Hotel Living

Looking back on the last handful of posts, life seems to be very exciting and full of adventure. That's certainly accurate; however, we haven't been without our struggles. When we first were told we would be coming to Mozambique and where we would stay, I remember thinking: Ah, what it would be like to live in a hotel... I pictured Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman listening to a Walkman in the bubble bath. That sounds like something I might be interested in.

The hotel we are staying in has been, in a word, challenging. The staff doesn't seem to care about a thing, nor does management. We are normally pretty easy going but we are staying here for a couple of months so you'd like to think a bit of effort from the staff has been more than earned by the cost of this reservation. We've had some interesting experiences: the elevators stop working and trap guests frequently, laundry is expensive but seems to have arbitrary rules as to when it will be picked up and when it won't, and, my personal favorite, the breakfast staff women seem to have a crush on me (this is Jen, not Dan). I even got a handwritten love note in broken English one day. They fight over who gets to take my plate and pour my coffee.

When we got here, our first room was perfectly fine. We did notice that the commode seemed to rock when you sat on it but didn't think much of it. Over time, it became evident that the toilet was not properly attached to the pipe behind it and the pipe was leaking water onto the floor. We were okay with it for awhile but at some point, stale toilet water smells "not so fresh". We told the staff and got a new room. We did notice later, though, that they didn't seem to fix it, just mopped up the water and called it a day.

The new room was also fine. Had it's wear and tear. The bathroom door didn't hang correctly so you had to lift up the door to get it to fit into the frame. The air conditioner was quite loud when it turned on and off (which was just often enough to wake me up mid-slumber as I'm a light sleeper). I had taken to wearing ear plugs to bed each night. The closet slider door was never in its tracks. But this was the second room so we were pleased just not to have a leak in the bathroom... until we did.

We reported the ceiling leak but no one came to look at it. About a week and a half later, the ceiling collapsed and a chunk of plaster hit the floor. I went downstairs, told them and several hours later the maintenance man came... to fix the lightbulb. Hmmm. You do see the hole in the roof, right? I'm not imagining this due to sleep deprivation, am I? Alas the following day, I called again when water was dripping through the hole and that managed to succeed in getting us moved.

So now we are on lucky number 3. No problems yet to speak of. Still excitement and adventure but figured we should share some of the not-so-glamorous moments as well. Here's to hoping nothing else breaks and we have no bathroom leaks for the next four weeks until we go back home to Ghana!