A room for the night...

Has anyone been following the sort-of-new-theory that germ phobia contributes to allergy increases in industrialized nations?

Quoting myself there (couldn’t find a good one)…

Let me begin by pointing out that most people should not expect to (or want to) live in mini-America while traveling and there is a vast difference between a little dust and conditions that lead to gangrene.

My personal philosophy is a hotel/hostel room is somewhere to sleep. I don’t want to travel fourteen hours in coach to spend my valuable travel time watching HBO in my room, so my room requirements are not that high. It’s true that not everyone shares my views on what constitutes an acceptable room. Your choices will depend on what your budget is and how important the little luxuries are to you personally. For example: do you need towels, air conditioning, private bath, meals, or a window?

Don’t assume that because the room is far cheaper than what you can find at home that it’s not an acceptable establishment. A good place to start differentiating between the cheap places and the dumps is a good guide book. Cheaper hostels don’t always have websites which makes it harder to find them outside of books. 

A good place to look for a second and third opinions is Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com). The prospective hotel’s website is not always a reliable place to find honest reviews. For example: Lovely hostel two blocks from the Zocalo, lovely complimentary reviews; it was the noisiest place I’ve ever stayed. The design of the building amplified noise and when the charming rooftop bar closed at 1 am you could hear all the intoxicated conversations that continued in the stairwell. I checked Trip Advisor when I got home and all the reviews mentioned the noise problem.

Things you might not think of:

• ·         Bedbugs have lately become an issue for travelers. They can be found at any budget level. It never hurts to check the mattresses for signs of bedbugs before you settle in. They don’t carry diseases, but they are very expensive to get rid of once you transport them home (I recently read that one pregnant female is all it takes to start a colony). I always check, but haven’t come across them myself yet.

• ·         Is there hot water for showers? (This may not be important in hot climates)
• ·         Are the electrical sockets usable? (I’ve seen a few squirrelly examples)
• ·         If you are self-catering, is there a kitchen available?
• ·         (From my own personal experience) Are there any resident roosters living next door?

Tale of Two Towns and Two Birds

Where was I?

Oh yes, Santa Elena at dawn. The town was pretty humid and hot even at 6am. A bit of background on these two towns: the guide books and most websites I viewed say that Santa Elena is dirty and dusty and has nothing to offer and most people stay in Flores.

So that's where we went. As it turned out, the Burger King by the lake was just opening for business. We popped in to a)remove my thermals b)get something cold to drink c) recheck the guidebook for room options.

We were looking at 2 hostels in the same price range. One said folks can get loud getting up for the 4 am shuttle to Tikal. So we went to the other - thinking it would be quieter.

Flores is more of a tourist ghetto. 95% of buildings are hotels, restaurants, gift shops, or travel agents. It's completely empty during the day when people make the trek to Tikal. Santa Elena does lack shade, can be hot and dusty, but is alive with people going about their business.

I believe I've adequately described what happened soon after our arrival. There was no refreshing nap after the night bus.

I wanted to ask for a change of room, but we'd already trashed the room doing laundry and Darren is much nicer than I am. We finally gave up the notion of a nap and went to get breakfast. After a meal and a cup of tea I began to feel better. Darren convinced me that the malfeasant bird should be rehabilitated far far away instead of assassinated. Sometimes it's hard being married to a nicer person :) We decided that we'd just go to bed early and get up with the rooster for an early start. That felt better.

With a new spring in our step, we set out to find the local bus to the skyway park (Parque Natural Ixpanpajul) - a private park with suspension bridges over the canopy. The guidebook said the bus left from the market.

Darren immediately loved the dusty market. Many of his best pics in the past have been candids of locals, but he's been busted a few times here by unhappy matrons. But he still gives it a go--tries to be unobtrusive.

It took a while to find the buses and Darren did an excellent job asking the drivers if they could drop us off.

The skywalk park is extensive and well maintained and had the cutest, tiniest burro. The horses were well cared for. In the middle of the day we had the place to ourselves as we walked up and down the hills and crossed the suspension bridges. The solitude after the difficult morning was wonderful. Not much wildlife at that time of day, but we found a small black monkey in a tree beside a bridge. Of course the cameras came out, but Darren’s battery died. I got a few shots before he scampered off. We also saw a toucan. The walk took about 2.5 hours.

The bus dropped us off at the main terminal, so Darren asked about return bus tickets. They were significantly cheaper than going through an agent although they didn't include the shuttle to Antigua.

Our return tickets in hand, we returned to the room to freshen up before dinner. Saw a cute parrot hanging on the window grill next door. The rooster was blissfully silent. We were happy.

To finish off the day, we had the non-local pizza and beer. We returned to the room not long after dark. As we settled in for an early night - the parrot started in on his racket. It was nearly as loud as the rooster. He piped down around 8:30 and we sighed with relief. Ahhhh silence.

About 10 pm the parrot was back with a vengeance. I'd had enough. I went down stairs to ask for another room. As my Spanish is abominable - this comprised of me flapping my arms about and squawking. The night man finally gave up and showed me another room. (I can't have been the first to complain about the birds).

Had to wake Darren- yes he sleeps through anything. We hastily packed everything up - wet clothes and all- and moved to the top floor, where you could still hear the parrot, but faintly.

The rest of the night passed without incident and the rooster did not rouse us at dawn.

We got our breakfast at the Cool Bean. An interesting place near the water that has begging chickens. The local dog didn't even try to compete, but took a snooze in the bushes in the garden.

We had the morning to kill, so we had a leisurely breakfast before packing up. We hung out at the water’s edge and dried our towels on the rock wall before heading into the market at Santa Elena to find our bus.

It was already hot and sticky at 11. Darren dropped me at the local park with the bags while he made inquiries.

I got to observe local life and this is what I saw. There were very few personal vehicles. Most got around on scooters, small motorbikes, or tuk tuks. Didn't see one helmet as they all went zooming up and down the busy street, whole families on a scooter.

As I sat there, a young girl in Catholic school dress (10-11) walked across the park and gave a white bag to the man sitting in a parked pickup on the edge of the park. He'd been there for some time. He took the bag and gave her money. She then walked up the street. I wondered if I'd just seen my first drug deal. I was busily writing the whole thing down in my journal (as I've not been taking out the Blackberry in public), when the girl came back with the man’s lunch. See what happens when I'm left unattended??

So that is the story of the two towns and the two birds:)