my unit circled in yellow

So after about three weeks of shuffling from room to room, living out of a suitcase, I finally got to move into a place I can call home. Sure its in the same building I’ve been in from day one here. And sure it makes my apartment in new york look like a sprawling estate, but its home!

living room and bedroom

kitchen

bathroom

patio at night

Located in a rather nice neighborhood of Las Condes, it consist of three rooms… a living room / kitchen area, bedroom and bathroom. Off both the living room and bedroom is a great patio area where I probably spend the bulk of my time when in the apartment. That habit will certainly be tested with the temperatures dropping each day, but not one to give in lightly, I’ll hold on till I just can’t take it anymore.

The living room and kitchen area are somewhat connected, separated by a little table for two. The living room portion is admittedly a bit bare, and somewhat useless at the moment with the decievingly less then plush couch staring at an otherwise blank wall. Moving the non-functioning television into here might be in order once I get cable hooked up.

The bedroom is decent, and has plenty of storage, especially for someone that doesn’t own much of anything down here (remember…two bags!).

Finally there’s the bathroom which is alright, minus the exploding shower head which I need to replace. It currently has a cool unintended feature that it can almost spray my head while it also gets my legs at the same time… the problem is that it doesn’t get much of in between at the same time. The only complaint in the bathroom is that there’s no window in it, which I never realized I’d miss until I didn’t have one.

Then there’s the patio, by far my favorite aspect of the unit, with the great view of the nearby Andes. I’m really looking forward to possibly seeing some snow on the mountains which are visible outside of the patio window. The only potential problem with this grand vision is the issue of the intense smog which gets trapped in the city, and hides said mountains from visible sight.

In addition to the apartment, the building has a few really nice security guards who humor me as I practice my spanish on them, as well as a small gym, tv room, a business center (basically a room with desk) and a mini-mart which claims it will open tomorrow (monday)… we shall see.

Oh yea, not to be forgotten is the proximity to my office, about a five minute walk, which is always a great feature.

Outside of the apartment, the neighborhood is pretty nice. Its located near the mountains, which apparently is generally the nicer, safer areas to be in, and thus one of the higher rent areas as well (boo!). With this additional cost though also comes the added benefit of being right along the main line (#1 line) of the Metro de Santiago. In addition, there are a few malls within easy walking distance as well as a blockbuster across the street (odd), several other cafés and restaurants, as well as shops and a couple of foreign embassies.

morning view from apartment