I really debated whether or not to come back to Totonaka and decided to give them once last chance. After the night I just had, they won’t be seeing me again. There are so many other hotels in San Carlos that surely I can find something else that is more suitable. I know the rate here is pretty cheap (about 30USD right now), but the rooms aren’t great and I’m sure better value can be found, even if it means spending a few more pesos. There’s only a stained towel in the bathroom, the bedsheets are cigarette burned, the place feels like it’s only surface cleaned, and the bed is rock hard. At least, there’s a fridge. Oh, and the WiFi is unusable. I could handle all of that for the rate, especially since I brought in my mattress topper (which made a huge difference), but this back row of rooms is apparently party central for San Carlos. I was woken up on and off during the night to squealing tires, very loud music, and other general rowdiness. I deserve a good night’s sleep after and ahead of border crossing day and this motel isn’t the place where I can get that.
Even though it was a night of broken sleep, I still woke up really early, having gone to bed really early. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open last night! In fact, as those of you on Facebook know, I ended up going to Los Arbolitos for a nightcap and bowl of soup just to stretch out my evening! BTW, adding sliced avocado to hot soup is genius. It was the second time I’ve done it and I love it! The avocado dissolves and makes the soup creamy. Yum!
Of course, the morning is now very quiet and peaceful… Guess all the partyers are sleeping in.
I walked down to the Oxxo for coffee, happy that I don’t have to schlep all the way across town for that anymore. Oxxo definitely has a ‘refill’ rate for hot drinks if you bring your own cup (I saw the clerk pick it on the computer) and their rates are not consistent from store to store. My coffee today was $13 rather than $12.50 (a 0.04CAD difference). It is also my best Oxxo coffee ever. Yum!
I have about six hours of driving ahead of me today, not counting any potential stops for coffees and baños and it’s 7:30, so I’ll be heading out soonnish. I can’t believe I’ll be home on Isla tomorrow afternoon! I don’t even know if the house is going to be ready for me. After having such a hard time getting hold of my landlady last year, I told her in July that if she doesn’t hear from me again, I’ll be arriving at 2PMish on November 1st and wouldn’t be contacting her again. So I’m prepared for the scenario that she forgot I was coming and that the house won’t be ready. Not a big deal if that’s the case since I seriously doubt she rented it out to anyone else. The plan would be to let her know I’m on site, then go have a beer and late lunch on the beach while she scrambles. 🙂 All will be revealed soon enough. I am just going to be glad to be home, even if I have to wait a few hours to gain access. Living out of a suitcase is exhausting!
Drive safely & enjoy the ride.
Home sweet home.
Thank you! I think I will enjoy today more than I did this day last year because I know where I am going to land. I was pretty stressed out about finding accommodation by late afternoon!
Excited for you to reach the Isla!
Me too! I’m wiped!
In today’s Mexico, $30 doesn’t buy much in way of a hotel room. I remember when a room in Baja in the 70s was $2 a night. Things change and so does Mexico.
Yeah, I’m disappointed with the cost of accommodation here. 🙂 I’d rather pay more and get some value for my money.
Hola Rae,
After driving around Mexico last year and having hotel/motel disappointments, I took to asking to see the room before I committed to checking in. There, I asked for the wifi key, which I used to log into the wifi on my phone. Then I’d test the wifi to see how well it worked in the room they were showing me. If it didn’t work, or I only had one signal bar, but the rest of the room looked OK, I’d offer them to show me another room with better signal. If I couldn’t get the wifi to work anywhere, I’d find another hotel. Though it feels a little rude to do this, it really works quite well, and if you’re the customer and they’re offering wifi, then it’d better be a functioning offer and not fluff, IMHO.
As for hotel rates, the peso is now about 30% weaker vs the USD since last year. Now the CAD is also quite a bit weaker, so Mexico isn’t quite the bargain for you that it is for us Estadounidenses, but still, I have found that one should be able to get a decent room outside the major cities for 400-500 MXN. And I’ve also found that while I could luck out from time to time by paying less, often cheaper hotels were real dumps, and as you say, paying more was a much better value.
Anyway, I’m having fun reading your blog.
Saludos,
Kim G
Boston, MA
Where we wish Expedia, Priceline and the other hotel review sites would put a box in the review form so people could indicate wifi quality.
Kim, I usually ask to see a motel before I sign in, but I went to Totonaka the first time because it was recommended by the RVers and then because it was because what I could afford, then didn’t bother investigating anything else.
As for Motel York in Guamúchil, it was getting dark, so that’s where I was staying, regardless of the room!