I was quietly surprised that my finely co-ordinated arrival & entry to the apartment went off without 1 hitch :) Considering I'd orchestrated it from afar, via email only i.e., it could have been a very different story!
As my airport transfer vehicle pulled up at the specified street address exactly at the time I'd nominated to meet, a taxi did also, carrying 2 ladies, including Martina from the real estate brokerage whom I recognised. The 2nd fashionably dressed woman whom I was introduced to as Cecilia I was to learn 30 minutes later was our new landlady. It struck me then as 'amusing' the level of discomfort a 'fashion victim' is prepared to endure when I saw Cecilia was wearing knee high designer black leather boots on what was a very warm day (about 28ºC). She looked terrific though!
After a 12 hour flight & having travelled alone with 3 large suitcases to manouvre through the airport systems, I was not really at my most alert but nonetheless these women were here on a business appointment with me, so I did my best, as politely as I could. Pages of multiple Tenancy contracts to be signed by all parties (all in Spanish only of course); household contents to be checked item-by-item against the long, printed inventory (again in Spanish only); instructions on operating the many electrical & digital devices inside this apartment; details on the schedule of the building caretaker & the weekly maid service; then the counting of the money & issuance of official written receipts (yes, in Spanish.) I had been asked to pay the initial 6 weeks rent upon arrival because it was tidier to do so, to end the year, etc. because we took the apartment for a 6 month lease, from November 15th. However, the rent here must be paid in cash. USD$ cash only, not local currency which I had organised at Sydney airport before departure. The 1 month bond/deposit had been paid in advance a month prior - yes, also in USD$ cash but that's another story!
Just as I'm thinking I don't have too much more energy left in my mental tank for these highly detailed, loud, foreign transactions, Cecilia unzips her boots & begins lining the cash notes vertically around her ankles! I had to laugh. GENIUS! Then she called a taxi, explaining to me in broken English how she was now headed directly to her bank downtown, to deposit this cash into her safety deposit box there. Recalling that scene made me smile several times over the next few days.
*Note to self: pay attention to how & where you carry cash amounts.
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