November 9, 2012
Kathryn had really been suffering from the heat when we pulled into town and we checked into the first hotel we could find. They were nice enough to give us a locked room for the trikes. Other than that, the Nova Park was a strange experience. The room had a bathroom that was a shower with a toilet and a sink. Everything got wet when you took a shower. The toilet water had been turned off from the wall and there was a big plastic container full of water under the sink. I didn't know what to do so, first, I tried turning the toilet water on. The water from the wall turned on and we now had a working toilet. The bathroom floor was wet and there wasn't a towel for the floor. The room came with only 2 towels. Kathryn used one of the towels for the floor while I called down to reception to get another. No problem. A few minutes later, the phone rang and reception said they couldn't give me another towel. Really? We talked for a while about the towel and finally she said someone would come up with a towel. 20 minutes later I walked down to reception to get the towel myself. They refused to give me another towel. 2 towels per room is the limit. They offered me a very small light green towel but I explained that I hadn't taken a shower yet and that towel was too small. Reception had to consult with housekeeping and after lots of back and forth conversation I was given a full size bath towel. This felt like a huge accomplishment and I was very happy that I could now take a shower. 10 minutes later there was a knock at the door. 2 front desk people were there saying I couldn't have 3 three towels. What?!? I, very seriously, asked them if they needed a towel back. Yes, they did. I showed them how wet the bathroom floor was and insisted that I needed the extra towel. One front desk person left for a few minutes and returned with the the small light green towel for me to use on the bathroom floor. Okie dokie! I picked up the wet bath towel from the floor and handed it over. Everyone was happy now.
Even though it had a been a very hot day, I felt refreshed after my shower - with my long fought over towel. Kathryn slept for hours. I did yoga, worked on my blog, cleaned all my clothes and caught got up on all the post election news. Eventually, I was getting hungry and decided to go down and see if the hotel offered food. No, they only served breakfast. A huge storm was passing over and it had been pouring with lightning and thunder for hours. I wasn't going out there. Luckily, we had crackers, nutella, dried fruit and nuts. Nothing like eating simply.
The next morning Kathryn seemed to have recovered. I was really worried that she wasn't going to be able to handle the heat but she wanted to cycle. We started out under much cooler conditions on a route that was very flat. It seemed that we stopped about every 5 miles for some delightful food or drink. Sugar cane, guava, lemon water and every time the people were lovely. Our lunch was a plate of delicious veggie stir fry with rice and cost $2.30 for both of us with iced tea. After lunch, we had a local guy ride with us for probably a good 15 miles. Leman was on a beautifully painted fixed gear and seemed very happy following along and making all our stops. He was probably around 30, didn't speak any English and only had a couple of teeth. He shook our hands at a stop when he wanted to turn around. We continued on a very enjoyable ride. As the day went on, the temperature rose and we were ready to stop after 35 miles.
After a hot ride, staying in a decent, comfortable hotel can make a big difference. Boy did we hit the jackpot for finding a wonderful hotel. The Classic hotel was a bit spendier than we had been paying but it was truly upscale. This hotel would be a good $200 a night in the US. We were living the high life for $47.35. The lobby was huge with marble and beautiful woodwork. Reception let us store the trikes inside the lobby as if they were on display. The doorman loaded up the baggage cart and helped us get our gear to the room. This was our most comfortable room yet. We even had a view of the ocean. The Classic Hotel will more than make up for last nights strange experience.
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