We got up on Saturday, had breakfast and checked out. We then went to the Avis car rental site, where we had reserved a car for our trip to Todos Santos. The young man behind the desk, who looked about 12 years old, took our paperwork and then spent about 15 minutes filling in information on various computer screens. He didn’t say a word, except when he needed a phone number or address. Although when we had arrived there was no line-up, by the time we were ready to go outside to get our car there were about 5 people waiting. The same young man who filled out our information went to get our car. Then we had to do the check of the car, to make sure they didn’t charge us for any damage already there. Meanwhile, there was no one at the desk. Finally we loaded our luggage and got on our way.
I had the route on my iPad using Google Maps and it showed us how to get out of the commercial/ residential area and onto Highway 19. Mexican side roads have speed bumps about every 300 metres so no one goes very fast. That means that stop signs are suggestions, although we stopped at every one. We missed a turn-off but it worked out okay, as we soon came to an intersection with Highway 19. We turned left and saw a sign that said “Todos Santos” with an arrow pointing ahead. Yay, we were on the right path, and out of the urban traffic. We checked the speed limit and continued on.
This was the first time we had driven in Mexico. When we were in the line-up earlier in the week we spoke with some people who regularly rented cars, mostly to go to other resorts to golf. They had some good advice; mostly that local drivers drive fast, cut in and don’t stop at intersections. And that getting extra insurance was a good idea as the rental car company would charge a lot if you had an accident. That was why we were happy to be on the open highway. We knew traffic in Todos Santos would be light so there would be nothing to worry about.
The drive to Todos Santos was quite boring. The scenery was the same mile after mile; cactuses and thorn bushes to the right and rocky seashore to the left. The highway was divided but there was very little traffic in either direction so we were relaxed. We had been to Todos Santos before, and we began to recognize interchanges and properties. The main road into Todos Santos wasn’t the road our hotel was on, but it didn’t take long to find the road we needed. And suddenly, there it was again, the Hotel California. We all know that the hotel isn’t the one in the Eagles’ song but it fits the bill. We are big Eagles fans, having seen them in concert four times. Their music forms a big portion of the soundtrack of our lives. So, staying at the hotel was kind of a bucket list moment. And what a moment it was.
The forecast was for rain, and the sky had grown darker and darker the more we drove. We checked in and went out to see the little shops in the area. As we finished up, the first drops fell. The rain was light at first, but as we got seated under the covered patio of the Hotel California’s restaurant, the wind picked up and the rain got heavier. Soon the water was pouring off the roof in torrents and everyone was getting somewhat damp as the wind blew the rain sideways under the patio covering. We were in just about the middle of the patio so we weren’t getting too wet, but we still got the full brunt of the wind. The servers had to run out into the rain to get food and drinks. They were laughing about it and most of the people on the patio were good natured too.
When we finished lunch we went up to our room to warm up. We found a blanket in the armoire and sat cuddling up on the bed, reading our Kindles. The storm continued for several hours, then finally slowed and stopped. Some time after that we discovered we didn’t have any water in our room, luckily the toilet tank was full so we were able to flush, once. We went downstairs to tell the front desk about the situation and were told that that entire town didn’t have water, some problem with the pumps from the volume of water from the storm. They had water tanks on the roof though, so they were in the process of switching over to using that water. Fair enough. We went to the restaurant and found it full, so we sat in the bar. We had light dinner and then went back up to our room. Dale had a cold shower but I wasn’t brave enough. I washed my face in the sink and cleaned my feet by walking around in the wet shower. We read some more then fell asleep.
We awoke to the sound of a nearby rooster and the bells of the mission next to the hotel. I opened the doors onto our little deck to see a clear blue sky. The tantalizing smell of bacon wafted up from the restaurant below us. Dale had another cold shower while I again made do with a quick wash. We got dressed and went down to breakfast. We mentioned to the front desk on our way by that while we now had water, we didn’t have hot water. We were told they were working on it. By the time we got back to our room, the hot water was on. Yay, hot showers tonight!
Hotel California is an iconic building for people of our generation. It is beautiful in its own right, but rather shabby around the edges. If you look quickly your first impressions are of vibrant colours, interesting art and classical Mexican (Spanish) architecture. Every corner, every wall has something interesting. However, look closer and you’ll see the damaged plaster around the doors, the broken tiles on the walls and the dust accumulating on everything. However, that didn’t really affect our stay. We are old enough to know that the mythical expectations of a place that we had built up in our minds could never be achieved in real life. It is what it is, a small boutique hotel in a very small town in rural Mexico. Without its name, we would never have stayed here. But, now we’ve been there, done that and bought the souvenirs.
The town is lovely too, and we enjoyed our walk around. We took a lot of pictures, because now that we’ve stayed here for a weekend, we’ll probably never be back. But the memories we have will last and they’ll be perfect, even around the edges.
