Category Archives: Housing

A Much Better Day

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pugs-on-boxes

Great news that Pablo, our 8 year old male Pug, is on the mend.  We had a vet visit yesterday, along with medication delivered today and all should be better soon.  Brad can write more at some point about his vet adventures.  I also have to mention that Paloma, out female Pug turned 7 today.  Happy Birthday!! As you can tell by the photo above, the days festivities were exhausting and they found a comfy spot on a flattened box to rest. 

This afternoon we had a bittersweet lunch with friends who will be leaving UY today to head back to MN.  While they are planning to return here next year, we probably will not see them before then and miss them already.  Jim and Mariellen had a wonderful experience here and are definitely planning UY as their retirement destination! Yippee!!

At the tail end of our lunch, I had to leave a bit early because Ms. G was in dire need of a nap.  I took her back home (which was about a 1/2 block away) and put her to bed.  I then prepared coffee for everyone to come back and enjoy once they were done with the bill and the last bit of wine at the restaurant.  15 minutes had passed.  30 minutes had passed.  Still no sign of them.   40 minutes after I left the restaurant, they get back here.  Turns out that the bill was paid and then the waitress brought two BIG carafes of wine, on the house.   That was certainly unexpected and I was more than a bit envious that I missed out.  We talked some more and had a quick 20 minute coffee (Record time in UY!) in our back courtyard before the landlord and Jorge were scheduled to arrive.   

Jorge  and the landlord get here.  We say our goodbyes to Jim and Mariellen (who have to get to their hotel and then off to the airport ) and we are off to talk about the water issues.   The landlord lived in this house for 4 years and is familiar with the systems.  He says that the water pressure can build up in the system overnight and that causes leaks where there are not normally leaks.  For the next few days, he is asking us to turn the water off at night until they can get the system repaired.  Not a big deal and we are happy to do so if that will prevent more water.  The kitchen cabinet need to be dried out (we have some stuff to absorb the moisture) and then bleached. I don’t like bleach, but if it can kill the nasties, I’m all for it.  The atmosphere was all very comfortable and they came prepared to hang up a clothes line while here (we already did that a few days ago) and silicone the shower fixture as we had requested.  We  also got the assurance that all was going to be made right and received the landlords phone number and address (he lives right around the corner) and then an invitation to come to his house to pick up a tricycle.    His daughter is 3 and had graduated to training wheels.  He thought that we might like it.  Geneva thinks it’s fun to push it and walk while straddling it, but hasn’t gotten the concept of riding get.  It’ll come.

All in all, a much better day than yesterday.  A vet visit (along with a husband who’s Spanish is good enough to handle a vet visit) great lunch with friends and a responsive and helpful landlord all make for a very happy Lisa!

Not All Is Rosy

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Today I hit the wall. Not literally of course, but I hit the “I’m freaking-out-could-this-be-culture-shock” wall. I think it was more just general stress with lots of weird things compounding.  There were lots of tears involved, but fortunately a very supportive husband who along with Baby G gave me some much needed hugs. 

Sorry for another list.  We’ve has a bunch lately— 

1.) Pablo is sick. I’m not going into the details but it has to deal with his bowels and said evacuation. We thought it may have just been a stress related issue for him, coming to yet another new environment, but since it continued through the weekend, we have to call the vet. So, sick dog. Gross. Lots of cleanup involved. Plus, dog who loves people and toddler who loves dogs are hard to keep apart.

2.) VERY willful toddler. That goes without saying, I guess. She’s our first, though, so we’ve just never been in this stage before. She is testing us like crazy and is still not extremely stable on her feet. A tall baby with a big Dutch head is just asking for trouble! It is taking constant vigilance to keep her safe. (Thanks Paul, you warned us!!) Not much unpacking, cleaning or cooking is being done. Email and blog posts are happening only during naptimes and after bedtime. I am full-time mommy, which I have never been before.

3.) Child safety standards are different here (I knew this before we arrived) and while I want to bring Geneva to the parks to blow off some steam, they scare the bejeebers out of me. Baby swingThink wooden baby swings with no crotch rail that are 4.5′ off the pavers/concrete slab below. Or slides that have a small patch of sand at the bottom with a ring of bricks to keep the sand in. I envision kids cracking their head open at every turn. It is not unlike the types of playgrounds Brad and I remember from our childhood. My mommy instinct to keep my child free from harm is in overdrive. Thank god that Brad reminded me the life expectancy here is the same as the US. I was wondering how anyone made it to age 10.

4.) After the first two days of no water in the house at all, we now have water seeping from both sides of the plumbing wall, into the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom. We saw the water in the bathroom late last week and didn’t think too much of it (“Hey, maybe I left the shower door open a crack.”). But the water kept coming back at random times, from the area between the floor and baseboard. We couldn’t figure out what was causing it. We reported a small amount of water to our rental agent on Thursday via email, then called on Friday to follow up. Within minutes, the owners agent called us and told us that a plumber would be here on Monday. Cool. We could deal with that. Late Sunday night though, I walked into the kitchen at about 1:30 AM to find water dripping from the front edge of a base cabinet (from the wood above the toe kick) and the musty smell that I originally detected was overpowering. The sink pipes were fine. This water must be coming from the wall.

Everything I know about construction says this is no good at all and we could have a serious mold issue. But wait, this is poured concrete/block construction with plaster. There is no wood framing, no sheetrock and no insulation for mold to feed on. The only “food” for mold here is the cabinetry. It seems like there must have been water before to cause the original musty smell that I noticed upon move in. I shot short videos of the water and Brad got a hold of the rental agents this morning. A plumber was over at noon and checked all of the exposed pipes and then turned everything off and checked the water meter out front.  No movement at all, so no internal leaks. Then he turned on the spigot to a drip, the meter started spinning. He said that our water issue is actually from the building next door and not coming from our wall. He confirmed that this building has had a problem with the adjacent building’s water once before.  No more update as of yet as to the solution but the cabinets are still wet and the smell is horrible, so we are staying out of the kitchen until we have this resolved.

We’re pushing for new base cabinets and a full clean-up of that wall. We’ll keep you updated on the progress of that. We knew not everything was going to be rosy in paradise, but the last few days have been stressful indeed.

Thankfully the vet is two blocks away and is coming over tomorrow. One issue down. Yippee for small victories!!

Chivito

So tonight I just had to go out.  We went for a short walk, then enjoyed an early dinner. I had a crazy-big Chivito and a glass of wine to decompress at “Chivitos Marcos” (Corner of Louis de La Torre and Sarmiento). While the photo is not my exact sandwich, it is close, except mine was goopier and included pickle and hot pepper and was without fries. It was excellent and I will definitely be back again. Nothing like comfort food after a rough day!

Shameless Plugs

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There are a few people/services that we have used here in MVD that have gone above and beyond and have been so wonderful to us, we have to recommend  them to the world:

Jorge Cassarino Etcheverry, Maria Jesús Etcheverry Negocios Inmobiliarios (rental/real estate agent) :  What is there to not to love about Jorge?   He goes the extra mile, is funny, fair and really, just a big teddy bear (wow, I rhyme, too!) Jorge was recommended to us by some peple who used him to find their house a year and a half ago. Now they are good friends.  Really though, what a nice guy, and his English isn’t bad either!  He showed us numerous places over several days and showed us some differnet options that we didn’t even know we wanted (we were all set for an apartment!). jc@mariajesusetcheverry.com www.mariajesusetcheverry.com

marti-aparthotelMarti Aparthotel:  Great neighborhood, big rooms, excellent staff. Ask for a top floor, they’re sunnier above the tree line.  The 11th is where we stayed, one level below the breakfast room (don’t worry, it is not noisy).  A small kitchen is included in the room, along with a decent sized bathroom with a tub. Every floor has a wireless access point. Federico is the contact for booking at the hotel.  He’ll give you a deal if you let him know you found them here! 3325 Jose Marti between Berro and Chuccaro.  http://www.martiaparthotel.com.uy

Then a few eating establishments:

bar-62Bar 62: I hear this place gets its name from the first trolley line in the city of MVD. Well, I can’t verify that, but it is some of the best food we’ve had here, and by best, we mean a 7:00 dinner of nothing off of the parilla because it’s not ready yet, because we’re out too early with a baby in tow.  Still, it’s been incredible. They have an eclectic combination of sushi/tempura (veggie tempura was light and not greasy- some of the best we’ve had.  Looking forward to the sushi!), mediterranean salads (we’ve had it served differently on two occasions, both really good though)and typical Parilla fare . The waitstaff is cool, the building is beautiful and we’re certainly going back for a real dinner (at the normal time of 10 PM) the first time we have a babysitter. Barreiro 3301 and Chucarro in Pocitos, 2 blocks from La Rambla. 

La Taqueria: The little taco joint that we mentioned before.  We finally got there on the night that we moved into our house.  What a great day!! Don’t let the little taco stand facade fool you.  These guys know what they are doing (and with a little prodding, they can and make it HOT!).  It is a bit more expensive than a typical mexican place… but completely worth it.  As Brad put it in a recent email to two future friends from CA and their daughter who are moving to MVD in a few weeks: “We love spicy food.  We went to that Mexican place the other night (Tuesday to be exact).  They brought our the first salsa. We tried it…pretty much about as spicy as ketchup.  Then he proudly brought out the “mas picante” option.  Better, I can feel it a little bit now.  He said he could do one even “MAS picante” after a few minutes I went up to him and asked for it.  I saw the guys in the back mincing the chili pepper.  One of his buddies tried it before they brought it out. I heard him cough, turn red and reach for his drink.  They brought it to the table.  Lisa and I both filled up a chip.  It was great, but this is very much the exception”. We had the veggie burrito, chicken burrito, quesadilla  and some amazing chocolate torte for desert. Heaven!!  On Jose Marti between Benito Blanco and Chuccaro in Pocitos.

Quick Water Update

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We have water again!  All that good karma you’ve been sending this way worked!  It was down to just about 10% of the city that didn’t have water this morning and all the city should be restored by tonight.  All the Uruguayos that we’ve spoke to can never remember this happening before.  So luckily we can’t say ‘Oh, this is how things work in Uruguay!”  Great that we still have the hotel room through Friday so after dinner and a walk, we were able to shower and get baby G in her PJ’s before coming home. 

Just think though, this was a 40 year old water main that burst to an city of 1.5 million.  New York has a water tunnel that is 114 years old that serves a city of 8 million.  That would really be bad!

Now we can really get to the work of cleaning and moving in.  With two pugs and a toddler underfoot (and falling hard on all this tile flooring), it should be interesting!!

Our Little House

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So today was the big day. We got the keys to the house. Easy enough. Sign some papers hand over the money and in return, a set a keys. Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that in Uruguay. All in all, really it’s not that hard, just very time consuming. The papers are very similar to the contracts that you might see in the States as a rental agreement. We also received a six page inventory addendum detailing absolutely every little thing included in the rental (since it is furnished and equipped) down the color and number of forks in the kitchen. In our case, we received this list in advance via email so we were able to review ahead of time.

The detailed addendum contained too many household items to know all of them in Spanish, even if your Spanish is quite good. We just pasted the text of the Word doc text into Google Translate. This site is a fantasitic tool. It will translate a word or entire websites while keeping you on the site. Want to read the local paper El Pais? Just pop the URL into Translate and it will almost comes across as though it were written in English. It’s not perfect, but if you know some Spanish you can clean up the translation afterward. Anyway, fantastic tool. Use it for all of your translating needs.

Armed with this inventory list, we were picked up by Jorge at the aparthotel at 12:40. An odd time you say? Not exactly. The banks in Uruguay open to the public at 1pm and most close at 5pm. (You thought bankers’ hours were nice in the States and elsewhere!) This gave us enough time to stop at the house where we were given the keys by the other rental agent, Andrea  and received a few additional details. Then off I went to the bank (Itaú) with Jorge while Lisa and Geneva stayed at the new house to review the checklist.  Andrea went to the Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU), where we’d be meeting her later.

The Banking:

Half the keys we received

Half the keys we received

 

Lisa detailed this the other day. We had wired money from our Credit Union in MN that posted to Jorge’s business account in 1 day. We’re were told it would take two or three days, but expected four or five. We expected the worst, but in the end very simple very easy.  Now it gets complicated. The process is well defined, but certainly different.  Try to keep up.

We had to withdraw a ridiculous sum of money for all of the different payments we had to make today, which of course had to be approved by several people at the bank. Thankfully, I was wearing my jeans (jeans = lots of good pockets). I ended up with a pocket for each sum. One pocket for the deposit (the equivalent of five months rent…again weird laws thus the strange practice.  I think we put down less when we closed on our house in MN!) to be held in escrow at the one bank in town that does this…BHU where Andrea was already waiting with the number that held our place in line (otherwise it would really take all day to complete the transaction). This main sum for the deposit had to be in pesos. Jorge had already called his friend at the bank while we were driving there. We were given a rate nearly a point better than that posted. Not bad. It pays to know someone.  In such a small country, everyone knows someone. So deposit money one pocket in Pesos. Second pocket the 1st month rent in US Dollars for Andrea. Third pocket the equivalent of 1 month’s rent plus the taxes of 22% for Jorge and all his work….and he deserves every penny. Then the little extra so I could buy a pack of gum in the final pocket. It was more than that but I was feeling a little house poor at that point.

So off  to the BHU to meet Andrea. Just a couple things to accomplish here. Sign the contracts which took about three minutes and place the deposit. This is the painful part….for everyone. It’s a huge bank. I envisioned about 500 people standing outside the door ready to rush in like like a store the day after thanksgiving or worse Filene’s Basement the day of the bridal dress sale.

I am pretty certain that each banker processes 4 to 5 transactions in the 4 hours that they are open to the public. We waited about 45 minutes to get from number 21 (the number we saw when Jorge and I arrived) to number 33–us. Mind you there are about 30 or 40 desks that–in theory–could help us. So we waited. Signed the papers and I gave Andrea the first month of rent. We chatted. We commiserated about this bank. It went fairly quickly. Andrea had already completed most of the form to create the deposit account. Yea! Finally 33! We go to one of the desks. They hand the banker the paperwork. Almost nothing is said. The gentleman types away while we chat. 20 minutes later. He’s done and prints off a form with our new account number. That’s wasn’t so bad. Oh, we’re not done?? We have to go to the teller (caja) to put in the money in the bank. 35 minutes in line and we’re at the counter. We deposit our funds less 2% for the bank for the priviledge of them holding our money. Jorge tells me it used to be interest bearing account but that practice had ended. BHU does however pay back the money at the end of the term at the rate of inflation. So one’s money is at least worth what it was when it went in. In pesos anyway. So money is in. Now we walk back over to the first desk where Andrea had been patiently waiting. They verifiy the details and we’re done. In all, about two hours were spent at the bank. Good times. Then back to the house to see how Lisa and Geneva made out go over a few more details and discuss the urgent need to grab a drink and celebrate. Whew!

Oh that’s right, we have to take care of Jorge. We give Jorge his agency’s fee plus the taxes and we’re set.

I’ll let Lisa describe some of the “fun” and “interesting” features of the new house in an upcoming edition, like the grasera, tiny propane range and the 200-some keys we were handed (not quite, but close!).

Housing – Parte Dos

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Well, our offer on the little house was accepted. We had a meeting a week ago with the owner and both Inmobiliarios (rental agents) to sign preliminary paperwork, sort of an agreement to agree/letter of intent with the basic terms and information spelled out. Now for the details to fall into place.

One of the big coordination issues is the cash. As mentioned in the last housing entry, 5 months rent (in UY pesos) is required to go into an escrow account, one month to the rental agent and then the first month rent payable to the landlord. That is 7 months rent up front! We could take money out of our accounts via the cash machine but the quantity needed, along with our daily limits, would require a visit to the cash machine every day for weeks. We do not have a bank account in Uruguay yet, which makes wiring money from our MN accounts difficult. We could possible write a personal check, but it is not known how much time that might take to clear.  With so many unknowns, we discussed this with our wonderful rental agent who agreed to let us wire to his company account in order to expedite the process.  After a  few phone calls and emails to get account numbers, and a visit by Brad to the local bank in UY which the money will be going to, the wire request from our MN bank was made and the money is on its way.

Honestly, the whole “wire” process is a bit backwards to me. In this time of instantaneous transactions, wiring money (which can take up to a week or longer in some cases) is supposed to be the fast way to transfer money. Fast?  Maybe in 1950!!!! But I digress….

When the money gets to the Uruguayan bank, it will be withdrawn in dollars, we will exchange it for pesos at another location to get the best exchange rate and then take it to another bank, the Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU) which is the only one in the city that handles this type of rental escrow account.  Banks open at 1 PM and we are told to plan to be there for a while because the whole process may take up to 2 hours. At that time, both the landlord and the renter sign the account and the lease paperwork. Keys are given out and when it is done, we have a place to live and can move right in.

The whole bank process is scheduled to happen on Monday the 20th, barring any delays in the money wire from MN. It is possible that we will be moving into the house on Monday evening!!

Hooking up the “Internets”

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So after much deliberation as to the provider of our local Internet service; We’ve chosen Montevideo COMM.  They are a reseller of Antel and come with higher praise for their service level than Antel directly.  Both an Expat and a local Uruguayo that does website development pointed us in this direction.  We have “blazing” speed of 4096k down and 512k up.  This likely means nothing to many, but it’s as fast as you can get in Montevideo and more than sufficient for our purposes.  The set up is not much different nor much more expensive than the 7 Mb down that Qwest offered back in Minneapolis for business DSL.  

Montevideo COMM

The process of getting set up for service was surprisingly uneventful.  Since my Spanish is good–not great–I went into the MVDCOMM’s office to set it up.  It was in a cool old building near the Facultad de Arquitectura.  Just a small cozy office, where I was invited in by very helpful young guy who appeared to be just out of college.  I told him what I wanted (I also brought printout of the plan so there would be less chance that something would be lost in translation) gave him the phone number and address of our new residence and a copy of my passport that the receptionist took when I arrived.  He punched away at his computer for a few minutes while we chatted.  He printed out a few copies of the one year contract for me to review and sign. Told me that I would receive a call in roughly within the week to schedule hook up and away we go.  No payment needed yet.  I was instructed to pay the initial months service and hook up the day of install.  I was in and out the door in about 10 minutes. We’ll see how the next phase of this goes because that was almost a little too easy.  I tend to bring a healthy bit a skepticism to most situations, but I’m always optimistic that it will work out in the end.  Hopefully this will follow suit.

The Quest for Housing

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The hotel that we are staying in is great.  It is a long-term stay hotel and we have a month booked. It is still a hotel, though, and it makes it difficult when a baby is sleeping and a husband is working and needing to make phone calls all in the same space.  

We’ve been on the search for places to live.  There is such a difference in the types of houses/apartments that are available here vs. what we are used to in the upper midwest of the USA.  Lots of apartments are similar, being built in the same era and have all the same features.  You see one you see them all, except some might have a view of the water and others not.   Lots of terraces do not meet US safety standards and with a toddler and two small dogs, that makes me incredibly nervous, but more about that in the previous post and surely more later as well. Many other apartments are large older homes that have been split into several units.  We thought we wanted an apartment, but were showed a beautiful little house that we liked enough to submitted an offer.  

 

The rental process here is very different from the US and other countries that I have researched.  Rental laws favor the renter rather than the owner so it is very hard to evict someone if they are not paying rent.  Due to this, the owners require quite a large down payment for their own security.  5 months rent is required in a secured bank account, plus the first months rent and commission to the rental agent.  This can end up being larger than a down payment when purchasing a house in the US!! You are also expected to negotiate the terms and items/services included within the rental agreement.  We are trying to get access before the occupancy to set up internet services and will be negotiating house cleaning and security services paid by the owner.  We have a meeting later today with both rental agents and the owner of the house.  Fingers crossed!!

Safety Standards

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As we are starting to look for places to live, all of the US building code standards are flashing before my eyes. Life abroad is very different and that goes for building code standards as well.  Not that this or any other country are wrong, just different and we have to view it with different eyes.  

For example:  

Egress:  Many bedroom windows, if there are windows at all, open up to other rooms or an interior courtyard with no exit other than through the house. Doors are also locked from the interior with a key and there are bars on the windows if you face the street.  

One upside is that the construction is all concrete/block withstucco over it so that there is little to burn if there is a fire.   Wood is used for finish carpentry for doors, cabinets and some flooring only. 

Railings: There are plenty of glass railings in the newer buildings.  The nice thing about this is that there are no gaps and there is an unobstructed view.  Older buildings may have vertical spindles on the balcony with wide spaces of 6″ or greater.  One new building that we saw had a gorgeous 12th story apartment with huge terrage and a railing with horizontal spindles that could be scaled like a ladder by a toddler.  Scary!  As you are walking through the city, you see mesh added to lots of balcony/patio areas to protect the small inhabitants inside from falling.  Excellent that things can be retrofitted but we are considering safety much more carefully as we look at potential home options.

Three decks, all with mesh over the railings

Three horizontal railings, all with mesh installed over it.

Horizontal vs. vertical spindles

Another example of railings with vertical or horizontal spindles.