Today I made some photos to enlighten the "Pots ur crib!" thread I started on a message board last Friday.
The above photo shows are living room. On top of the fireplace are two fish tanks, each holding several guppies. To the right is the door leading to the stairs; down brings us to street level, and up to the flat roof on top of our apartment (the roof itself has 3 levels), which can been inside when looking at the ceiling, see the next photo.
To the left you can see our dinner table, where our first encounter with a scorpion in our apartment took place.
In the above photo you can see a very pregnant Esme resting - actually talking on her cell phone with her mom - on our bed in the bedroom (tapanco style). Her computer is resting on the new desk I assembled some time ago for her.
And, as you can see, we love to have plants in our house.
In the above photo you can see the wooden stairs that lead up to our bedroom. Underneath the bedroom is what I refer to as "the office". I work, as a freelance Perl programmer, from our home, and this section of our apartment is partially dedicated to my work, and for a larger part to my hobby: keeping arachnids (mostly scorpions). You can see various enclosures, each housing a scorpion.
The large wooden desk was custom made and the surface has a dimension of 190 x 90 cm. Only one computer with monitor stands on it, a Compaq SR1505 LA. Another part of the desk is dedicated to three scorpion enclosures, again each housing a single specimen.
On the low wall next to the dinner table you can see two larger terrariums. The one to the left holds a small snake, see Close-up photos of a snake about to shed for some photos of the animal. The one to the right holds an adult Centruroides gracilis (scorpion). On the dinner table you can see our only television set. A tiny, portable, black and white TV which also has a built in radio. One can now and then see the same or similar set being used in vending stands in the city of Xalapa.
The door with the mirror leads to our bathroom.
In the above photo you can see our kitchen. I love how the kitchen top has been made, and how "primitive" the gas stove looks. To the left you can see a huge water bottle, which is required because the water from the tap is not considered suitable for daily consumption.
The wooden door leads to the stairs.
A different peek into my office space. To the left you can see my desk (with an empty tea cup), and in the middle you can see a lot of clip boxes, each housing a scorpion, on shelves. More shelves are visible to the right, which we use partially to store a lot of stuff (computer related, Christmas decorations, etc.), and partially for my arachnid collection, including two tarantulas.
In the above photo you can see our bookcase. Most books are mine, I really love to read. And this is only a small selection of the books I own, most are still in the Netherlands.
Some books where taken with me from the Netherlands, and my mom took a few with her - some books by Jack Vance, and the complete Gap series by Donaldson - when she visited us, back in 2005. Others were bought either second hand in Xalapa, or new.
I prefer to read good science fiction or, less, fantasy. Hard to find new in Xalapa, but easier second hand. For example I bought Pohl's "Gateway" (clearly visible), and Donaldson's "The Mirror of her Dreams" and "A Man Rides Through", second hand in Xalapa. Great finds (to me).
The above photo shows the view from our bedroom. The large building with a lot of blue is a school. As you can see there is a lot of green in Xalapa, and most buildings are low (just a few levels).
The parking lot (to the left) used to be a garden of a house, with one really large tree. Now and then we could spot hummingbirds, and one day, when I was standing near the open window, a hummingbird started to fly in front of me, moving towards me, making loud noises and backing up. It repeated this several times, and then left. And of course, I didn't have a camera nearby.
Anyway, the tree got cut down, and the garden (and house) became a parking lot for a nearby hotel (Casa Regia). To make this part even more sad: the parking lot is hardly used. At most there are three cars. Or: they could have left the tree and improved the garden.
The final photo, above, shows the stairwell with the winding stairs. Up leads to our roof, and down leads to the street in front of our house: Calle Hidalgo.