ECUADOR - My June/July 2003 Trip Journal -- by Donna R. Carter
Page Twelve
~^~ The Great Escape: Bed and Breakfast Scandal ~^~ Tuesday ~^~ July 8, 2003
I woke up in the morning at about 4:30 and it was raining. My bathroom (this was an interesting bathroom. Too bad I didn't get the whole picture. It was gorgeous marble tiles and fancy schmantzy... with chipped paint and cracks in the concrete, and a toilet that never stopped running and never filled.) Anyway, it also had a corrugated fiberglass roof top and the rain pattered on it, as well as on the patio right outside my window. It was a very nice rain. I opened the curtains and watched it for a while, and then turned over and went back to sleep until about 7:30 when I got up, had breakfast, made a few phone calls and then walked down to Americas, and hopped on a bus down to HCJB.
I stopped by the office there and Sr. Linéa and Marta Hinojosa and I drove up to the cemetery to see how the grave site has been fixed up. It looked very nice. I bought a bouquet of flowers - a beautiful mix of red and yellow roses, a cheerful sunflower, baby's breath and little purple flowers - and I left it at the grave site. I took some "after" pictures for family and found out that it would actually cost less than originally expected. That was a relief.
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When we got back from El Batan, I was dropped off at the Guest house. I found out that the Guest House had space until the end of the week. I picked up a notebook and pen for my lessons and headed back up to the B&B.
~*~*~*~*~Plans Need to be Flexible~*~*~*~*~
After giving some thought to Adriana telling me that even she didn't feel safe going home after teaching me at the B&B, and after realizing that there is no way I could possibly hike out of Pululahua all by myself very easily after recent health issues, and acknowledging that hiking to the road in a remote area all alone is not the safest thing for an American female to do in a Latin American country, I decided that I would just cancel the Pululahua trip. I decided I would cancel my stay at the B&B as well. But I wanted to keep my Spanish lessons and Adriana agreed to come to the guest house to teach me instead. (She said she felt safer there too, and that it was much more convenient to the trolley for her to get home).
Well, this change of plans went over like a lead balloon with the owner of the B&B. He got extremely angry. It made me cringe. He threw his hands in the air and walked out of the house when I told him what I wanted to do.
As I went back up to my room to put my things away, his wife came out and I told her about my change of plans, and I apologized that her husband seemed pretty angry about it.
While I was packing up everything and getting ready to go, I could hear him in the main section of the house, yelling at the maid and his wife, and basically telling them that
he was fed up and put out, and he just wanted me out as soon as possible.
Adriana showed up during this tirade. I thought I was rather intimidated by him - but... so was Adriana. We scrambled to get my things together and left in a hurry. The owner's wife was very nice and understanding and apologized for her husband. She helped us get a taxi. I gave her a small gift of thanks for her kindness, paid for my one night's stay, and I piled all my stuff into the taxi which took us back to the guest house. I felt like we were leaving "under cover of darkness" in the middle of the afternoon or something!
It's really too bad, you know... the B&B had such excellent potential(not to mention a fabulous web site!) but the owner was so cold and rude! We almost immediately didn't really like each other (although I like to give people a second chance and not let first impressions ride if they are negative). I would have given high recommendations if I hadn't felt I had been somewhat mislead in the first place, and treated so rudely by him when I got there... and again when I left.
They said, "He's Austrian. They're like that." and I thought, "That's not true. Not all Austrian's are that nasty. You can't judge a whole culture by one person."
Anyway, I had my lessons at the guest house and it went well.
I chatted with Jeff and dad, and explained where I was. They both felt like I made the right choice to move back over to the guest house, too. Since the rooms were reserved for the end of the week, I was invited to spend the weekend at Michio and Anne-Marie's house over the weekend and then go to the Moncayo's on Monday.
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