My wife hates winter so I agreed that we could spend two months in Medellin, Colombia.
We stayed at the same place as last year only doubled our time.
Day temperatures typically 80- 85 and around 60 at night. Perfect. Here back in Milwaukee it frickin' snowed last night.
They cleaned the place up 25 years ago and it's safe. Safer that most larger US cities.
Anyway , we rented a beautiful apartment for $600 a month. Even though I'm sure we paid more than the locals, here in Milwaukee, an apartment like that would be $1600 minimum. Double that in NY.
Two floors. Clean and spotless.
Three bedrooms ( we had guests part of the time) and two bathrooms, kitchenette, dining room, living room, laundry room and front porch with the most beautiful view one could imagine.
When we arrived the caretaker greeted us and said all was in good order except the shower in the lower bathroom was not working. He apologized and said he'd have to get a plumber "sometime."
Of course, as soon as he left , my wife rolled her eyes as I ran in there to check it out.
It worked just fine actually but had a small leak that squirted a small stream of water out the side. I tried hand tightening it to no avail.
Though they have big box hardware stores almost identical to the USA, they also have small neighborhood hardware stores everywhere. So small, you just stand on the sidewalk and ask for what you want.
It took me just a few seconds to walk to the closest one and get some plumber's tape and a vice grip. My Spanish is pretty rotten and when I tried to ask for a pliers he brought out one unsuitable, so when on the second try, it was a vice grip I took it.
Took me all of a minute to fix the leaky shower head.
Over the course of two months, in my spare time I performed every unneeded minor repair I could possibly find, including repairing a few lights and lamps.
After having used vice grips my entire life, this is the first time I've ever used the built-in wire cutter. It works great, all one has to do is open the jaws and set it for maximum tightness.
BTW: They closed up the country just as tight or tighter than they did here. Guess what. No one was hoarding toilet paper so we brought a few rolls back with us.
I'm thinking about selling them , which should pay for the whole trip :)