We knew the guest house was going to be full when we arrived around 7:15 that morning, but Nico (manager) in a prior email had graciously said we could leave our stuff there that morning while we looked around for a temporary hotel.  Well, the guest house door was locked – with us and all our luggage dumped on the sidewalk.  Now what?  Just then a woman came out, saw us gringos and said the place didn’t open until 8.  Hmm….  Nico had said we could probably get a room at the hotel across the narrow street so I walked across while Leslie stayed behind to watch our stuff.

The Hotel Texas reception desk had a bulletin board with their posted rates.  Again, from internet searching I had an idea of what locals would pay for a room and the bulletin board was certainly above what I expected.  But again, Leslie was across the street, we hadn’t slept and I really did need a room.  My negotiating hand wasn’t that strong that morning so we got a room overlooking the street and across to the guest house.

We paid the “rack rate”!