Hotel Marriot Guatemala

Hotel Marriot Guatemala

Known “in my times” as El Dorado, also one of the hotels with tradition at the City that I´m afraid had change the chain quite a lot of times, but it didn´t affected the good quality of this good hotel.



I have already talk about this at the post "Breakfast in Guatemala: Sunday Brunch" but someone advised me it will be more useful to place them in different posts, so here is it, it contains exactly the same of that post, in case of new comments about this place, I´ll write a new post.

Incident with the bill at the Spa Termas Pallares.

As I mentioned at the post “reserving”, we went to this Spa with a sale I found on internet. You should do the reserve before March 18th. I did it by phone on March 16th. and the total price per room, including taxes, was 278,20.

My friend has done the check out of her room around an hour before me.

When I made the check out with Curro, there were several people and we heard some of them complaining due the bills. Actually I haven´t pay attention to them, but Curro says usually the problem was due the bills.

Once it was our turn, it was wondering for me the total of the bill because even taking into account that you should pay the robe, sandals and the bathing cap as extra, any way the bill was more expensive of what I thought it should be. I asked the person that attended me to please explain me the reason of that and then I released the price per person of the room was 165 Euros instead of the 130 of the sale. I insisted to him this wasn´t the price so she showed me the papers they have of that sale and there it was 155 Euros per night instead of 130. I had nothing to probe that the price of my reserve was 130 so I had to accept to pay that.

Once out of there I asked my friend about the price she had pay, and actually they had charged just 130 Euros per night to her. I asked her to please leave me the bill for complaining. We were already far away from the Spa, no point to go back to complaining.

On the next Tuesday I had call and tried to explain the situation to a lady of the reception desk. She talked to me in a way that made me feel stupid. She insisted that the price that they had applied to me was the right one, I explained again to her it was a sale price for people doing the reserve before March 18th., she replied that then the mistake was what they charged to my friend because not ever in their story they had that low prices for Eastern time and that it was better to leave it like that because if I insist complaining what she should do would be to charge me the difference of what my friend pay less!!!!! (!!!???). Of course I was quite surprised and feeling powerless, having her still at the pone I searched again the sale banner at their web but I didn´t found it. So, at last I just told her that it would be a good idea if they include as a polite to send a mail confirming the rates, she replied they do but just if the client requires it.

Feeling so upset with the situation, I searched in Google, in Spanish “Eastern sale Termas Pallares” and… voila! There it was! At their blog, the banner with the price I made the reserve. So, I called again. This time the one that attended me was Eva, I told her that just few minutes ago I had been talking with a colleague of her and if it would be possible to talk to her again. Eva told me the other girl wasn´t there so I had to explain the whole situation again, adding that I had found at their blog the banner of the sale… and… Eva turned cocky with me! She told me so cocky, I insist, that those situations should be claimed at the reception desk when you do the check out, not once you aren´t there, otherwise a lot of people would claim a better rate because they found out an offer on internet after being at the hotel. I had to insist her 3 times to please stop and listen to me and once I told her that the one that have done the reserve for both rooms was me and that to my friend they charged the right price but not to me, then she controlled her tone and finally she accepted to give the extra money back to me. Not even once she said the magic word “apologize” or any other alike.

Finally I received the money back in my account on April 14th. but I had sent another mail before asking about it again.

MORAL: always ask for a writen confirmation and take it with you.

Defenetely this kind of “small” details are the ones that can spoil your experience in a place like that at all. Well, anyone can do a mistake (or 3… or 10… or 100…) but at least to tell “sorry!” Instead of that, once I placed my story with the bill at 11870 web, what I got was a mail of one of their managers telling me she was wondered about this comment at that web as far as in my survey I said all at the hotel was ok. Well, you see, I have answered the survey before doing the check out and… having everything at the hotel “ok” doesn´t mean this hotel made a “click” on your heart. As I already said at my post about the hotels of the Spa, yes, all was ok, just it wasn´t the style of hotels I like to stay in. Anyway, I still confirm I liked the Grand Hotel Cascada, the thermal lake is really nice and the region has a lot of amazing places. So, don´t be surprised if I stay at this place again… just it´s not like I´m dying for staying there again.

The building of the old casino at the Spa Thermas Pallares.

According of what people of the staff told me, it was a time when people even lost fortunes at this casino. Now it´s not a casino anymore, its facilities are used for: meeting rooms, game room with pool tables and ping-pong, cafeteria with terrace.

I really liked this building a lot. When you are there is so easy to imagine the ladies with fancy dresses and the gentlemen in top hats.

The terrace really invites to stay there a bit enjoying the sun.

I just felt they could use this space a bit more. I think they could do more activities there… like a dancing space in one of its rooms. Even to have art exhibitions. I also think they could give especial attention to the views from there, in front of it is the parking area and a hotel, I do think they could arrange a bit better the garden no matter if it keeps on being the parking entrance and to give a bit of attention to the part of the hotel that you can watch from the casino, to makeup it a bit. :D

This is an emblematic building of the Spa and it even identifies it. Here some of my photos:

Grand Hotel Cascada, Termas Pallares Spa.

As part of the tourist complex of the Termas Pallares Spa, they have a five stars boutique hotel that is marvelous!

From their own site:

“Surrounded by 68,000 square metres of parks and lush gardens, including a hidden private thermal lake, this new boutique hotel near the city of Zaragoza offers guests the perfect place to escape and relax.

The 25 spacious rooms are both stylish and innovative and equipped with every modern convenience. The onsite gourmet restaurant is a must as are the soothing treatments of the Termas Pallares Spa. This is truly a place in which to escape the worries of today.”

We went to meet this hotel due they had very interesting tasting announced in different places of the spa.


As far as the county state where the spa is located is huge and they had placed this hotel far away from the road, you find a lot of peace there. The lady of the reception desk was so kind and really concerned about our welfare.

We went inside the bar and I liked a lot the atmosphere. With very comfortable coaches, calm music. Miriel was the one attending us, very kind and nice. We took the sushi tasting and some beverages. The surprise was that the one presenting us the sushi tasting was the chef, Juan José Morales Sanmartín (you can watch this at the video, but is in Spanish).



One of the things you still don´t know about me is that I had the very good luck of having a very well culinary culture from my childhood. A big part of this comes from the culture mixes that are in my blood, but also due my family was always a big fan of the good food. Of course that´s something I had taught to Sil as well… so, when she was just 10 y/o she already said her favorite food was sushi! :D And it still is. So, Sil had tasted sushi in a lot and different places all over the world (ok, of the part of the world she knows, we haven´t been in Japan already). For Sil the sushi that we tasted at the Gastroteca was the second best one of the world! For me it was the best one, but here the point is that she went to a great Japanese restaurant in Dallas where for her they have the best sushi all over the world, I haven´t been there already.

We were that delighted with the sushi experience that we were invited to go to the Italian tasting of the next day. Honestly it was ok but definitely the sushi one was quite better. Again the whole staff was great with us.

That day I felt with confidence enough as for asking them to please show me a room of that hotel and to visit the restaurant, the Gastroteca. I was really impressive about the kindness of everybody; talking with some of them I mentioned that and one person told me that actually they all are very happy with their job and the place, most of the workers are people of the village, of course there are also people from outside, but for the ones that belong to the village, they liked the spa before even thinking about working there. I´m quite sure that when a staff loves their work and is happy with the treat received by their bosses, you notice it and unwittingly they transmit it to customers. The result of this just can be a positive for everybody… but! I´m afraid there are just few companies that take this into account!

Giving a look to the Gastroteca I had the good luck that Juan José was there and he spent some minutes with me explaining me the style of the place and we even talk about his professional experience. You can see part of this talk at the video, but again it´s just in Spanish.

Part of what makes this hotel a charming place is that it´s located in front of the thermal lake. The hotel also has some thermal facilities and a natural thermal waterfall, but most of the treatments and spa facilities are at the other hotels… but they have a car that takes the clients of this hotel to the other ones.

Yes, I liked a lot this hotel, the restaurant and the people that work there. I just have to say it´s expensive, but I do recommend it. :D

Hotels Termas and Parque. Termas Pallarés Spa.

The first thing you see at the entrance of Alhama de Aragón, going from the road to Zaragoza, is the Termas Pallares Spa and you have no way to pass it without noticing, because they have 2 buildings at each side of the street, linked by a walkway with the name of the place.



The hotel has a private parking big enough. The reception is not really well indicated, but there is always someone at the parking area that welcomes and indicates you where to go.

At the reception desk gave us the wrong rooms, I mean, the room that should be for Rosa due the reserve code, they gave it to me and vice versa, but that was something we released about just due the name at the envelops of the welcome letter.

I honestly don´t remember if at the reception desk they told us again the prices of the reservation, you see, that´s something I use not to check once at the reception desk when I had a reserve code, to check out the welcome letter neither. But seems from now on this is something I´ll do, among other things, because in the letter of welcome from Termas Pallares, they gave us a coupon of 30 Euros for a future stay if made within six months and also reports of its new loyalty system if you recommend the spa; as well as give you the name of the Director of Operations as contact in case you have any problem not resolved satisfactorily.

The buildings are designed according to the style of the time were built in 1863. The decor of the rooms and halls of both buildings have a mix of styles, but always old. Here some pictures for you to see:

The two hotels share common facilities such as cinema, gym, lounge, restaurant. From all this, I emphasize the cinema, with enough seats in early 1900 style. We didn´t watch any movie, but they scheduled at least one film a day. This seemed an excellent detail especially thinking of the children who can´t (and shouldn´t) go to the spa, so, the hotel for them could be a bit boring, but they have planed things for them.

They also have a kids park and a Paddle field.

The restaurant surprised me with a great breakfast buffet that included eggs in different styles; this is not easy to find in Spain where people don´t have the custom of eating eggs at breakfast time. We had just the breakfast included, but you also can contract it with the dinner included. The first day we went to give a look to the lunch menu there, but it was 27 Euros per person, so we decided to go to explore the village and we found the restaurant Karlos that offers you a great menu that has nothing to envy the restaurant food, for just 14 Euros, but I´ll talk a bit deeper about that restaurant in another post.

What can I tell about the rooms? Very clean, all the needed facilities, well attended. Just that this wasn´t a hotel that made a “click” on me. Telling this in another way, all very ok, but if I should decide to recommend or not the hotel just based on the rooms, no, this won´t be a place I would recommend.

I haven´t seen the rooms at the Termas Hotel, but seems the ones at Parque Hotel are better due they remodeled them not so far away.

Here my video of the place:



(To be continued.)

Reserving. Termas Pallares Spa.

I usually check several places including the official web of the hotel I want to go previous doing the reserve. This is because sometimes you can find better deals in other webs. In this case, after checking in several places, the best price I found was this one at their own web:

It was an option for doing the reserve online, but it didn´t gave the prices for single rooms and I wasn´t sure if Sil will go or not, so I called them. It was so terrible! Several calls at different times but just the answer machine talking. I left a message with my contact details, but nobody called me back. After 2 days trying, I called late at night and wondering, I finally talked with a person.

After knowing that the price of a single room would be very expensive, I decided that no matter whom, but we´ll find someone to share the room with Rosa. :D

I made the reserve at that same call; I had to give the complete info of each person. The person at the other side of the phone gave me a reserve code for each room. I really didn´t thought that having the reserve codes I should ask about a confirmation mail, so I haven´t ask for it. Afterwards I noticed that this person hasn´t asked my email address, but again, having the reserve codes, I didn´t give it importance.

Few days before the date, Sil was in a hurry due a lot of homework and we considered the option of her staying at home, so I called again to ask what would happen in case afterwards the room for Rosa should be a single instead of a double one, but again, I called several times, at different hours, Curro tried too, we left messages, but nobody answered neither called us back.

Finally, Sil went with us! :D

(To be continued.)

Temas Pallarés Spa. Introduction.

Rosa, one of the friends that shared with us the travel to Canaima, came to stay few days at home. Of course we went together to my favorite places in Madrid and surroundings (at least the ones we had enough time to go). Taking advantage of her stay and Easter, we went to the Balneario Termas Pallares that I had long wanted to meet.

The place is quite huge, they have:

Tree hotels:

- Hotel Termas 3 stars.
- Hotel Parque 3 stars and remodeled not long ago (but I don´t know exactly when)
- Gran Hotel Cascada, 5 stars hotel –boutique.

A thermal lake.
A park.
The Spa area is part of the 3 hotels.
Two restaurants:

- El Balneario.
- La Gastroteca del Balneario.

Two bars-cafeterias, one of them with summer terrace.
Games salon.
Small cinema.
Tennis and Paddle fields.
Small park for children.

With that many things to experience, even had being there just 2 nights, there´s a lot to tell! So it will take me several posts. As far as I´ll be a bit busy on the next days, I can´t promise to place them following one to the other, but anyway I´ll talk about all what we experienced at this place, including both: nice and not nice things.

(To be continued.)

Hotel Atitlan: the best hotel in Panajachel for really enjoying Atitlan Lake.

Hotel Atitlan

This hotel is extremely nice. They have done a great job with the garden, as good as they even charge the entrance to their gardens to people that is not staying with them. Nice swimming pool an d a great outside Jacuzzi with an amazing view. Mayan sauna. Of course they offer all 5 stars hotel services, even massages and other beauty treatments. They use to have very good food at the restaurant, that btw it´s a bit expensive, but the last time I was there (March 2009), was not that good. So, is better to go to the town to eat, but as far as the hotel is not exactly inside the town, sometimes to dress up just for going to eat… well… after all the food is not really bad! ; )(But going for example to "El Tocoyal" could be the half).







I have already talk about this place at the post Atitlan Lake but someone advised me it will be more useful to place them in different posts, so here is it, it contains exactly the same of that post, in case of new comments about this place, I´ll write a new post.

El Ancla: Saying Goodbye to Mallorca with Chill Out. Visiting the Scrabble Club Scrabbalear!

After eating in Ca´s Busso, we went to the Marriott Club Son Antem Hotel, we had some promotional tickets to the Spa… but! We should be there before an specific time and we didn´t knew that, so, this should wait till our next visit!:D

We anyway gave a look to the place and you see… I had been in other Marriott hotels and, for example, the JW of Egypt seems to me to be the best hotel in Egypt, but this Marriott in Mallorca… well… I felt it so plastic… Cris told me that actually the cafetería is very nice, but I haven´t seen it, I just seen the Spa area and part of the gardens plus a small golf camp, and none of them made “click” to me. But we´ll see what I think next time I go there.



Going out fo the Marriott, Pochola led us to a very nice place: El Ancla in Ca´n Pastilla. You see, I do think sometimes what you first think is a bad luck what you really have is good luck, because if we would stay at the Marriot Spa as planned, we would lost to met this nice place but also a great sunset:



El Ancla is a pretty place for take something to drink… that also includes a good tea selection. It has 3 main different areas, very nice them all. I highly recommend this place.





I saw a group playing Jenqa, but I can´t tell you if they have games to lend you or if it was of the group.

After being at El Ancla we went to the airport and back to Madrid… THANK YOU SO MUCH CLUB SCRABBALEAR + FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR A GREAT WEEKEND!!

Night Spa in Los Enebrales. Saint Valentine´s 2010 Special Weekend: 9th Part.

We arrived at the hotel just in time to take a short shower, put on the swimming suit, the towel and to go down to the Spa.

We were lucky and were the only ones at the spa at that time, 23.00, we had it just for us for an hour more or less.

Actually it was a magic view: big candles in strategic places, the light was off, just the one of the pool was on… definitely a nice atmosphere!



We tried to go inside the pool first… but! It was with cold water! :/ I was so wondered about that, it has a big jet, for you to place under it to have a massage at your back… and you see, this kind of jets supposed to be with hot water! Just natural ones (like in Salto el Hacha in Canamia Park) ;P that usually are in hot places, could be with cold water and even then really help you.

So, if we can´t go straight to the pool, we went to the Jacuzzi. Point is if you take out the pool of the Los Enebrales Spa options, you just have the Jacuzzi, the sauna and a shower with small jets for hydromassage. I usually don´t like saunas… so I just had the Jacuzzi and the shower… that was with cold water as well! :/

So, we start with the Jacuzzi. Yes, I already mentioned that, I´m a Jacuzzis fan, but you see, you shouldn´t be in the Jacuzzi longer than 20 minutes. This is due the temperature of water at the Jacuzzi should be between 38 to 40 C. degrees and you have the risk of having problems if you stay longer. The same with alcohol, you shouldn´t drink alcohol while being inside a Jacuzzi (no matter what you watch on tv)… but the night spa included champagne and strawberries! (And where you could take the champagne if the pool is with cold water, eh?) (Hem… no, the sauna isn´t a valid option for alcoholic drinks).

Well, we had been “more or less” good and “responsible adults” ;) so after been a while at the Jacuzzi (yes, it was more than 20 mins, I confess), we went a bit to the pool. Curro was able to swim and enjoy the jet, no my case, it still was so cold for me.

The strawberries we had were just in pieces for eating them without forks. Around 24.00 came more couples and they gave them strawberries with chocolate… so I asked for that as well! ;) Also I should complain about the rule of wearing caps… nobody but us used them! Gggggggggrrrrr!!

Any way, it was a nice experience. Could be better. Actually I thought it had a better Spa. Specially being the Spa the first attraction of the resort, at least could have better prices, you see, the prices of the Spas I usually go in Madrid are better and the quality is completely another lever (I´ll talk about them in future posts). :)

(To be continued).

Saint Valentine´s Weekend at Resort & SPA Los Enebrales. Saint Valentine´s 2010 Special Weekend: Second Part.

I went with Curro to the Resort & SPA Los Enebrales, on Friday afternoon, but the traffic was ok. Following the instructions of the web, it´s easy to find the country state where is located the hotel. Just you have to pay attention after Almorox, the sign to enter in the proper road is easy to lost.

The country state is big and in the middle of nowhere (you have 4 kms. at the road just to find out the entrance of the road that goes to the hotel, more or less 2 kms. more). Inside the country state is just the Resort that has only one restaurant.

At the reception desk, chocolates and champagne were waiting us. I can´t tell if this was a special detail due Saint Valentines or if it´s always like that.



The facilities are nice and cozy. Maybe the only one detail I would improve is that there is no lift, ok, it´s just 1 floor, bus as far as they also have not bellboys, you should carry on your bags by your own and if you haven´t pay attention to that detail while preparing your bag, you could spoil the relaxing weekend carrying your bag at the end.

The lounge, nice, when we arrived it was already night, the chimney was already on, as far as we went straight to leave the bags at the room and then back to the lounge, we were lucky to find out the sofa in front of the chimney free. We drink a tea there, watching the fire and went to meet the rest of the hotel after that. When we came back to the lounge, we released we had been lucky before! There was a silent fight for that sofa the whole night! :)



The terrace was precious; no doubt in summer time would be so nice to watch the sunset there.



Our room was a normal double one. Very warm, everything very modern, plasma tv, electric heating. I think due the design of the hotel, all the rooms have a nice view.



There are also suits with Jacuzzi, but maybe because I have a whirlpool bath at home, I didn´t thought the price different was worth to pay for having that kind of room. Here you have the rates to know perfectly what I´m talking about (and remember you have to add the 7% of tax to those prices):



Talking about rates, I should confess this time was a bit difficult for me to know how to approach this post. On one hand our stay there was very, very nice and all the staff were so kind, always with a smile at their face and good manners, great people… but on the other hand, talking about the relation between price and quality (the hotel, the activities, the place…) well… to recommend it or not to recommend it? That´s the point! :/ Well, now I´ll continue talking about the hotel and at the end of this post I´ll talk about this part.

The SPA, from outside and without going inside at all during that night, seemed very well, but I´ll talk about the experience there in another post.



The restaurant, very well atended, prices: normal ones for a Resort, but for me, high, especially if you take into account it was the only one place for eating inside the county state. Above this paragraph you´ll find some prices for having a better picture of it (the pics are for the room service, but don´t think the difference with the restaurant was so obvious). So, let´s do some calculations: let´s suppose you spend in average 30€ per person, per eating time, the breakfast is included and I´m thinking about not drinking so much wine or eating sometimes just a sandwich; 30€ x 4 = 120€ per person, just for food, for a weekend. And you still need to add the 7% of taxes! Yes, sure! You can also go to eat to Almorox, for example, just that you should drive to go there and if you were planning a relaxing weekend forgetting about driving and other urban life things, that´s why you selected a place in the middle of nowhere, isn´t it? But ok, you always can take your own sandwiches with you! ;P




There are also snacks at the lounge, the price of a sweet snack plus coffe is 4.5€.

The country state itself offers big spaces for walking, the landscape is this one:



You also have an events room out of the hotel, nice and with a capacity for 600 people. They seemed to be specialized on weddings and I could bet it´s the best place at that area for that. If that would be for me, I know other places with prices alike that would be nicer for me, or at least more charming, but in case I would live at that area and I wouldn´t like my guests to go far away of home, definitely that would be my option. (But take into account that actually I haven´t search).



A curious detail: they have ostriches there! :D



As activities, inside the county yard, as I said: walking, watching the ostriches, reading, playing board games (they have), the SPA (Note! You can´t use the swimming pool besides you pay for a SPA session!). Out of the place and thinking about not going so far away, there´s a paintball, just that I´m not exactly sure if a paintball does match with a relaxing weekend. You also can do a route at the closer locations (as we did!) ;)

Here the video of the hotel:



Just being there I was relaxed enough. Watching the prices of the restaurant and the SPA, we decided to go out the whole Saturday, with not a real plan, where the road to takes us :D (I love that!), we reserved a night SPA for Saturday at 23.00 and after drinking a Pedro Ximenez (it’s one of the few alcoholic drinks I like) with the fire light; we went to sleep.

On Saturday morning we´d waked up with no hurries. Went to breakfast, I liked a lot the presentation of it but you had no options, I mean, it was a fixed menu and you can´t ask for something different, but I think if you prevent them that you need a special food, they will do for you. I liked it, besides it was obviously not for diets! :)

Note: this is a breakfast just for one person!

So, now let´s go back to the part if I would or not recommend the hotel. This time I´ll divide it by concepts and not taking a lot into account the SPA area (that I´ll talk about in another post).

But first let me continue doing sums: we said just for food, eating there, staying 2 nights, talking about having lunch and dinner, no snacks (or having a snack and afterwards taking just a sandwich), it was 120€ per person. For the room, including breakfast, 2 nights in a normal double room, is 110€ per person. Till here: 230€ per person… but! You should add the taxes! Including them, it´s 246,10€ per person…. And remember! We haven´t even touch the water of the swimming pool!

So, if I recommend or not this hotel would depend on the following situations:

- You go there because you want to be a couple of days isolated from the world, almost not going out of the room (I leave this for your own interpretation…) ;) and as much going time to time to play something at the lounge, maybe a walk to watch the ostriches: well, not, I don´t recommend it to you. I know other places close to Madrid, Avila or Toledo with better options and prices.

- You want to organize a company event, the kind of going to do activities to encourage the comradeship and that, maybe even having the whole hotel just for you and not giving the people the temptation of escaping of there… Yes, in this case I recommend it, but if you let me think and search a bit more in google, maybe I found you other nice places with better prices! ;P

- You want to enjoy a good SPA, a couple of days for relaxing, romance and pleasure for the senses: no, I wouldn´t recommend you this place then, I´ll explain better why in the SPA post, but resuming, the same: I can recommend you nicer places with a better SPA quality and the same or even better prices.

- You are looking for impressing someone, that has no real idea about SPAs, showing her/him also that money is not a problem for you, maybe due you are seducing her/him and being isolated from the word is a plus for you ;P Yes! This is your place!

- You are looking for a place for your honey moon, you don´t think you will go out of your room so often, the price is not important for you and you want to ensure a very well attention, with all the facilities for making it a unforgettable experience… and the SPA is just anecdotic for you both! Actually just to have the SPA area just for you 2 (or almost), for a night, with candles and champagne: Yes! This is your place!

Following my story, as I mentioned, the idea was to go out the whole day, where the road led us! :D It was a great day, winter one, of course, that means we had 3 degrees but you see, something I love about Spain is that even in winter time you have blue skies and a shining sun. We were lucky to have a day like that! :D



(To be continued.)

Hotel Soleil Antigua

Hotel Soleil Antigua

For me was the Ramada Hotel, as far as it was part of that hotels chain, but some years ago it changed into Soleil.

It´s like a classic in Antigua but I haven´t found videos of it, I´m afraid.

Here some pics:







I have already talk about this at the post Breakfast in Antigua Guatemala: Where to Go but someone advised me it will be more useful to place them in different posts, so here is it, it contains exactly the same of that post, in case of new comments about this place, I´ll write a new post.

Casa Santo Domingo: my Ideal Resting Place

Hotel Casa Santo Domingo

This is definitely my favorite hotel in the whole world. Ok, at least of the part of the world I know! :P Actually it´s a 5 stars Museum-Hotel. They had rebuilt a colonial convent, but taking care of conserving the original style and even the original master pieces of the convent are exhibited at the museum part (but also decorating rooms and corridors). It´s full with quite original details… like having the swimming pool at the old fountain (I mean: you swim inside a fountain! But it had been rebuilt as swimming pool).

Here some of my own pics:



Here a video with the story of the hotel (I´m afraid it´s in Spanish):



In this one you can see a lot of different areas of the hotel (as well in Spanish but you don´t need to understand the dialog to appreciate the beauty of the place):



Its restaurant had win a lot of international prices, so, it´s always a great idea to eat there! :D My favorite: ravioli.

Finca Filadelfia: a Coffee Plantation Converted into a Resort, SPA, Restaurant and Place to Canopy

Filadelfia Coffee Resort & SPA

This is a coffee farm where lately also contains a hotel and a restaurant. The owners are really visionaries and had included interesting activities like canopy, bird watching tours, mule rides and coffee tours… my only one complain is about the prices… very, very, very high ones! :( But it´s a great place for going to eat, also with very good breakfasts! :D

Some pics of Finca Filadelfia:



Here a video about the canopy at Finca Filadelfia:



The view:

Breakfast in Guatemala: Where to Go. Appendix: SPA, hotel and Restaurant Casa de la Colina.

I had the very good luck of going for few days to Guatemala again some weeks ago. Some friends of mine took me to have breakfast in a place I didn´t know: the SPA, hotel and Restaurant Casa de la Colina.

It´s located at the Km. 31.5 of the Road to Antigua Guatemala. It´s a whole hill very well cared for being a precious place where to have peace.

I´m afraid I wasn´t able to take pics of the menu, but the breakfast was great and seems the rest of the food they cook is also very good.

I wish I would have the time to go to spend a weekend at the SPA! ;)

Here my pics:

Iguassu Falls: Helicopter visit and the Brazilian Side. Argentina: 5th Part.

As I mentioned at the previous part, I went to Iguassu in 2008 with Montse, Patxi and Topo. We arrived at morning, went to the hotel, leave the bags, eat and visited the Botanical Garden of the Hotel. We even had time to rest a bit at the side of the swimming pool before the bus picked up us for going to the Falls, at the Brazilian side.

The bus picked up us a bit late, but actually it didn´t meant a problem and it´s usual in Latin America, I´m afraid.



To go to the Brazilian side from the Argentinean one, means, to cross the border, of course. Always in Latin America that could be something not nice if you do it alone. Please don´t get me wrong. I´m not trying you to be scare about that, but you see, on one side, it´s about the power the person in charge of saying if you can or not to cross the border, it´s about the low payment they have, it´s about a lot of people trying to cross the border carry on things that aren´t allowed… and a lot of other reasons, the point is that depending on the day and the good or bad luck you have with the people you find at the border, that could be something so simple or could be almost a nightmare. You avoid at all the nightmare when you cross a border being part of a tour, the guide takes care of all that is needed, you just have to wait inside the bus/car and to give the guide your passport and your filled out form. So, as far as you can, my recommendation is to take a tour for travels that mean to cross a border in Latin America.

And here another recommendation: if you are visiting Iguassu from Argentina, it´s better if you stay in a hotel at the Argentinean side, the reason: you´ll arrive at the airport at the Argentinean side, from there you should go to the hotel to leave your luggage, depending on the time it will be, after that you surely will have your first visit to the Falls, usually at the Brazilian side, the they after you´ll have the tour at the Argentinean side and at the end of the day you´ll go back to your hotel and the last day you´ll go to the airport, again at the Argentinean side. So, if you do that all staying in a hotel of the Brazilian side, it would mean a minimum of 4 times you crossing the border. If you stay at the Argentinean side, you´ll need to cross the border just twice. ;)

But in case you are going from Brazil, I recommend you the Hotel Recanto.


At the entrance of the Park, at the Brazilian side, you have the option of visiting the Waterfalls by helicopter. I strongly recommend you to do that tour, this definitely gives you a different point of view, but also, just to experience the travel by helicopter is so exciting. I haven´t done that in 2004, I have no enough time to do it, and in 2008 I almost didn´t, due the price… but I finally did it, with Topo, and after doing it, be sure, you don´t think anymore about the price! :D He was in charge of taking pics, I was in charge of taking video… here the results:





You just can have this tour from the Brazilian side, in Argentina they are forbidden due the environmental pollution… and yes, they are right, but, well, maybe if they would propose another option like a balloon tour, but as far as right now this is the only one option, I´m afraid I vote for conserving the helicopter tours, I mean it, IT´S UNFORGETABLE! MAGNIFIC! AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE! :D

After this magnificent experience, we all did the Brazilian Side Tour. Almost all the falls are at the Argentinean side, but you appreciate them better from the Brazilian side, here what you can see from there:



I even interviewed my friends about their impressions of the Falls: :D



At the end of the day, we went back to the hotel, played a bit of Scrabble, of course, Topo and I went to the hotel´s SPA for a while and Topo was not walking but hovering after the great attention at the SPA!! :D

Iguassu Falls, Hotel Cataratas.Argentina: 4th. Part.

I had been twice in Iguassu and I would love to go again! Due the distances and the fact that you should cross the border for watching the falls from the Brazilian side, I think it´s better to do this visit in a concerted tour.

In 2004 an Argentinean colleague of mine did me the favor of searching a travel agency for arrange the tour, but I´m afraid I haven´t keep the name, so, in 2008 I had to search by my own. After comparing and searching info (at forum s, by example), the travel agency I recommend for tourism in Argentina is Rektour, that seems to work (or to belong to the same company´s group) of www.argenplus.com / www.argentinaamedida.com. As far as what they were recommending at the web wasn´t exactly what I wanted (due the number of nights and activities to do), I contact them by mail and a couple of times by phone (skype actually), and they really had a great attitude for helping me to find the best options. Maybe the only one thing that from my point of view they should improve, is about explaining in a better way the hotel options, but actually I think the problem was that they didn´t have enough info for explaining that point in a better way.

I had the very good luck that Montse, Patxi and Topo wanted to do this tour with me, so, it was a great and very funny travel.

Let me introduce you my friends. Montse and Patxi are couple, they met each other due Scrabble and they both are excellent players, but better people, maybe the most generous ones I know at the Scrabble environment. Patxi is from Murcia and he moved to live to Girona for being close to Montse, she´s from Girona., They are also a couple of winners. Patxi was champion of the National Tourney in Spain in 2008 and also at the Master´s Championship in Spain in the same year. 2008 was his best year and in 2009 is usually part of the podium at the tourneys he plays. Montse was the champion of the National Tourney in Spain in 2009, is with no doubts the best female Scrabble player in Spain and during 2007, 2008 and 2009 had been almost always part of the podium of the tourneys she plays. They are the ones that usually bring me hospitality when I go to Girona and it always means hours and hours playing Scrabble, mostly with Patxi. Topo is one of the most noble people I know. He´s brilliant in math as well in language matters. He´s always happy (or mostly) and his thought speed is incredible. He´s also an excellent Scrabble player… who would tell me I had been travelling with the Duplicates mode World Champion of 2008! :D

So, with that company, the joy was assured at this travel! And the Scrabble´s matches as well! :D

Our flight to Iguassu was early in the morning. So we went sleeping a bit.



We arrived at morning, so we had time to go to the hotel to leave the bags, it was the Hotel Cataratas, at the Argentinean side. The hotel is good, not excellent, but good. It´s best part was the swimming pool. It´s worst: the restaurant. Problem there is you don´t have more options due everything is so far away, but don´t get me wrong, you can eat there, just that is not exactly a delicious food, not a place to enjoy the Argentinean cousine.

We had time enough to eat and to have a walk at the Hotel´s Botanical Garden. Worth view! :D



(To be continued).

Breakfast in Guatemala: Sunday Brunch

First of all I want to explain what brunch is, for the ones that don´t know it. Brunch is a mix of breakfast and lunch. So, it contains food that you would find at breakfast like eggs but also the kind of you can find at lunch like chicken and great desserts.

The brunch is original from Great Britain and is something very common in USA, but in Guatemala it started just around 20 years ago. The ones offering brunches in Guatemala are 4 or 5 stars hotels, offering a great buffet, usually from 11.00 to 15.00 hrs. It´s amazing the quantity of great dishes you can find at those brunches! And a big variety of excellent desserts! :D

At the beginning all the hotels that offer Sunday Brunch Buffet also allows you to use the swimming pool as part of the offer (I mean, even if you weren´t hosted there, just for going to take the brunch there, you can also use the swimming pool) and it was a great way to spend a Sunday with the family and/or friends… but now just some hotels still allow it and mostly not in Guatemala City. Anyway, I really recommend enjoying a brunch at least once in life in a Guatemalan Hotel. :) And in some hotels you can even pay for using the swimming pool in case you want it.

Here my favorite hotels in Guatemala for going to have the Sunday Brunch:

Hotel Camino Real

This hotel is the first 5 stars hotel in Guatemala City that really made honor to the stars. It´s quite huge, with a lot of different areas. With one of the best hotel´s restaurants of the city, also has the Wien café, that is just great.

Here a promotional video, just a bit old one but haven´t found any other more recent…



Grand Tikal Futura

At the beginning it was part of the Hyatt chain, I´m afraid no more. Anyway the food quality is still very good and also the atmosphere.

Here a video:



And some of my pics:



Crown Plaza las Américas

I had live quite nice moments with my family taking the brunch at this hotel! :D Wondering, I have no pics, no video found I´m afraid, but here a pic of the front:




Hotel Marriot Guatemala

Known “in my times” as El Dorado, also one of the hotels with tradition at the City that I´m afraid had change the chain quite a lot of times, but it didn´t affected the good quality of this good hotel.



And the ones that offer Brunch in Antigua Guatemala and I like. They do offer the use of the swimming pool when you take the brunch:

Hotel Porta Antigua

This hotel is definitely part of the history of Antigua Guatemala. Just from few years ago is part of the Porta hotels and before that was managed by a nice Guatemalan family. Part of the staff had been working at the hotel for more than 20 years, those are people that just love what they do and you really can note it.

This is my favorite one if we talk about having brunch in the whole Guatemala.

Here some of my pics:



Hotel Soleil Antigua

For me was the Ramada Hotel, as far as it was part of that hotels chain, but some years ago it changed into Soleil.

It´s like a classic in Antigua but I haven´t found videos of it, I´m afraid.

Here some pics:







Hotel Villa Colonial

This hotel is new, actually I still don´t know it, but my friend “Chofo” that lives in Antigua Guatemala, told me for him this is the best option for taking brunch. So, if someone that lives there recommends it, it should be really good! :D I´ll have to go there in my next visit to Guatemala! ;P

Here a video:



I really hope you had enjoyed my posts regarding breakfasts in Guatemala. I should say I didn´t thought it would take that many posts when I started it, but I really have enjoyed to write about something that is a real sign of Guatemalans.

Breakfast in Antigua Guatemala: Where to Go

Antigua Guatemala is a magic place with a very interesting history. At the colony time, Guatemala included the whole Central America plus part of the south of Mexico. Due different reasons, the country´s capital had to be moved several times, the second last was placed where now is Antigua Guatemala (that´s the reason of the name, that in some way means “it was Guatemala at the old times”). The real name of the city at that time was “La muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala” (trying to translate it in to English: the very Noble and very Loyal City of Knights of Santiago of Guatemala, that was a title given by the Spanish Crown). In 1773 2 earthquakes took place so close one to the other and reduced the city into ruins and it was needed to move it again.

Years later people went again to live there, but they kept the original constructions and even till now not the whole town is already rebuilt… and that´s exactly part of what makes it magical! Now it´s catalogued as World Heritage by UNESCO and there´s a law avoiding people to build with a different style but the colonial one. As far as it´s placed at just 35 minutes from Guatemala City, it´s quite normal to go there to spend the weekend or at least part of it.

Yeap! Sure! Antigua Guatemala deserves its own blog! :) And quite a lot of posts! This was just an introduction for the ones that still haven´t the pleasure of meeting it. ;P

Click here to watch a great video done by Hotel Santo Domingo.

Here some views of Antigua Guatemala:





There are quite a lot of places where to stay and to go to eat in Antigua Guatemala, but here my favorites for going to have breakfast:

Doña Luisa de Xicotencatl


The name of the place is taken from the name of an Indian Princess gave by her father to Pedro de Alvarado (Spanish Conqueror of Guatemala), not exactly as a wife (afterwards he has his Spanish legal wife), but actually they both had a daughter…. But that´s another story! ;)

This cafeteria is famous due the house it´s situated, a quite nice colonial house with a big garden, and also due the food that has a remarked European style (I think the owners are from Europe… maybe from Germany). They make their own bread and also have a store selling their delicious bread.

To go there on weekends to take the breakfast is a real classic!

I´m afraid I have no pics of their breakfasts and I didn´t found at internet, but here some of the restaurant:





Hotel Casa Santo Domingo

This is definitely my favorite hotel in the whole world. Ok, at least of the part of the world I know! :P Actually it´s a 5 stars Museum-Hotel. They had rebuilt a colonial convent, but taking care of conserving the original style and even the original master pieces of the convent are exhibited at the museum part (but also decorating rooms and corridors). It´s full with quite original details… like having the swimming pool at the old fountain (I mean: you swim inside a fountain! But it had been rebuilt as swimming pool).

Here a video with the story of the hotel (I´m afraid it´s in Spanish):



In this one you can see a lot of different areas of the hotel (as well in Spanish but you don´t need to understand the dialog to appreciate the beauty of the place):



Here some of my own pics:



Its restaurant had win a lot of international prices, so, it´s always a great idea to eat there! :D


Filadelfia Coffee Resort & SPA

This is a coffee farm where lately also contains a hotel and a restaurant. The owners are really visionaries and had included interesting activities like canopy, bird watching tours, mule rides and coffee tours… my only one complain is about the prices… very, very, very high ones! :( But it´s a great place for going to eat, also with very good breakfasts! :D

Some pics of Finca Filadelfia:



Here a video about the canopy at Finca Filadelfia:



The view:



La Fonda de la Calle Real Antigua


This is a real classic. Opened in 1975 and specialized in Guatemalan typical food, it´s considered as one of the best Guatemalan typical food restaurants. Decorated as if it would be founded some centuries ago (with and old kitchen and rustic chairs), also owns part of its charm to the walls that are “decorated” with quite a lot of proverbs written there.

Here some pics of the place:



It´s a place you have to go at least once, of course also has great breakfasts, but maybe I would recommend, in case you have to choose, to go there for a formal meal instead.

Other great places in Antigua:

Café la Escalonia

This is a nursery and a cafeteria. Great environment for having breakfast! :D I´m afraid I haven’t found their web and I have no pics of it, but it´s really a nice experience to eat there.

Café de la Ópera


El Sereno

This is a precious place, worth view, just I have to admit I haven´t been there to take breakfast, but if they are as good as other meals, you should try them! ;P








In general, the restaurants of 4 and 5 stars hotels in general, are quite recommendable in whole Guatemala as well. :)