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March 19, 2008

Desperately Seeking Lodging

3/19 (Wednesday)

We got up early to try and find another hotel before breakfast... We spent about 45 minutes going through the cheatsheet and come up empty handed. Guess what? Not only is spring break, it's also Holy week and all of Mexico is on vacation.

During breakfast on the patio back at the hotel, we outline a plan. Spend a few hours working back from the evening we plan to meet Dave in Piste to come up with our travel plans. We figure we'll stay in 'barrios' (since we can) one more night... After that they are fully booked. This will give us the afternoon to plan out the next 9 days and find another hotel.

After a couple more hours poring through the guide book trying to map a path through Quinto Roo and Yukatan in the days we have remaining. We have scribbled notes to represent places we plan to go and things to do while we're there, hotels to try, bus and ferry schedules, and dates we're traveling. (I'm certain there's a better way to do this -- I think a template could be devised. :-)

After noon (when the heat dies down), we head out on the town to find housing. We also drop our laundry off (they do laundry by the kilo here, we have 6.3 kilos) at a lavanderia. After nearly 4 hours and probably 25 hotels we are still empty handed. Sure we can find some pretty divey places for $230/night (ahem, the Sahara -- what the F$#k!!?), but even the 5 star places are filled up (500 US a night? Sheesh).

By this point, Hol is dying of hunger so we stop at the "100% Natural" place for guacamole, pitas and organic chicken enchiladas. (oh and freshly blended apple juice). At this point I'm totally stressing about where we'll stay tomorrow, so we head back to the hotel to re-group. We stop at several more hotels, even one's we visited before without any luck. Hol appears calm, where as I feel the stress start to physically affect me. I'm desperate at this point. Hol wants to ask at the Tucan again... Same answer: Full. We ask for recommendations and the nice girl gets out a map and starts writing in hotel locations. She lists 10 or so hotels - I recognize 90% of them and know they have nothing available. Hol notices one she cannot remember having been to. It's literally a block from our current hotel -- as we enter the little courtyard, we are greeted by several guests - "hola". Recepcion is at the back and there's a nice (German) girl at the desk. She speaks English too! She immediately reminds me of my "aunt" Heidi. We tell her what we're looking for and I blurt out "we're getting desperate now" ... (what the heck did I just say?!!). She has a room for the two days we need and it's only $500 pesos. We book it, not even bothering to look at it.

As we walked back down the street, I can feel the stress wash away. Hol interrupts my euphoria, asking why I had said "we were desperate" before we'd heard the price -- she's learning! :-) All I can figure is, she reminded me of family... with relief we wander down to Quinta Avenida to look at some shops and relax. We're both tired from walking for hours so we call it an early night and head back to the hotel to read our books.

Posted by ben at March 19, 2008 10:00 PM


« See you in nine days \| Main \| Akumal » March 19, 2008 Desperately Seeking Lodging 3/19 (Wednesday) We got up early to try and find another hotel before breakfast... We spent about 45 minutes going through the cheatsheet and come up empty handed. Guess what? Not only is spring break, it's also Holy week and all of Mexico is on vacation. During breakfast on the patio back at the hotel, we outline a plan. Spend a few hours working back from the evening we plan to meet Dave in Piste to come up with our travel plans. We figure we'll stay in 'barrios' (since we can) one more night... After that they are fully booked. This will give us the afternoon to plan out the next 9 days and find another hotel. After a couple more hours poring through the guide book trying to map a path through Quinto Roo and Yukatan in the days we have remaining. We have scribbled notes to represent places we plan to go and things to do while we're there, hotels to try, bus and ferry schedules, and dates we're traveling. (I'm certain there's a better way to do this -- I think a template could be devised. :-) After noon (when the heat dies down), we head out on the town to find housing. We also drop our laundry off (they do laundry by the kilo here, we have 6.3 kilos) at a lavanderia. After nearly 4 hours and probably 25 hotels we are still empty handed. Sure we can find some pretty divey places for $230/night (ahem, the Sahara -- what the F$#k!!?), but even the 5 star places are filled up (500 US a night? Sheesh). By this point, Hol is dying of hunger so we stop at the "100% Natural" place for guacamole, pitas and organic chicken enchiladas. (oh and freshly blended apple juice). At this point I'm totally stressing about where we'll stay tomorrow, so we head back to the hotel to re-group. We stop at several more hotels, even one's we visited before without any luck. Hol appears calm, where as I feel the stress start to physically affect me. I'm desperate at this point. Hol wants to ask at the Tucan again... Same answer: Full. We ask for recommendations and the nice girl gets out a map and starts writing in hotel locations. She lists 10 or so hotels - I recognize 90% of them and know they have nothing available. Hol notices one she cannot remember having been to. It's literally a block from our current hotel -- as we enter the little courtyard, we are greeted by several guests - "hola". Recepcion is at the back and there's a nice (German) girl at the desk. She speaks English too! She immediately reminds me of my "aunt" Heidi. We tell her what we're looking for and I blurt out "we're getting desperate now" ... (what the heck did I just say?!!). She has a room for the two days we need and it's only $500 pesos. We book it, not even bothering to look at it. As we walked back down the street, I can feel the stress wash away. Hol interrupts my euphoria, asking why I had said "we were desperate" before we'd heard the price -- she's learning! :-) All I can figure is, she reminded me of family... with relief we wander down to Quinta Avenida to look at some shops and relax. We're both tired from walking for hours so we call it an early night and head back to the hotel to read our books. Posted by ben at March 19, 2008 10:00 PM		Bookmarks Ben's Resume Ben's Lists Mehling Photo Album Flickr Photo Album Recently Archived Cozumal and Playa Palancar Akumal Desperately Seeking Lodging See you in nine days Sian Ka'an Coba Ruins Tulum Ruins Finally! Background Micro Credit Archives August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 Etc. Search: