apartemento

while meandering around Pelo yesterday, O and I happened upon this travel agency recommended by a friend of a friend of a friend. coconut bahia. there we met cristiane, who is a very excited baiana with a german brazilian accent (she lived in munich for seven years). really interesting accent.

anywho. she impressed us with her powerpoint presentations describing beautiful places in bahia. we must go to this place: http://www.portalhoteis.tur.br/llencois.html

we then delved into a long conversation that ended up with us on a field trip back to barra to look at an apartment for me. gregor was the facilitator. imagine a 50-65 year old native american with a jheri curl dyed black. just wrong. BUT he is my new neighbor!

i never planned for getting an apartment here. well, i went back in forth over it but budgeted to stay in a pousada for the summer. but the apartments are just too cheap. ah so, i now have a new fabulous place with a view of the great bay of all saints. i have a grand kitchen. antique hardwood floors, a luxurious master bedroom, and even a room to get my "pioneer woman groove" on. but i have a maid for that.

not.

and i did haggle on the price. lol. the process was so funny. i am a student of conflict. literally. so, i like to extract myself from the situation and analyze the details. it was so dramatic. the scrunched up thoughtful faces conveying messages of deep contemplation. the posturing over high demand or lack of need. the winks. cristiane is a winker. i am not. i double wink. so instead i give the very deliberate blink. the end of our negotiation was so anti-climatic because we so easily came to a price that worked for all three of us. but we pretended. went to seperate rooms to "think". exchanged long sighs. i was going to steeple my fingers as a sign of victory. but i actually probably got screwed in salvador standards. to me it is cheap and under budget. but i know those with whom i was haggling would have found my steeple to be unworthy and, thus, lose an tiny ounce of respect. ah. to negotiate.

i want to decorate today. but i actually have full plate. have to go back to pelo to finalise some trip plans and the 30 day lease with C. then back to barra to move my one piece of luggage around the corner and up to the 5th floor (i feel like the jeffersons!). then to work at the dirty cafe. then back to pelo to meet a bunch of big brained sisters for lunch at 2.

must find time to be lazy today. sigh.

for brentwood, brooklyn, or whatever you are calling yourself today lol: i have YOUR copy of the "broke diaries". LOL. actually i gave it to janora. lol. then i bought a copy for my lil sis. i figured. we all have been broke some day and MUST read that book.