Dear Casper,
Cancun: Day 1.
Officially it’s day 2, but I’m writing a quick recap of my experience thusfar while I’m here in Cancun. I may have neglected to mention that I was coming here for a week, but figured you would likely have some type of 6th sense connection when I got into Mexico and would know anyway…what with your “experience” with the country.
In any case, I got in yesterday. I’m here for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the COP-16, depending on how in the know you are. I’m here with my school, that is, they’re paying for us to be here and take care of business like note taking and analysis of different discussions happening over the next two weeks (I’ll only be here for a week and then tag-team out with some other people who aren’t as cool as me, but probably know tons more about the subject area). So, officially the conference starts tomorrow (Mon. 11/29), but I got here yesterday (Sat. 11/27) in order to get to the hotel and get settled in, and possibly have a nice Sunday to just get our badges for the week and then walk around.
I got in yesterday, at about 1 in the afternoon, with high hopes to get in, hit the fitness center (it’s an all-inclusive resort), shower up and cool off. Well, I’m rooming with my buddy Braun-Braun (I like saying the name that way ‘cause it sounds like Taun-Taun) and we both arrived in Cancun at the same time and on the same flight. It was coincidental. I flew out of Syracuse, thanks to my amazing and beautiful girlfriend who woke up with me at 3 in the morning to go to the airport. There was a stop in DC, where I caught the same flight as Braun-Braun.
We arrive and get through customs without a hitch. Following the flight however, we still needed to get to our hotel. We were both thinking, just catch a bus that will get us close to the hotel, and then we can save a couple of dollars. … Well, I don’t know if you’ve been to Cancun through traditional international jet-setter means, but it’s not an easy to navigate situation, especially when you don’t speak Spanish. There must have been a couple of hundred different taxi/shuttle/transportation service guys (ALL GUYS) working to get the tourists and saps to ride with them. Cutting deals and having to prepay was the name of the game. Each person we passed, asked if we needed a taxi, and gave us a price. Most were around $45, give or take a few dollars…mostly take—as far as the taxi and taxi customer finders are concerned. It was a like a three part attack, first the guy finds you at the exit of the airport. He’ll ask if you need a taxi or shuttle ride. Well, we savvy travelers knew that there had to be a better way. So we say no, about 50 times, and proceed into the more open areas, where the taxis and shuttles are just hangin’ out filling with suckers who couldn’t say no. As we walk by, we get bombarded by more guys asking, these guys seem to be luggage-loaders and customer-finders. As they load luggage and walk around they’re asking if you need a ride, and “clarify” the prices again. Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll just take a bus and it’ll be fine; Cancun isn’t that big. These guys are pullin’ in some stragglers who absent-mindedly made it through round 1. Braun-Braun and I keep pushing through—past the first round, past the second round, looking for buses. Well, past all the people and all the cars, taxis, and buses, there is …. Nothing. The third attack. There was nothing to help us, which meant we were stuck and had to go back through rounds one and two. Suckers.
We were on our way. Finally, we got into a shuttle, $30 for the both of us, prepaid. We were the first stop, and the second stop, and the third stop which was actually our hotel; apparently the existence of other Oasis/Be Live (pronounced believe) Hotels are confusing. So, landed at 12:20, got to the hotel which is 10 minutes away by 1:30. Well, we’re here, there should be a reservation, this should be easy.
In line to check in, there are only two groups in front of us. Two groups of people are checking in at the moment, this shouldn’t take too long. We stood there for an hour. Apparently the group of four Americans trying to currently check in were complete idiots. There was definitely more than a language barrier that was causing problems. There was a young troll woman, and her three compatriots who were trying to check in. I only notice the troll girl because of her hunched back and stretched face—plus I was getting impatient since her group was taking forever and she was seemingly in charge. After an hour in line, sharing our impatient concerns with the nice people behind us and enjoying a complimentary iced green drink, it was our time to shine. We knew that we wouldn’t be taking as long as the troll girl and her party crew.
The hotel’s computers did not have our reservation.
I should be clear, there were no reservations in our names. It was supposed to be under Braun-Braun, but obviously it wasn’t. Thankfully our coordinator was due to arrive about an hour from when we were able to try and check in. I would’ve called her but my phone wasn’t working. Again, to be clear I tried calling her but as soon as I tried calling out and taking the roaming charges, the phone decided it was too much work to connect to anything and just shut down. So we moved our stuff to the side and just sat on the nice cool floor. We played some Connect Four—well, I say played but really I dominated. We waited…and waited. I was tired of waiting so we made our move to the lobby couches. Where we worked on a crossword puzzle…and then a second crossword puzzle. We waited and waited. We were frustrated and frustrated. Finally, impatient as I was, I asked the guy at the ‘hospitality desk’ in the lobby for some help. In my impatient waiting around the lobby I had learned that he was not just a hospitality person, but actually a person for the group that we had made our reservations through. Asked him about our reservation, our name wasn’t to start until today (11/29). Strange though, considering I had asked the front desk to check reservations for both days and they had come up empty. Well, we finally got word from our coordinator, her phone was giving her troubles. She was on her way.
After another hour, she finally arrived. We’re tired and anxious and hungry and frustrated. Also, the lobby is like our prison, with grey Aztec inspired walls. Not grey Aztecs, but grey walls that have Aztec-ian angles. Well, she arrived and we started taking care of business. It took awhile. We had a confirmation email about our reservations. It had a confirmation number. The confirmation number was for somebody else. It made sense, the reservations for Braun-Braun and I were the result of taking over this somebody else’s room. But somewhere along the four-person reservation train his and my name got tossed out the window. (This is in addition to the reservation crew not knowing what the hell they were doing, as our reservations a. weren’t under Braun-Braun’s name and b. were confirmed via email for Saturday and not Sunday and c. they were stupid).
After some arguing, we finally got in. We had to get past another issue of payment; we had prepaid but apparently nobody knew. Well, they found it. We registered, got past the name and payment issues. It was ridiculous. We found our room, 4141 all the way at the end of the hall. Ugh, at least we had a room. Opening the door, looking for relief, and smelling mildew. It was nasty. Nasty, but maybe acceptable. So we dressed down and hit the gym. After the workout, we returned to the room, in hopes for something better. Still mildew. Still nasty. I took a shower…I was sweaty. The water came out brown, though changed to mostly clear after a little bit. The soap came out brown, but then cleared up. The shampoo, which looked blue in the container, came out brown to start. Yeah, I felt pretty clean after that.
After showers and changing, we decided to find out if our coordinator and the other had nasty mildew in their room…naturally they didn’t. That was it. We had to change. We didn’t want to deal with the front desk again, considering all the trouble to that point, but a week in a mildew room definitely was not happening.
So we hit the desk, I asked, and it was easy. So, we packed and moved. There’s no mildew, and there is working A/C. Sweet, sweet redemption. Then we ate and drank and it was good.
At the end of day 2:
I went to an NGO strategy meeting. It was tiring. I am tired…and supposed to get up for breakfast at 6:30. Oh, and tomorrow I’m going to be following MRV and IAC issues. That is: transparency and accountability issues that haven’t been solved yet….Also, I know about as much as you do. See you soon.
Love you!
Law.
