We have moved to a New Apartment!

We have moved to a New Apartment! And I can tell you that this is Bliss!
Apartado Postal #169   Apartamento Huespedes  Alameda Santa Lucia Norte #12, Antigua 3001, Guatemala       


OUR LAND LINE PHONE NUMBER  502-7832-9966 remember this is an international call!!!
It has an answering machine. The best way to contact us is still email.    guatebuzz@gmail.com

Before I show you the apartment let me give just a little background. Last year if you followed our blog you heard about Kristin with whom we did some volunteer work in schools, mostly re-habbing computers. Well since Don knows a lot about computers Kristin wanted Don to spiff up her computer and to add more memory to it which he did -- in this apartment.  We really loved the whole complex and while we did not look really hard at her apartment (this was her home) we really liked the kitchen, dining and living areas and the gardens visible through the windows. When she finished with her project here in Antigua she went home but we were not in a position to rent her apartment. Just recently the tenent who was here broke his lease early and per the contract has to pay 90 days rent until the apartment is rented again.

We met Barbara and Tomas Cernikovsky last year and this year during Don's intensive search for a suitable apartment to rent he contacted them about any openings here at the "JARDINES DE LA ALAMEDA "   so last week we received an email from Barbara about this apartment and to make a long story short we rented it on the spot.  We had orginally planned to move in when we return in July but Friday we did not have water at the cassita and life is miserable without water. Barbara was kind enough to let us move in before she had the apartment ready for presentation to the public. We now live in Apartamento Huespedes (which means 'Guest Apartment).  If you click on the link you will see the apartment before the recent upgrades.  This is a gated five apartment complex and Barbara and Tomas live here as well. To enter you first must open the wooden outside door, next you open the inside gate door, walk to your apartment and open the iron gate (if you locked it) then the door to your apartment.


This is the front of the Apartment Complex. This was taken during last years Easter season. The front door is to the right of the tree.

This was taken with my back to the inside iron gate. Our apartment is at the far end on the right.

One of the fountains between all of the apartments.

This is our front door on the right with the iron gate partly open. At the end you can see the gate/door entrance to Barbara and Tomas's home. The gates open to another garden and tiled hall.

Stepping through the door you can see into the kitchen. Above the dishwasher is a new window (one of the upgrades) which adds light and air. Don's antique desk is on the wall beside the bedroom. To the left is the bedroom door and the shut door is the bathroom (closed for obvious reasons.)

This is a better view of the desk and the alcove (for want of a better word) that has my Mother's Day carving sitting there.(There is a matching space on the other side of the arch.) It is the face of Jesus carved from a tree with his eyes closed.

I took this photo standing behind the table to show you the size of the space for dinning room and kitchen.

This is the bedroom. The bath is to the right. At the foot of the bed the room was opened up (upgrade) and the old indoor garden was removed and tiled and patio was added and a small garden at the end of the patio. The patio area also houses the new laundry room for this apartment. The gardener will take care of the garden since I have such a brown thumb. 

A view of the patio and gardens from the foot of the bed.

Standing at the edge of the kitchen this is the living room. Front door to the left and the window opens to  Barbara and Tomas's garden. 

The dinning room table with my computer on one end and the view I have as I write. I can hear the fountain and listen to music from the flat screen cable TV. All the elevator music I want. It makes for a very pleasant space to be while slaving away at this blog. 

The gentleman below took care of more than 200 such small gardens  the Cernikovsky's planted on the Alameda (street) which the city now maintains. The gentleman in the red shirt still works part time inside the complex and for a small fee with take your trash out for pickup.

The patio and laundry room. This laundry room is a fantastic addition because hauling laundry on foot is hard to do and in the end expensive.

Life is a lot easier now. I had not realized how hard it was to 'campout' at the cassita. We were two feet from a major street with a lot of traffic both car (speeding) and foot and with all the dust that generated. I now have some choices of sitting areas, access to the outdoors with beautiful gardens, we are close to the markets, stores and other conveniences. Church will still be a good 30 minute walk (or we can take a tuk tuk) because we like San Fransico and will continue to go there. Don says his office is a little closer but still nearly a mile away but he likes our new living space as much as I do.