I would like to start by saying Anelcia's place is exactly as described. It's in a great place - felt like a family neighborhood. It was amazingly clean! We were in town to clean out the home of a family member who had recently passed away, & after dealing with old, dusty things all day it was so refreshing to come back to a cozy & clean place. Anelcia left shampoos/soaps in the shower & water bottles in the kitchen - nice little extra touches!
Unfortunately there was one issue that still bothers me 2 weeks later, however. I've put off writing my review in hopes I'd feel differently, but I still feel a little bitter. Anelcia made it very clear ahead-of-time that guests are not to use the backyard or smoke. That was perfectly fine with me, as I had no interest in being outside in the cold wind (and if I did, we would've gone walking on sidewalks anyway) and my husband and I are not even smokers! In fact, I can't stand cigarette smoke!! When we arrived the first day, I flipped a light switch in the bedroom and it didn't do anything, so we found another switch that worked. At 10:30 pm that night, we were in bed and Anelcia sent me with a somewhat snippy message strongly "reminding" me that there is no smoking and guests aren't to use the backyard. She then ended it with, "turn off the back light." For several minutes I was very confused until I remembered that we had flipped that switch and it must have been for a backyard light. I had no idea! I explained to her that we must have accidentally flipped it and left it on but we hadn't been outside or smoked, and I then asked if she thought we were for some reason, since her message implied so. She told me, "well, Lisa, in fact my neighbor thought you must be smoking in the backyard..." I was floored. It was very accusatory and implied that, because the backyard light was on, we must have been back there and of course must be smoking. It made me feel very awkward that apparently the neighbor was watching & tattling and Anelcia just assumed it must be so. It was all a little much and it made me feel defensive when we hadn't done anything wrong!
The following night I jokingly sang the old song, "Smoking in the Boys' Room" to my husband, replacing the lyrics with "Smoking in the Backyard." Fifteen minutes later a giant blast of music started up from outside, like a rock band, and the singing was clear as day - "There is no smoking in the backyard...!" My husband and I absolutely froze & stared at each other. It was sooooooo creepy!!! We started whispering because it seriously felt like Anelcia had just overheard me joking around with that song. It made me incredibly uncomfortable. Given how quiet the apartment/neighborhood had been until just that moment, and the words we heard, it was too much to be a coincidence. My husband and I discussed trying to find a different place to stay, as we felt an invasion of our privacy at this point.
I've never, ever had an issue with any airbnb we've rented and I have no idea what we did to rub Anelcia the wrong way (other than accidentally leaving the backyard light on!!) but it left a bad taste in our mouths and we wouldn't not stay there again because of it. It's a shame, because it's a great little home and we felt safe until it felt like we were being spied on. Considering I had agreed through airbnb not to smoke or use the backyard, and considering electricity for a single backyard lightbulb would cost a few extra cents, Anelcia should have trusted us and let it go.
Bottom line - if you stay at Anelcia's cozy apartment, whatever you do, do NOT turn on the backyard light. She will definitely assume you are breaking all of the apartment rules if you do so.