So Kari wanted, WANTED to go somewhere, anywhere, but out of my folks' house and close to the sea, or the ocean, to a hotel, for at least two nights. He wouldn't have it any other way. due to the pressure it would put on my finances I wasn't very interested about the idea, and hoped I could just go by and entertain him here. Besides, as we all know, I was in probation-vacations this week. But Kari wasn't happy, he needed his fix-of-beach, and having read my entry in the Hungarian blog about the matter, offered to pay the hotel, or, well, transfer me the money. Well, shame to me, but I accepted. Still that was just an idea up in the air, nothing sure, something we kind of planned for yesterday and today (Kari also wanted to stay until tomorrow), since I had a meeting booked for Wednesday. Yep, a meeting in the middle of my vacations. Since Monday I had been waking up before 7 am to log into the office mail service, working on a project that has been blocked more times by a superior than the Universal Health Program by the American Senate.
Wednesday morning my boss called me and told me that the meeting had been cancelled, so sooner said than done, Kari and I made quick reservations to Terrazas del Pacífico, a hotel at Playa Hermosa, which last year was the headquarters of the World Surf Championship. The decision was between the Best Western in Jacó, where we had already been, but we knew that wasn't an all inclusive hotel anymore (which makes it far more sucky because it's no longer that good, and often the food they serve is beyond bad, but then again that's my opinion and I'm, known for being hard to please with food, though then again eating only tortillas - corn flat bread - at lunch because that's the only thing I could eat from the whole menu is a little above my wildest cases of no-like-anything), and this new hotel, all inclusive, in Playa Hermosa where we had never been before. The add sent to my e-mail offered an all inclusive experince for $88 per night, per adult. We made our numbers, and though the total cost of the Best Western was somewhat lower ($32 less), we went for the all inclusive promise.
In the most improvised fashion ever, we packed into a sportsbag some clothes, sunblocking creams and lotions, toiletteries and such. Then we grabbed our things and left, taking the first available buses everywhere. And so, after leaving the house at 11 am, we arrived at the hotel at half past four. We had no idea where the hotel was, what would it look like, but I certainly expected more than what I saw. The bus (we had to take a bus going to Quepos, but get off it before the final destination), stopped before a desolated red brick road that went steeply down, covered in dust, bordered with dry looking plants and weeds. There was nobody there, and it looked like the place you go to make Hostel 3. Rooms looked less that pretty, and the lobby was quite simple. The guy at the reception was nice though, and very, very helpful, friendly and all, confessing that there were actually only five rooms in use, and that after the Holy Week it had been quite low. It was so low that they took the chance to fumigate the entire place. Oh goodie. As a matter of fact, he also told me that I was the only one who was Costa Rican in the place. Awesome.
The room we've got was the 202. No, I have no pictures of it, so you can imagine it wasn't as pretty as it could be. The again, exposed beams, even if well finished, have never delighted me. A pentagonal room with two double beds (not even queen), a frigde with no mini bar, one wood chair, no extra pillows, no extra towels, no notepad, no pencil, one glass... dude, ONE GLASS! Two double beds and only one glass? Dude, really, check your maths. No coffee machine, no coffee... I don't know where was the all inclusive, but it wasn't included in the room.
There was a TV and an extremely noisy air conditioner, that at least worked well. Oh, did I mention that there was a terrace, but there wasn't a single chair out there to enjoy the view? Yep, the chairs weren't included in the all inclusive.
Close to six, but not six yet (half past five, actually) we went down to the bar, to exercise our all inclusive rights, only to realize that after five we couldn't get any snacks, and had to wait until six to get food. Hey, but we could get booze, so we did. Well, only cocktails and some hard licor, and beer from a barrel, not from a bottle. Hn. The arrangement of cocktails was also quite limited, so we made it on Tequila Sunrise and Piña Colada. At least those were good. It was unsettling though, that despise us being there with the all inclusive plan, the bartender and then the waiters kept writing up everthing we consumed. That kind of killed the whole implied all inclusive mood the place should have. It wasn't also very nice to see a set almost carbon copying the arrangement of the best Western, only slightly more run down, so to say.
The dinner offered three options for entries, two salads and one ceviche (raw fish with lemon, coriander, onion and other stuff), and there were five options for mean courses: chicken in with sauce with mushrooms, meat with strogonoff sauce, fish with garlic, rice with shrimp and pasta with red sauce. Three plain desserts completed menue, one of them was a cheese custard, another was a tiramisu, but none of them was really available. The same menu was repeated for each and every meal, except breakfast. Salads weren't like the menu described them, and none of the meals were exactly as described either. Chicken and meat weren't properly cooked, so we had to request them to be really, really, really well done. Whomever, truth to be told, the garnishings were delicious, the pasta was exquisite, and once the chicken and the meat were VERY WELL done, they were awesome. Fish was great too. It was kind of displeasing to be faced with the same menu three times. Why couldn't they, at least offer two different menus, or at least many more options? Breakfasts had more options, but I always went with the Continental Breakast, and Kari went for the Traditional Breakfast.
The pool was nice, and the view was beautiful, and though the beach wasn't good for swimming (currents are too strong there), the shore gave a nice place to take a long walk, enjoy the sunset, collect interesting colored pebbles and shells, and run away from the waves that stretch giddily across the shore with foamy lace fingers. Yeah, sounds romantic... even for me. (We did all that, if you ask me, and I felt a bit dumb, but I enjoyed it inmensely, because I was with Kari :-) )
Then came the nightly experience. No, I'm not detailing our sexual life, I'm detailing the hotel. All night long we heard the loud noise of trucks, trailers, buses and whatever engine running down the road, as if it was running right next to our ears. I've been in traffic jams more quiet than that hotel. Hell, I've been in bars more quiet that that hotel! The pillows were hard and the matress was so stiff, so hard you couldn't sleep on your side or your legs and hips would start hurting like hell. Now, okay, I'm one of those that need to sleep, love to sleep in very soft beds, but this bed was horridly hard. I woke up constantly with numb limbs and pained hips.
Finally, but not less important, though there was wireless internet available, for free (with a password), the connection was SO bad, I, evidently couldn't access it to blog, or even tweet. No mobile phone coverage, and finally, the bathroom was disasterous, to say the least. The toilet wasn't working as it was supposed to. Can you imagine to ACTUALLY have to open the tank and fill itt MANUALLY with water so that you can flush it? Yep. Like that. All fo the personal was nice, though I really resented the way they were friendly with me completely disregarding the fact that Kari was with me, and Kari resented the constant lack of manners as waiters kept serving him first than me.
The hotel wouldn't be so bad, really, but unless you are Spring Breaking and minding not for the looks of the place, go ahead, but for me, it doesn't worth the $88/person/night we paid. But then again, that's just me. You may like it, but I don't recommend it.
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