Had we made a big mistake? Our first impression was no way — this couldn’t be the same apartment we saw in the pictures. But the fact that this was it quickly took hold. I know, there is a fine line between character and disrepair. Even though we warmed up to our new abode over the next several days, I think an objective person would say it leaned a bit to the latter. To be fair, this was a very old building as this was one of the first neighborhoods in Buenos Aires.

The location was what we expected as the cab dropped us off on Bolivar. The wooden entryway door of the building  was spectacular, some 14 feet tall. The street was what most would describe as gritty, which we did envision given what we had read and heard about Montserrat and San Telmo. We enjoy a bohemian, artist- filled, pre-gentrified neighborhood experience and while we had received mixed messages about staying in San Telmo, we knew that we had booked this apartment for only three weeks and were ready to see for ourselves.

The process of renting the apartment was pretty simple. Buenos Aires is one of the most Internet-savvy cities in South America or any major city in the U.S. for that matter. So placing an ad on Craigslist Buenos Aires led to many responses; then it was just a matter of picking the neighborhood and culling the responses with inquiring emails. We also plugged into BANewcomers, a group on Yahoo with about 2900 active members. Many of those responded to our posts with extremely helpful information.

As we walked through our door for the first time on this hot, steamy Buenos Aires day, the apartment was caliente and stuffy and did not smell particularly fresh.  We sat our bags down, flung the windows open, turned on the fan and started to explore our new digs.

This apartment “shows” well via pictures but with feet on the floor we started to have doubts. Plus the fact that in the apartment-culling process it was somehow overlooked that this particular apartment did not have air conditioning and as we all know, Buenos Aires’ summers are known to sizzle.

Our living room was spacious but spartan. The Internet connection was great and while we didn’t watch much TV, it got a full range of channels, some in English. One major downside was the lack of a functional workspace for both of us.

The downstairs bathroom was functional, the shower worked well but soon after we moved in, the sink drain plugged. We were told the plumber was on the way, but there is something here called “Buenos Aires time,” which seems to be connected to the fact we never saw the plumber.

The deck pictures we saw showed what could have been a nice sitting area but you can see the view (left) was not that great.

We didn’t really spend time here

The process of finding an apartment is not fun anywhere anytime and more complicated in a big city like this with distinct neighborhoods. Having said that, if a person were not on a budget, renting an apartment here for say, $1200-2000 per month would get you a large, really modern apartment with amenities like a pool and maid service. Compare that to any other major city in the world and it is a bargain. It would be simple to find the high-end apartments.

One thing that struck us was the open nature of the old building that housed our apartment. Rain would come in hallways between the apartments. The view to left shows the hallway to the downstairs apartment. On sunny days our neighbors used the grate to dry their clothes.

In the next few days we set out to explore Buenos Aires to help us decide on the right neighborhood for our full four months.

We stayed about two weeks at the first apartment. It grew on us, the neighborhood is filled with excellent restaurants, shops, cafes and provided us access to major historical and cultural venues. We are told a third of BA residents are of Italian descent, and we enjoyed some remarkable food including pizza, lasagna, and spaghetti, along with steak to die for, a great vegetarian cafe and tasty empanadas.

One’s sense of an acceptable apartment is always something of a cultural adaptation which helps explains how we grew to appreciate this apartment. To those who say the San Telmo barrio is dangerous, I can only say that for myself, they are overly fearful. I never felt in danger even late at night. In fact, the people in our neighborhood were warm and generous. Our apartment neighbors were a cross-section of people young and old, including babies. You just don’t get that up-close view staying in a hotel or an upscale apartment and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

My memory of one short elderly woman still brings a smile to my face. She seemed to adamantly believe we understood Spanish or should. One morning we met her in the hallway with her hands and arms flailing (residents here would strain to talk without their hands) telling us something serious about water leaking. A few days later a property manager showed up so we think we got the gist of that conversation. That same woman was also “in charge” of garbage which is collected nightly between 8 and 10 pm. She took the individual apartment bags and centralized them in a large bag and then took them out on the street for collection right about 10 pm. She and another older woman (Dora) were very sweet to us.

If you plan on coming to Buenos Aires, there are no shortage of apartments to rent, and having your own place vs a hotel or hostel is way better in my mind — plus less expensive. Even one or two week rentals are readily available.

Chau!

P.S. Just place an ad on Craigslist and away you go…