A 24 Hour Room

           The end of our second day in Mexico; it was time to find a hotel.  We drove slowly through the town of Naranjha.  We passed a new, attractive complex with a huge Motel sign, there appeared to be an enclosed courtyard and a garden.  There were several other hotels but none looked nearly as inviting.  We returned to MOTEL (no other name in evidence).

            Driving into the courtyard we saw a puzzling sign. $120 por 2 hora, $210 por 4 hora.  We asked a young man in front of the office if there were any habitacions libre (rooms available).  He seemed confused.  He spoke no English, we speak no Spanish but I had carefully written the question on a card.  Two other men arrived, they conferred and then they led us to a beautiful room, tiled floors, king sized bed, toilet and shower in separate spaces, and a garage with an automatic door.

            The older man wrote down the very reasonable price for 24 h.  An unusual way to rent a motel room but hey, what do we know?  We’re in Mexico.  Everything is immaculate, I turned down the bed, and there was a bottom sheet and a thin bedspread.  No top sheet, no blanket.   Next to the bed was a small dish holding some mints, and…a condom.  We were beginning to think things were not as we’d thought.  Max turned on the TV, oops, a selection of porn, the clues were mounting.

            A visit to the office was, well, no office more like a linen closet, just shelves of sheets and bedspreads.  I managed to collect another sheet and regrets that there was no TV.

            Over the bed there was a 6x6x10inch black box that looked like a speaker.  The bedside lights were on dimmer switches and the garage doors, once closed, open only if we dialed 0 on the bedside telephone. 

            Oh, one more thing.  There was a small door in the wall that opened to a space accessed from the outside by another small door.  Like the milk delivery boxes of generations ago.  We couldn’t figure out what this is for.  Maybe pizza delivery?

            We slept well, despite the Latin music that came from someplace during much of the night.  In the morning we discovered that the speaker over the bed would pipe the music into our room, loud only.  The shower was fabulous, better than any of the motels in the US.  As we packed up in the morning, we discovered the reason for the small interior door. 

            A car arrived across the courtyard, drove into the garage and a young man shut it, then walked to the small exterior door and waited.  Shortly he collected money.  Maybe M$120 or M$ 210.  This was at 9AM.

            We packed up, dialed 0, and waited for our door to open.

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