To travel in the majority world is to know that there are no refunds. The last few days, however, have defied the rules of the road. In the past three days, we've negotiated for three refunds. We'd rather have had the agreed upon experience, but sometimes ya gotta roll with the punches.
Refund #1: Los Banos, Ecuador
The town of Los Banos is cute, set up for tourists. While there are many excursions (paragliding, biking, waterfalls, a volcano, bungee jumping, etc), the main attraction is the natural hot springs which provide a heated bath in several locations. The first night, we strolled in our swimsuits to the public pool, but it was very crowded, so we skipped it and settled for a bag of mayo-covered grilled cow intestines (which we shared with a dog who was following us... contrary to the sound of it, the flavor was tastey, but incredibly chewy, like grissel). Anyway, the next day, we were still excited to have a soak, so we wandered the quiet backstreets until we came upon Monte Selva, a private hot springs. At $7 per head, it was a bit expensive, but we were reasoned that a $65/night hotel would have a lovely, clean, hot jacuzzi, so we decided to go for it. In contrast to the pretty outside grounds, the inside was unkept. Even so, we made our way across soggy, breeding ground of indoor/outdoor carpet to a "hot pool" which was barely lukewarm. As I peered in, I felt like I was reliving the old prarie days when families shared the once a week bath, and I was the last one to bathe... with my giant-sized global family who left their uncleanliness in the lukewarm, murky water. I reasoned that this must be one of the cooler pools and another one would be warmer. We tried each pool until we realized that none of them were hot. By this point, I was disgusted. When we complained to the front desk clerk, he said he could make it hotter within 5 minutes. We didn't want to be unreasonable, Ugly Americans, so we decided to give it a try and sat back down in the "hot pool." I tried to go to my "happy place" while waiting for the heat to kick in, but while I was sitting, I became acutely aware of the dead skin floating along the surface of the water. When Mark mentioned that he had accidentally touched a large clump of floating hair, I nearly vomited in the dirty water. I had to get OUT. I felt unclean, like I'd been defiled by dirty water. Quickly, I showered off with soap and shower water, then ran back to give Mark my sandals so that he could shower as well (he forgot his and was extremely nervous about picking up a foot fungus). Mark showered off while I sat with my naked, but clean, feet extended from a plastic lawn chair, my personal pedestal of cleanliness and sanity. I feel sad that I'm dogging on a travel place because people seem to remember the horrible incidents rather than the exciting bits, but as I thought about our travels through India, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mexico, I honestly couldn't remember a time when the conditions were less clean. To the contrary, we'd been to so many lovely, clean, HEATED natural hot pools. As I sat on my pedestal of cleanliness, I began to formulate a Spanish complaint. By the time Mark emerged from the shower, I was wound up and ready to file my complaint with the front desk staff (not about them, personally, and not to ruin their day, but to communicate to management that this was an unacceptable experience). They needed to know that this was (in Spanish) "Seriously, the worst in the world." I felt quite satisfied with myself when I, in Spanish, relayed the reasons for my dissatisfaction and obtained a full refund. I think this might be the first time this has ever happened where we received a full refund, but it wouldn't be the last. Surprisingly, there were two more to come in the next 48 hours.
Refund #2: Bus ride from Banos to Tena
We were sad about our crappy experience at the "hot pools," and because it was raining outside, we decided to leave town without doing any excursions. We packed and lugged our bags to the bus station where we purchased $8 bus tickets from Banos to Tena, the gateway to the Amazon rainforest. We waited on a bench outside for an hour or two until our bus arrived... full, with no available seats. We were told by the attendant that we should stand in the aisle for this bus ride through the Andes. When we declined, and the attendant began trying to pursuade others to stand so that we could have the seats. Naturally, I was uncomfortable with the idea of displacing someone else from their seat. I told the attendant it wasn't the seated ladies' problem; we wouldn't be taking anyone's seats. We deboarded, which caused quite a commotion, drug our bags back into the office, and complained until the driver's assistant returned with our money. Again, it was only $8, but it was our $8, and we weren't paying for seats that weren't available. We switched to a bus line three doors down that offered a bus in an hour and a half... or so we were told. Three hours later, the bus arrived. By this point, we had spent pretty much all day encountering unacceptable circumstances and attempting to rectify the situation, but alas, we boarded a bus from Banos to Tena, pizza and refund in hand.
Refund #3: Hotel Quito
Mark paid for our hotel, on the driver's recommendation, and as he returned to the car to grab our bags, the driver said we'd need to drive to another location. Another location? We immediately knew we were being scammed. We drove around the crowded streets to another hotel. I inquired about the room that we had already paid for, and was told that this one, a mile away, was better. I took a look at the room and was satisfied with the room itself, and the hot water, but when I asked about wifi, there was none. This wasn't what we had paid for. I asked for our money back. The male receptionist said that we'd have to go back to get it at the other hotel (conveniently, our cab driver had already sped away). I politely replied that we'd like the refund now, at this hotel. He phoned the other hotel and basically said there was nothing he could do. Mark said he thought the police might be able to help him figure it out. I watched our luggage inside as Mark went out to find a cop outside. There were plenty of cops around due to the loud, live rock concert taking place in Mariscol Sucre square. The receptionist started to look stressed. "I can offer you another hotel, a different one." I replied that our trust had been broken and that we just wanted our money back. During the wait, a young couple entered and rented a room. They paid upfront and the receptionist refunded me the cash. I thanked him and went outside to let Mark know that we'd had a refund victory, though from what I could make out in the dark, he was returning with what appeared to be not 1, but 3 uniformed policeofficers. I had to laugh. It seemed like overkill for a $25 refund. "I guess they take this kind of thing seriously," I thought to myself. The cops entered the hotel and shook hands with everyone to verify that everything was in order. Then, Mark and I trudged back out the door looking for another hotel.
Normally, we tend to be go-with-the-flow kind of backpackers, but for whatever reason this 3 day period on our trip was out of the ordinary, the kind of thing that called for a full round of refunds, the likes of which we'd never seen before, and hope to be lucky enough to never encounter again.
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