Apartment Interlude

It has been almost 3 weeks now since I ‘moved in’ to this little 1 bedroom apartment at the far back side of town. The idea to get away from the beach during Semana Santa was a sound one and this sublet fell into my lap at a great price. I realized there were a full 5 weeks available left on the rental term my friends had agreed to. After a couple of days I decided ‘why not?!’ to taking the entire time. It’s a good opportunity to getting a lot of projects done in Rita and having an address to get things delivered is quite nice, too. Other perks include wifi and a freezer. A freezer that came with 2 pints of ice cream – a very sweet gift from my friends Marji and Rick, from whom I took over this apartment.

It's small, very new/clean 1 bedroom, at the end of a fourplex. Although it is sparsely furnished, I immediately rearranged the 3 pieces of furniture, so you can look out the back door while on the couch. I can see a palm tree and some nice foliage that blocks the landlord’s house. There’s a large common yard in back and a lovely shared patio (which is hard to get to…as my private back porch area is securely fenced, with no way to exit…so if you want to use the patio you go out the front, walk around, and unlock the gate – just slightly inconvenient enough that I never go out there. I am working on finding rope so I can hang my hammock, so, it could happen soon!). I lugged in a bunch of stuff to make it liveable – just barely enough at first, and since then I am constantly running out to Rita to get that one other thing I need. After deciding to keep it for the month, I moved more things in and got a bit settled.

It is SO strange to me that I am now in what feels like a huge space, and all my stuff is around – how on earth does all this stuff fit so tidily in Rita and she doesn’t feel crowded at all? There’s still a ton of stuff out there, too. Having a bit larger fridge and a freezer is pretty nice, I have to admit (it’s not a huge fridge, still quite small as normal people fridges go). But honestly, I much prefer Rita’s cooking space – there’s somehow more counter space in Rita, her sink is bigger and deeper and somehow there’s more places to organize my stuff. There are awkward cabinets here, and I can’t even reach the top shelf of the upper one, so it’s basically useless. The couch is also the most uncomfortable couch I’ve ever sat on. I have put my Thermarest camp pad on it, to make sitting on it possible. Sometimes I just go out to Rita and have a lie down. She’s much more comfy. I did bring in my fancy anti-gravity beach chair and it is nice to have a rest out back or looking out the doorway.

Having a regular bathroom and the shower was very exciting for the first couple of days. But I’ve found I have slipped back into my Rita patterns of not showering every day. It’s a little embarrassing, but sometimes I realize it’s been a couple of days and I need to plan for a shower. It is lovely to have plenty of hot water and condition my hair, when I do get in there. But honestly, it’s not something I’ve missed greatly! Granted, the weather is still lovely here and I’m not sweating a lot. I worry what it will be like here in the extreme heat, will I go through a ton more water, rinsing off more frequently? Spend more money on laundry if I’m sweating on everything!? I supposed I could have far worse worries on my mind.

After a week or so here, I started thinking… As much as I do NOT want to go to the US anytime soon, getting up to visit my parents is definitely something I am planning to do. It seemed that going sooner than later might be a good choice, for a number of reasons. Having this apartment to leave Rita safely would be ideal. There’s a huge gated/locked back yard, where I could park her. I could bring all heat-sensitive stuff into the apartment, keep stuff in the fridge/freezer and be able to shut down the entire solar system. There would be virtually nothing to worry about in leaving Rita for a few weeks. The morning I was contemplating this, I realized I should message Hector, the landlord, and see if it’s even available. I know he’s trying to rent it longer term, and he showed it to a woman the other week. I got the feeling she wasn’t going to take it (she complained about lack of a dresser and limited closet space, which almost made me laugh).

Before I had the chance to message Hector, he came over that morning to tell me if I wanted to stay longer in the apartment, he would give me a discount on the rent! Definitely seemed like a sign. I took the day to think it over and then asked if I could keep it till the end of June. Now I can plan a trip to the US for early June and get back here in time to move back into Rita (which I feel like is going to be quite a job - all at once, after slowly bringing things in one at a time…).

It seems like a long time and I actually am missing Rita, but I’m taking full advantage of this situation and there are a lot of things I enjoy about being here. For example, I have my bike locked up out front – I can hop on and ride whenever I want, no having to drag it down from the rack and inevitably get chain grease on my shirt. I’ve been using it to run to town for some groceries, or to visit friends. I even got some lights so I can ride back at night. Saving on diesel and rough road wear and tear on Rita (the roads back here are all dirt and very rocky).

There are some great hiking trails right out the front door. I’ve taken advantage a couple time and there are still some more I want to explore. I’ve dug into some deep cleaning and little improvement projects in Rita. She’s going to be better than ever when I get to move back in! She is still way more comfortable than this apartment and feels like home.

I’ve been running a lot of numbers and trying to calculate if my current solar set up is going to allow me to run the air conditioner for many hours, many days in a row. The issue I’m concerned about is whether I have enough solar panel wattage to properly refill the batteries every day after drawing them down a bunch (which air conditioner usage definitely does). I know I have plenty of battery power, it’s keeping them filled that is the big issue. Obviously, I could run the motor for a couple of hours to help top up the batteries, but burning diesel when not driving is not something I want to get into doing. It seems that I likely do NOT have enough solar to run the AC 6+ hours/day. I’ve been looking into adding another panel, and/or changing out the existing panels for ones with more wattage. Both are daunting tasks for me on my own, down here. I did pass a solar shop, I will probably check out, but I want to be really clear on my options and compatibility with my current charge controller and setup (buying a whole new system is not an option…especially when sweating is free!!).

There is an alternative option now, a bit convoluted…but hear me out. I met with a man who helps people nationalize vehicles. Getting Mexican plates/registration is definitely high on my wish list right now. Unfortunately, in the current iteration of the regularization program for foreign vehicles, Rita doesn’t qualify, given she’s only been in the country a short time now. But apparently in September, they will revise the dates, and she likely could qualify. In the meantime, there is a program here in the state of Sonora, to join an affiliation that gives me a special plate with permission to travel in the entire state of Sonora (rather than just this little portion I am relegated to now). It provides paperwork verifying the vehicle isn’t stolen, has proper insurance and “in process” for regularization. Having this means I can travel to other areas (many I’ve been wanting to see)- AND it means that if the heat is unbearable here, I can go to places that are cooler – there are some higher elevation areas that sound quite nice. SO, that is another option, which would of course save a lot of money over buying/installing another solar panel.

For now, the weather is perfect, lovely sunny, warm days and slightly cooler nights. I’m enjoying hikes with friends, random dogs, and taking advantage of the apartment amenities. There are lots of projects and things to figure out. Work is quite busy at the moment, for which I’m very grateful. Most pressing thing to sort out right now is my trip to Maine. How to get to Tucson (I might get a ride with a friend who I just found out is driving up there around when I want to go). Do I spend a night in Tucson somewhere? Take a red-eye flight? Many details to sort out.

The only other possibly exciting thing here is that I am very interested in buying this adorable ‘mini RV park’ that is for sale in town. Nevermind that I have zero money…I think it would be a brilliant investment, a fun business to own and Rita would always have a place to land safely and fill up with water anytime. Stay tuned to see how that goes and where I might borrow (investors welcome!).