It Must Be Her: No room at the inn

There we were, stranded in a foreign country with people to see, places to go and things to do, and no hotel...By now the husband was sweating profusely and it wasn't just the humidity.

The reception attendant struggled to understand the problem, probably due to my inability to speak Spanish, go figure, and even as I presented the multiple room reservation e-mails I exchanged with the hotel staff, he came around to realizing that no one had logged our reservation. Naturally, none of the responsible parties answered their phones... Unbelievable. Of course the husband was regretting that he gave me the responsibility of finding the hotel when we had previously discussed staying at the "wedding" hotel.

I can't even begin to describe the amount of work I put into travel arrangements. Anyone who knows me knows that I (almost) always get the best deal. Seriously, the catchphrase "never pay retail" is my mantra. In a way, this was an exception because I was more than willing to pay their rate, but I thought the prices at the "wedding" hotel were ridiculous. Prices started at $350 a night compared to the more modest Casa del Curato that started at $100 a night and was conveniently 50 feet or so from the "wedding" hotel.

After much begging on our part, the attendant called several nearby/related hotels to find a room for us. Although I thought it was amusing, the husband wasn't amused at my insistence that we would not pay more than the rate we had negotiated with Casa del Curato. The attendant definitely understood this request (or demand). Several calls later, we had some options and chose the closest hotel, Hotel Zaguan.

We decided to walk since it was a block down the street and around the corner. While it was close, when you're dragging luggage, nothing is as close as it seems. I saw the humor, again, the husband did not. ANYWAY, here's where we ended up...