Blog Number 138

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

So I am at a new hotel now (the Holiday Inn).  I actually had a reservation at the Sheraton until the day I was to leave to come home so it felt a little weird telling the remis (taxi) driver to take us to the Holiday Inn.  He gave us a funny look but I assured him this is where we wanted to go.  The Holiday Inn is probably 20 minutes from the Sheraton and in a much different part of town.  I think it is a better part of town but I really have no way of knowing.  There are a lot more families with children here and there is a game room with a pool table, foosball table and a table tennis table.  When we went down to play though, the room was filled with children.

The staff here speaks even less English than at the other hotel and since my coworker was leaving at 5 PM to come home I was semi-dreading being here alone for the next 6 days.  This is a little cheaper than the Sheraton (but what do I care as my company is picking up the bill?).  Also, they offer (a much needed) laundry service.  It is a little pricey...

• Shirt - 6 Pesos
• T-Shirt - 3 Pesos
• Socks - 2 Pesos
• Underwear - 2 Pesos
• Trousers - 8 Pesos (they do not offer laundry for this, only dry cleaning)

But again, my company is paying for this as laundry is an expendable item.  I will remind you that 3 Pesos = $1 US.  Adding it all up I can estimate my laundry bill to be around 140 Pesos ($47 US).  I guess that is not too bad but it does sound like a lot for laundry.

The mall right next to this hotel is huge but is dominated by many shops selling things that you would see at a Lowe's or Home Depot only they are in individual shops.  There are the standard mall shops as well (clothing, coffee, food court, etc.) but they are scattered between places selling flooring, sinks, hardware, paint, furniture, etc.  I wandered around and found the supermarket (for some reason, there is always one in all the malls) and bought some drinks for the room and also a snack (Oreos with caramel filling – Dulce de Leche).  Carmel is very big down here.  It is probably comparable to our peanut butter since they put it on about everything.  I would not recommend Dulce de Leche Oreos (or the Mandarin 7-Up).  I did like the Pritty Limon (strong lemon flavored "gaseosa" [soft drink]).  I walked through the entire store twice but could not find the water.  I pretty much stayed in the room the rest of the day and caught up on some sleep.  Today I have a lot of work to do and hopefully I can catch the NFL games later.

I know this entry is boring, but hey, so was yesterday.  I am hoping that nothing exciting happens today (except a Colts win!) and since my breakfast has just arrived...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon