I hate to sound spoiled and complain but hotel rooms are really dull and Little S and I are going mad in The Holiday Inn here without much to do. We get up leisurely at nine am and eat in the hotel's restaurant which is very nice. They have a totally amazing little buffet with tons of diced fresh fruits and lots of local Mexican specialties (I've completely overindulged). We're bored with it already and Little S keeps demanding Nutella. I'd love to have a huge bowl of coffee and steamed milk or at the very least a coffee cup that isn't refilled each time I get up to check on something. The attention to service drives me mad and Seb has told me that French people he's met here have the hardest time with just that-- hovering waiters stealing your plate. After all in France you really never see a server once you're seated and served and everyone says French waiters are rude. I'm starting to think that maybe that rudeness is a good thing. I can't tell you how many times I've had my plate cleared here in Mexico and in the US before I had even finished the last delicious morsel.
There isn't much to do around the hotel because it's in an industrial zone. There's a Walmart across the street and if I had the energy I'd walk over and look for our toaster, iron, food processer, hairdryer etc. , but being over seven months pregnant I don't think I want to risk crossing six lanes of Mexican highway traffic with a wiley toddler. I may get desperate next week and venture out across the Boulevard of Death anyway.
This hotel is huge and caters to international businessmen. It's pretty funny at breakfast to listen to all the languages being spoken. The other day Little S stopped at a table full of businessmen and peered under the table, "look, loooooook wheel broken! wheel broken mama!" and to my horror he crawled down on all fours to take a look at the broken chair wheel of a portly Japanese man in a business suit. He went on like this for what seemed like five minutes until I dragged him away promising him that it would get fix-edd by someone very soon and he had no need to worry. We are definitely out of our element.
We also have our cat Milly in the room. All animals are strictly prohibited in the hotel and I know that the Mexicans are at the opposite spectrum of the French when it comes to bringing your pets places with you. The majority of reactions to her have been of the "eww germy kitty alert" variety. The fact that she lounges all afternoon in the hotel room's bay window means that either they have a 'don't ask don't tell' policy or they are oblivious to her, or of course maybe it means the manager just hasn't walked by our window yet. I'm extremely paranoid that she'll escape and with the amount of times the maid or other service personel pop into the room to retrieve, fix or demand something I should be worried. When we leave the room I stick her in the dreaded Sherpa sac which she has come to hate. The funniest part of the whole hotel-kitty venture is seeing me crawl under the bed with my huge stomach trying to drag this eight pound lardy calico out by her legs three times a day.
Tonight we're supposed to go have apero with a French couple living here. We won't get to know them too well. They're being transferred to Detroit after four years in Mexico but they have a few things to sell including a car and maybe a dishwasher. It should be interesting to see their lifestyle and attitudes and talk about what their impressions were while they lived here. (I promise to only say good things about Detroit)
This weekend is La Dia de la Indepencia ie. Independence Day in Mexico. The hotel has set up tents and tables everywhere, even in the parking lot and I imagine there will be a lot of people here celebrating and loudly whoopin it up considering there is a huge dance floor and an enourmous loudspeaker system right in the center courtyard. It looks like they're expecting 500 people, no kidding! Seb and I have decided to check out for the weekend. We don't really want to sleep with cotton in our ears. We're excited to escape and explore the region a little and so we're off to see some of the waterfalls and canyons we've read so much about. I wonder if we'll even be able to escape the mariachis. I bet we'll be in the middle of a party wherever we go ths weekend.
There isn't much to do around the hotel because it's in an industrial zone. There's a Walmart across the street and if I had the energy I'd walk over and look for our toaster, iron, food processer, hairdryer etc. , but being over seven months pregnant I don't think I want to risk crossing six lanes of Mexican highway traffic with a wiley toddler. I may get desperate next week and venture out across the Boulevard of Death anyway.
This hotel is huge and caters to international businessmen. It's pretty funny at breakfast to listen to all the languages being spoken. The other day Little S stopped at a table full of businessmen and peered under the table, "look, loooooook wheel broken! wheel broken mama!" and to my horror he crawled down on all fours to take a look at the broken chair wheel of a portly Japanese man in a business suit. He went on like this for what seemed like five minutes until I dragged him away promising him that it would get fix-edd by someone very soon and he had no need to worry. We are definitely out of our element.
We also have our cat Milly in the room. All animals are strictly prohibited in the hotel and I know that the Mexicans are at the opposite spectrum of the French when it comes to bringing your pets places with you. The majority of reactions to her have been of the "eww germy kitty alert" variety. The fact that she lounges all afternoon in the hotel room's bay window means that either they have a 'don't ask don't tell' policy or they are oblivious to her, or of course maybe it means the manager just hasn't walked by our window yet. I'm extremely paranoid that she'll escape and with the amount of times the maid or other service personel pop into the room to retrieve, fix or demand something I should be worried. When we leave the room I stick her in the dreaded Sherpa sac which she has come to hate. The funniest part of the whole hotel-kitty venture is seeing me crawl under the bed with my huge stomach trying to drag this eight pound lardy calico out by her legs three times a day.
Tonight we're supposed to go have apero with a French couple living here. We won't get to know them too well. They're being transferred to Detroit after four years in Mexico but they have a few things to sell including a car and maybe a dishwasher. It should be interesting to see their lifestyle and attitudes and talk about what their impressions were while they lived here. (I promise to only say good things about Detroit)
This weekend is La Dia de la Indepencia ie. Independence Day in Mexico. The hotel has set up tents and tables everywhere, even in the parking lot and I imagine there will be a lot of people here celebrating and loudly whoopin it up considering there is a huge dance floor and an enourmous loudspeaker system right in the center courtyard. It looks like they're expecting 500 people, no kidding! Seb and I have decided to check out for the weekend. We don't really want to sleep with cotton in our ears. We're excited to escape and explore the region a little and so we're off to see some of the waterfalls and canyons we've read so much about. I wonder if we'll even be able to escape the mariachis. I bet we'll be in the middle of a party wherever we go ths weekend.
1 comment:
I'm excited for you! Everything will feel much better when you're settled into your house--there's nothing worse for homesickness than staying at the Holiday Inn!
Everything you've said so far about the serious differences between Franch and Mexican culture is SO true. It reminds me of when I told you (way back when!) that you could not get further culturally from France than Mexico!
I look forward to hearing more from you. Feel free to write anytime.
Cuidate mucho...
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