So today the alarm went off at 4.30am. We had barely any sleep from all the street noise & the booming bass from the nearby night club's. Sometimes, being very central is NOT a good thing!!
We got ready & packed a day bag & walked the 7 minutes to our pick up point, dodging all the drunks as we went.
We booked a tour yesterday for an 'early visit' to Chichen Itza, to beat the crowds & with an english speaking archaeologist as a guide. We were sent some information straight after booking & a confirmation email about 8pm, last night which we had to reply to as confirmation. Both of the documents said the pickup was at the HM hotel, with no street address given. They did kindly supply a direct google maps link with a pin drop in the confirmation email, which matched our own google maps search for the hotel.
We arrived at the location, early & were a bit concerned about not being able to find the hotel. There was no HM hotel in sight & the corner block where we were standing had a really tall fence at the exact pin drop location on google maps... maybe the hotel was here & has now become a new development ? After waiting 30 minutes & not being picked up, we tried using a pay phone to ring the number's supplied, but couldn't get through. We then borrowed a phone from a local taxi driver & again, couldn't get through. The taxi driver then told us the HM hotel is actually around the corner & pointed to a place on the map.
We walked 3 blocks away & found the hotel.
We went inside and spoke to the person at reception who confirmed the the tour company does pick people up from here, but that HM have no association with the booking of the tours.
He was really nice & rung them again on our behalf, finally managing to get through on a contact number & spoke to someone who could move our booking to the next day, but wanted to charge us US$15 per person for the rescheduling. We didn't want the hotel receptionist to have to explain the problem, so we agreed to the rescheduling & told him that we would contact them about the problems later.
We think the problem might be that HM hotel doesn't have it's correct location available on google maps, as strange as this is. Surely it's been a problem before & the tour company as well as the booking agent must realise this.
The other problem could be that we booked the tour company through a booking agency, we didn't go straight through the tour company & all of our information came from the booking company.
It's a total waste of day & it's really inconvenient to go do this tomorrow. Once at home, Tom sent an email with screen shots of the location on google maps to the booking company, explaining the problem & asking them to negotiate with Amigo tours on our behalf & have the re-scheduling fee removed, because it wasn't our fault. Following this, we both eventually calmed down & went back to sleep.
At 1.30pm we checked out of the guest house & went to our next lot of accommodation which is included in the tour. It's at Koox hotel, thankfully only 4 blocks away from where we were.
We Checked in & did the relevant paperwork.
I was a bit put off that we've been split up & put into men & womens dorms. But as Tom said, if it's for other women's safety & comfortability, we would never complain. The rooms are very nice! As we were leaving, on our way to lunch, we ran into 2 other girls from America ! Yayyyy! English speaking people. I was worried the tour would be full of Spanish speaking people, making it harder for us to make friends.
Directly under the hotel was a restaurant that specialises in Mexican cuisine. We were so bloody hungry at this point in time, that we couldn't be bothered walking further & they had a great menu with a great deal on coronas! We got 6 for 120 peso's, which works out to be AUD $1.45 per corona.
While drinking our beers we saw 2 guys across the road, 1 of which just came out of a pharmacy, comparing bottles & box's of what we assume were meds.... to be honest it's not the first time we've suspected that we have been witness to a drug deal. It made for very interesting lunch time entertainment.
Our food was amazing & we left very satisfied & needing a nap.
By this time we still haven't heard anything back from the tour company or the booking company about our problems today & the tour to Chichen Itza that we missed.
After the meeting we all went for a walk into the centre of Playa del Carmen, for traditional Mexican food & margaritas. The food was really good, but expensive in comparison to the places Tom & I have been eating at. Tom & I shared dishes of fish tacos & vegetarian fajitas.
By 9.30pm, we were full, tipsy & tired, knowing we had another early start tomorrow, where fingers crossed we would get to Chichen Itza & all of the drama from today would be forgotten.
We said goodnight at the stairs between floors 3 & 4, before going to our separate rooms & beds.
The beds were actually super comfortable & we were both asleep before too much time passed.
- Alli
We got ready & packed a day bag & walked the 7 minutes to our pick up point, dodging all the drunks as we went.
We booked a tour yesterday for an 'early visit' to Chichen Itza, to beat the crowds & with an english speaking archaeologist as a guide. We were sent some information straight after booking & a confirmation email about 8pm, last night which we had to reply to as confirmation. Both of the documents said the pickup was at the HM hotel, with no street address given. They did kindly supply a direct google maps link with a pin drop in the confirmation email, which matched our own google maps search for the hotel.
We arrived at the location, early & were a bit concerned about not being able to find the hotel. There was no HM hotel in sight & the corner block where we were standing had a really tall fence at the exact pin drop location on google maps... maybe the hotel was here & has now become a new development ? After waiting 30 minutes & not being picked up, we tried using a pay phone to ring the number's supplied, but couldn't get through. We then borrowed a phone from a local taxi driver & again, couldn't get through. The taxi driver then told us the HM hotel is actually around the corner & pointed to a place on the map.
We walked 3 blocks away & found the hotel.
We went inside and spoke to the person at reception who confirmed the the tour company does pick people up from here, but that HM have no association with the booking of the tours.
He was really nice & rung them again on our behalf, finally managing to get through on a contact number & spoke to someone who could move our booking to the next day, but wanted to charge us US$15 per person for the rescheduling. We didn't want the hotel receptionist to have to explain the problem, so we agreed to the rescheduling & told him that we would contact them about the problems later.
We think the problem might be that HM hotel doesn't have it's correct location available on google maps, as strange as this is. Surely it's been a problem before & the tour company as well as the booking agent must realise this.
The other problem could be that we booked the tour company through a booking agency, we didn't go straight through the tour company & all of our information came from the booking company.
It's a total waste of day & it's really inconvenient to go do this tomorrow. Once at home, Tom sent an email with screen shots of the location on google maps to the booking company, explaining the problem & asking them to negotiate with Amigo tours on our behalf & have the re-scheduling fee removed, because it wasn't our fault. Following this, we both eventually calmed down & went back to sleep.
At 1.30pm we checked out of the guest house & went to our next lot of accommodation which is included in the tour. It's at Koox hotel, thankfully only 4 blocks away from where we were.
We Checked in & did the relevant paperwork.
I was a bit put off that we've been split up & put into men & womens dorms. But as Tom said, if it's for other women's safety & comfortability, we would never complain. The rooms are very nice! As we were leaving, on our way to lunch, we ran into 2 other girls from America ! Yayyyy! English speaking people. I was worried the tour would be full of Spanish speaking people, making it harder for us to make friends.
Directly under the hotel was a restaurant that specialises in Mexican cuisine. We were so bloody hungry at this point in time, that we couldn't be bothered walking further & they had a great menu with a great deal on coronas! We got 6 for 120 peso's, which works out to be AUD $1.45 per corona.
While drinking our beers we saw 2 guys across the road, 1 of which just came out of a pharmacy, comparing bottles & box's of what we assume were meds.... to be honest it's not the first time we've suspected that we have been witness to a drug deal. It made for very interesting lunch time entertainment.
Our food was amazing & we left very satisfied & needing a nap.
By this time we still haven't heard anything back from the tour company or the booking company about our problems today & the tour to Chichen Itza that we missed.
After lunch we went for a wander down to the main strip in town & came across some Mexican street performers who do this traditional performance that involves climbing up a very high pole in costume. Tying themselves to a rope around the abdomen that has been wound up on a mechanism at the top of the pole, which allows the pole to rotate. Once the men are secured & the music hits a certain frequency (possibly when the audience has given enough money into the basket) the Men then push themselves off the platform & hang upside down while the rope unwinds & slowly spins them down to the ground. It looked very technical & wold have required a lot of practice. After watching this we strolled along the beach & did some more souvenir shopping for friends & family.
Technically today is day 1 of our tour & involves meeting everyone. At 6pm we met our tour leader, her name is Suzie & she's from the UK, but has 9 years of central American knowledge & an obvious love for these countries she wants to share. There is a group of 18 of us, at least half are Irish, there is 2 Americans, a couple of Germans & Brits & a few solo travellers from various parts of Europe. We're the only Aussies! Most people are only doing 16 days on tour & will leave us in Guatemala & have different people join us for the rest of the trip.
After the meeting we all went for a walk into the centre of Playa del Carmen, for traditional Mexican food & margaritas. The food was really good, but expensive in comparison to the places Tom & I have been eating at. Tom & I shared dishes of fish tacos & vegetarian fajitas.
By 9.30pm, we were full, tipsy & tired, knowing we had another early start tomorrow, where fingers crossed we would get to Chichen Itza & all of the drama from today would be forgotten.
We said goodnight at the stairs between floors 3 & 4, before going to our separate rooms & beds.
The beds were actually super comfortable & we were both asleep before too much time passed.
- Alli
No comments:
Post a Comment