Apartment (or mud hut) Hunting in Cusco

First on my list of things to do in Cusco is to find an apartment, or a mud hut, as some of you prefer to believe. The school has a house for teachers and volunteers to stay until I can find my own place. It was free the first two days I was here, but now I'm paying $15 a day. This includes 3 meals a day prepared by an actual chef who wears the chef jacket and hat and makes delicious chocolate cake (but also some other strange desserts, like tonight's jelly that tasted like cinnamon toothpaste) as well as the wireless internet access that I'm currently using. I'm sure it sounds crazy that I want to leave, but I want to do my own cooking and unpack. While I don't mind sharing my room with two others for a few days, it's a little cramped. It's time to get settled.

Lucky for me, I met up with two other new teachers who need a place to live, Alayne, from San Diego, and Jake, from Chicago. (I found out why there are no Americans in Ecuador: they're all in Peru.) We started looking right away on Monday morning. The first place we looked at wasn't much of a step up from a mud hut, and the woman wanted way too much. All because it was in a neighborhood not far from the Plaza full of winding, cobblestone alleyways. Charming, yes, but I want a stove and a refrigerator. The next 3 apartments were each a step up, and the 4th was the winner. We looked at a few more, but kept coming back to that 4th one. It's an adorable little carriage house behind a house with windows for walls (even for the bedrooms, but there are curtains) and skylights for ceilings, so on the rare occasion that the sun is shining in Cusco, it's nice and sunshine-y, with a garden and clothes line in the front. It is also home to the world's ugliest furniture. The sofa and chairs are a matching set, half-leather and half hideously bright orange faux leopard print. AWESOME. I already have the purple sofa photo set, and I believe it is time for an ugly sofa photo set. The only drawback is that it's a bit far from the city center, but it's in a great neighborhood. Everything we need is right around the corner, from the grocery store, the bakery, and the ice cream shop (very important). We're signing our contracts tomorrow, and my monthly rent, including cable, will come out to $100 a month. I think it will be great fun. Like Three's Company, only in Peru, and Jake doesn't have to pretend he's gay. (I just want to point out that I've never actually seen Three's Company, but that's what I've been told it's all about.) We move in on Friday.