Well, the move to the new place is starting to gel. Yesterday (Tuesday) I stopped by the landlord’s house and picked up the keys. He’s a nice guy but you can tell he was a bureaucrat for 30+ years. I was going to pay him the March rent while I was there but he wouldn’t have it. Has to be paid on the FIRST of the month. Okay. No big deal since he essentially lives half a block away.
Today I went over to Bugaba to the Union Fenosa offices to set up the electric service in my name. In the five years I’ve been here the bills have always been in the name of the owners of the house. I’d get the bill in their name and just pay it. But again, that’s not the way the bureaucratic mind works. I’m living in the place the electricity is in my name.
There were only two women handling the installation and re-starting services so I had to wait a little until it was my turn. I presented the lease to the girl and she called the landlord. Busy. Then she asked for my passport. The identification number on the lease is my passport number, but now that I have my cédula I pulled that out. Funny thing was, it seemed to actually make a difference to her about processing my application.
I had to go get a copy of my cédula at the nearby church since the office was out of paper and they were waiting for a delivery. Back at the office there were three more calls to the landlord because he didn’t have the right numbers the girl needed. Finally it was resolved to the company’s satisfaction. I was a bit worried about how much I was going to have to fork over for a deposit since I’m VERY tight on cash after setting aside the rents for two places, but I needn’t have worried. I forked over the $28.12 for the deposit (that includes a $17 installation charge). Supposedly the power will be turned on tomorrow some time.
One More Good Adventure 