in colonia san miguel chapultepec to our new apartment in la condesa.

it was, as moving always is, an adventure. we splurged and hired mudanzas to come in, carry all our furniture down two flights of stairs, drive it the mile to our new neighborhood and then carry everything back up three very narrow and twisty stairs. the moment i knew we had chosen wisely by hiring someone to do the job was as i watched them hoist our mattress up and over the top of the roof, using a very long, very old rope and some blankets and pushing power lines out of the way as the bed went past. so very very thankful for those lovely movers.

as you can see from the pictures, the place has a similar setup to our other apartment – albeit with a very different layout. we still have one large room that acts both as living and dining room, a small kitchen, two bedrooms, and now only one bathroom.

so why move – if it is only a short distance away and neither a larger nor cheaper place? two reasons: one, we now live in the heart of one of the nicest and most entertaining areas in mexico city. condesa feels a bit like parts of europe, with tree-lined walking paths down the center of larger streets, a mishmash of new architecture and art deco stone and stucco houses, weekly street markets, and large parks in several corners of the neighborhood. we can ride bikes safely and easily here, using the fabulous rental bikes from ecobici that allow us to get wherever we want without having to own our own bikes. in addition, within a three block radius of our place are perhaps forty restaurants and cafes… and they are just a tiny sample of this area, nicknamed “la fond-esa” because there are so many fondas or tiny restaurants of all varieties throughout the area. in our former neighborhood, we had five restaurants, period. we are loving the many options that have opened up to us now.

second: nearly all of our friends live in or very near this neighborhood. in fact, our new place is in a building with only three apartments in it. we live on the top floor; our canadian friends live directly below us, and our landlord (a wonderful woman fluent in English, Spanish, and several other languages) lives on the first floor. i am especially excited about that fact for alex – he was too often alone and isolated all day at the other apartment, where now if he ever needs or wants a break of conversation or a quick lunch, he can easily just run downstairs. for me a bonus is that now i ride to work with four other coworkers – both a time and money saver, and a nice way to start my morning. plus any social events that go on tend to take place somewhere nearby, so we are much more likely to join in than when coming here meant a thirty minute walk home sometimes in the very late hours of the night.

double bonus: random events also tend to pass this way. this morning, for nearly two hours, thousands of people ran past our apartment, participating in mexico city’s annual marathon. some mariachis were playing on the street, and occassional well-wishers kept coming out with signs and cheers in support of the runners. it was a nice start to the sunday – especially to watch from the comfort of our window.

look carefully and you can see me in the window on the third floor of our building

all things considered, we are much happier here. last year was good, but i think this one will be even better. and (hint, hint) for anyone interested in a visit, i am making constant lists of the fabulous places in our new neighborhood that i would love to share.