Apartment hunting, Santiago style

Maybe you're a fan of the TV show House Hunters International, you like seeing how people learn the ins and outs of living in a country that's not their own, including the compromises, intrigue, unrealistic notions and ultimately the innately human desire to call someplace "home".  

I began this post in the middle of my own "House Hunters" experience, with two weeks to go until my stay at the apart-hotel would come to a close.  The first few weeks here gave me a chance to establish a certain Santiago lifestyle, which helped me focus my search some.  I experienced a few weeks of the commute to the office (mostly on bike, sometimes walking, or on the overly crowded city bus).  I resumed training with a local triathlon club, whose morning swim sessions are at a sports facility towards the northeast of the city, and whose evening running sessions are at a school track slightly southeast from where I work.  Hence, my apartment would ideally be located somewhere within the triangle of work-pool-track.  And with some access to bike routes in and around the city.  My priorities, it seems.  

Team RPM, morning swim at Estadio Israelita in Las Condes.

In other terms, Santiago is divided into 36 smaller "comunas" (think NYC boroughs, except more of them, with 26 inside the "urban radius" and 11 outside).  Each has its own mayor, civic center, zoning and building codes, and general personality.  My office is in Vitacura, the pool in Las Condes, and the track near the Providencia-Las Condes border.  Hence, my "triangle-search" included these three comunas.  

NASA satellite image of Santiago, via Wikipedia.

Speaking of personality, for example: 

• Providencia, compared with the others, has more restaurants and night-life (not my priority, but generally popular among my cohort). 
• Vitacura limits the height, or number of floors in new buildings.
• Vitacura and Las Condes each have some really nice neighborhoods of only houses, bordering on other sections with tall apartment buildings.  
• All three seem relatively safe.

Another interesting map representation, including "green spaces" and "average income". Source: http://www.creceverde.cl/por-que-plantar

Figuring that the most realistic option for me would be an apartment building, I hoped that with some luck I'd find an apartment whose view wasn't blocked by another neighboring tall building (or construction site), and that over a row of houses I might be oriented with a great view toward the mountains.

Did I find it?  Read on to find out.