Frida and Malú’s “treehouse” is an exceptionally beautiful apartment with noteworthy advantages countered by important disadvantages of which prospective guests should be aware of.
This is not an appropriate apartment for families or for persons planning to stay for more than 1 week, because you can not readily refrigerate food cook meals here nor do laundry here.
However, it is a great place to stay for people who have dogs. There is a big, grassy park with an enclosed area for dogs to be off-leash just 2 blocks away by crossing on the sidewalks beneath the elevated Periférico freeway. Also, there is an enclosed garden full of shrubbery that then opens up towards a wide, enclosed driveway before you reach the street. Thus, the dog has a chance to relieve itself within the apartment’s yard without being exposed to the danger of moving cars. The driveway itself can be a suitable place for a game of fetch to exercise a dog.
Major disadvantages for this apartment:
- The refrigerator is the size and shape of a 1990s desktop computer monitor, seated upon a rickety wire stand that threatens to tip over every time the refrigerator is opened. This means that there isn’t space in the refrigerator for anything more than a doggy bag of leftover takeout food and a small carton of milk or juice. Since you can’t fit much in the refrigerator, you don’t have a place to keep fresh groceries to cook. This means you can’t really cook meals for yourself here.
- There is no cutting board and no big sharp knives with which to prepare food.
- There were no matches or lighter to light the gas stove on the back porch to cook. We had to buy a lighter to be able to boil water on the stove.
- The 2-burner gas stove, kitchen sink, and a large table are all outdoors under a canopy. Exposure to cold, wind, rain, and insects make the cooking area uncomfortable, especially at night.
- There is ongoing deep excavation for a major construction site in the lot next-door to the apartment. The construction activity plus the fact that the apartment is one block away from the Periférico freeway mean lots of noise during the daytime.
- The doors at the front of the apartment are sliding glass doors with no locks. You have to trust the neighbors in the downstairs apartment and the house across the courtyard.
- There is no curtain for privacy across the glass door in the living room. So, you can’t walk through the living room in your underwear.
- You don’t have access to a washing machine within the apartment. The laundry facilities are supposed to be in the downstairs apartment. Frida and Malú said it would cost an extra $200 or $280 pesos to be able to do our laundry here. I’m not sure if this meant that we were supposed to hand over our laundry for someone else to watch, or if this meant that we would be able to go into the other apartment to wash the laundry ourselves.
- The internet is TelMex Infinitum wifi. Infinitum is a slow wifi service with an unstable signal that comes and goes unpredictably. Don’t try to do any major software updates or upload and download major files while you are stuck with Infinitum service.
Major advantages of this apartment:
- Frida and Malú are friendly, sweet hosts.
- It is easy to get around, because the apartment is 1 block away from the Mixcoac subway station in one direction and 1 block from the on ramp to the Periférico freeway in the other direction.
- There is excellent, secure parking for a car in the wide, enclosed driveway. You do not have to do sophisticated maneuvers to park the car comfortably and there is no risk of someone coming to vandalize the car.
- The many glass doors and windows provide lots of natural light and air flow. This is unusual for a Mexico City apartment.
- The apartment has a garden with a large, beautiful tree visited by hummingbirds and house finches. There are many shrubs in the garden and potted plants within the apartment. This is a very attractive feature.
- The apartment is 2 blocks from one of the best Walmarts in Mexico City as well as a high-end shopping mall.
- There are many restaurants within 2 blocks of the apartment - local restaurants, chain restaurants (Toks, PF Changs, VIP, El Bajío, Italinni’s), fast food (Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Dairy Queen), and Starbucks.
- You can walk to Avenida Insurgentes in 15 min.
- There are pieces of Asian artwork and interesting movie posters to decorate the apartment, giving the apartment a lot of warmth and charm.
- We felt very safe here.