Diez Hotel

Since it was my birthday week, I continued right on trend with the lovely, beautiful Diez Hotel located in one of the best areas of Medellin, El Poblado. This time I did not have any intentions of a project. It was just three days of immersing myself in Colombia. I guess this could be considered, "Priscilla's Birthday Part Dos." At least, that is how I thought of it-fun, educational, interesting, relaxing, and delicious.   

This hotel definitely contributed to my cultural immersion. This hotel had all these cultural antiques, exhibits, displays, and artwork on each floor, the menu, in the lobby, and in the lounge areas. They wanted you to learn about  on each floor, in the rooms, in the menu, in the lobby-it was a source for cultural learning. It was also a location with an on site sushi restaurant-great.

The rooftop had a view of all of Medellin with two Jacuzzi’s, and nice lawn furniture. Also, the spa was on the roof so you could get pounded with bamboo and have a nice view. 

On the other side of the roof, they had a large party area where they had a wedding and a birthday party.  The overall atmosphere was inviting and total relaxation with few kids and an older upscale Colombian clientel.

                        

Again, the front desk staff were amazing, kind, and helpful at every moment. There was an adorable young man named Stephen who was so helpful.  He made such effort to make sure I was happy. This just means so much in Priscilla's world as customer service is top priority.  They even set me up with a 7^th floor corner room with another 360 view. I seriously am spoiled when traveling and it has nothing to do with my birthday. 

Be good to people and they will be good to you. Put that extra effort in and see the difference. 
 

Lemon Tree

All good things must come to an end and that is what happened at Hard Rock. Three days of amazing food, swimming, staff, relaxation-I truly did not want to leave, but hotels go on and on. 

The next destination was in one of the best areas of Panama, which was right near the Mega Plaza-the huge shopping mall. This was not exciting, but the area was adorable. It reminded me of a Gauthier in Morocco or a Beverly Hills in California. It was super posh with cafes, bakeries, an Arabic restaurant, Spanish restaurant, and various sushi spots. This is clearly where the rich people are hanging out and I could tell by how they were dressed-nice, but not impressed. It’s just money and you need to detach from it.

Again, I struck gold with this hotel.  I mean can I really complain about Panama attitude when I have these great experiences?

This hotel was small with only 10 rooms. It was full with a few Colombian girls, a few Americans, and a couple business men.

The room felt cozy and was well decorated like a room at home. The bed was super comfortable and the air was blowing cold(important in Central America). The breakfast was included in the $ 20. It’s funny when you go from $$$$ to $.

At the front desk sat Alfredo, a friendly, chubby Colombian guy. He became my new friend who I would share candy with and talk about life in Colombia.  His life was a difficult one with his ex-wife taking custody of their daughter. It’s hard for him to go back to Colombia because he is always working the graveyard shift. Despite missing his daughter terribly, he still has that smiling shining on his face. 

After excellent sleep (3 nights in a row), I would wake up to a breakfast of pancakes, peanut butter, nutella, eggs, coffee, and fresh fruit. I would sit and watch CNN with the newspaper and then I would head to the church.  This was the routine each day for three days.

On the second day, I met with the co-owner.  It was him, his brother, and his mother who turned their house into a hotel. It was a recent hotel only open for two years. His mother and sister were the designers as one can tell the rooms have extra racks and hooks for clothing. The rooms are extremely accommodating.

Unfortunately, their hotel was sitting right next to a construction site. This was the common site that doesn’t get things done on time. They are constantly standing around with nothing to do. It’s quite a sad case because the hotel had to tear their nice patio down because the scaffold was falling into their space. When you look at this construction building, it looks like none of it is finished. They started over a year ago and they have another year to go.

This is definitely bad for business especially when this is such a great hotel.  The owner is clearly frustrated in his voice, but he tries to remain optimistic.  He’s a nice guy, his brother his arrogant, and his girlfriend is dressed like a princess. In other words, he is a sincere, nice person and I wish the best for this small boutique hotel. There needs to be more places like this one. 

                  Buh Bye Panama

Being Nice...It Does Matter

What happens when you are extra nice to service people?

You get extra mints on your pillow and your room has an extra fresh smell

You get hot towels when you are swimming

You get consistent service and asking if everything is okay

You get a VIP room for a standard price

You get an extra appetizer you didn’t order or complimentary desert

 

You have the bell hop walk you out to the street to get the right taxi

You get the hot food when it comes out instead of picking at leftovers

You get an extra hand with your luggage

You are respected and listened to more because the attention you give THEM

 

Some examples: 

                         

                        

Are you Colombian?

Are you Colombian?

In the Hard Rock, there are all kinds of nationalities of staff. But the main two are locals from Panama and Colombians. Many Colombians come over to work in Panama City- not quite vice versa. 

Staying at the hotel for three days, I became very friendly with most of the staff. There were some presenting the “Panama attitude” and I tried to engage with them, but it went south. After a couple people, I just allowed them to continue on with their unfriendly ways.

When you need something, receiving food service, or housekeeping-the Colombians are smiling and happy to help you. They are always making you laugh, free-spirited, good workers, helpful, and caring.
 

One would think that the Panama locals would learn something from this happy and positive behavior. Unfortunately, they just remain cold and rude.  My friend Marco felt horrible because he said I was meeting the wrong Panama locals.


Again, I met nice ones, but most presented with attitude or with arrogance.  Of course, I did not get to meet all of Panama, but that was my observation.  The border experience did have a negative impact on my belief system, but I still remained objective. 

When it came to my interaction, I started to ask, “Where are you from?” They would say Colombia and I scored a point. After the first day, I didn’t need to ask anymore because I knew if they were from Colombia.
After studying their differences in behavior, it was clear who was Colombian even the reserved ones because they had good manners. I would share with the Colombians that I love how positive and kind they are and I appreciate it.  When I asked they what they thought about the Panama locals, they presented with negative body expression and no comment.  They would laugh and agree with me! “Yeah they are not good with people.” “They are not happy people.”

The Colombians did not favor them either and they had their own personal experience to influence their thinking or beliefs. Colombians have many things going right for them, especially their happiness, looks, spirit, and personality(oh I guess that is everything;)

Hard Rock Surpises

It’s my party and it will rain if it wants to....

Rain if it wants to....
 
Rain if it wants to....

You would cry too if it happened to you...

 

Okay nice lyrics, but no one was crying, especially not in the Hard Rock. It was my birthday and I was in my favorite mid-range hotel. I just felt so thankful with Saturday and the beginning of the day. When you add on the luxury, I become so thankful because I worked towards it. People stay in the 4 to 5 star hotels all the time and sometimes don’t leave.  This was not my life and staying just sometimes made it pretty special.
 

When I arrived at the front desk, they were dressed in adorable Michael Jackson uniforms. The front desk agent was a sweet girl from Colombia who lived in Miami. We had our nice little conversation and I was extra nice to her, especially to get the room I wanted. I did mention it was my birthday and I was staying alone(hey good to pull out all the stops-it was the truth). I had just paid for a standard room, but all I really wanted was a great view from the 15 floor or something.


She smiles at me, “Okay I have your room. I hope you like it.” She gives me a wink and I was thinking, “Hmmm.”

I take my heavy, travelers backpack (not common luggage for the Hard rock) and I take a look at my card to check the floor and it says “56.” 

Excitement is coming over me as I rush through the elevator doors. 20, 30, 40, 56. I walk out the elevator doors to the end of the hallway. The door opens and there is a Junior Suite with sofa, kitchen, table, and television. 

The balcony immediately attracted me as it appeared to be pretty big. I couldn’t open the door, probably out of pure excitement. I went in the bedroom to open it there and “Voila.”

It was a Penthouse view that went 360 all around. I felt like Pretty woman and I jumped on the bed like a 10 year old. It was my birthday and I had this spectacular view. It was exactly what I wanted. It was truly mesmorizing and if I lived with that view I would write everyday and all day-amazing.

It sounds sad being alone for your birthday, but I’m never alone with my higher power. Also, with my personality and character, I can always make friends with staff and guests. It happened to be the weekend with all the Colombians visiting-perfectly satisfied with that and met some great Colombians. In this hotel, I was never alone. I spoke with pretty much every staff that worked there-the Colombian staff and a couple of them from Panama.

                      Lychee soda yes please  

Exploring the hotel......

Pre-dinner   Photos

 

When it came to the night, my friend Marco from last night insisted on meeting me for dinner and I accepted. 

There were 5 or 6 restaurants at the Hard Rock and I checked out a few before he came. 

    

When I walked into the beautiful buffet room and saw the selection, I was set on eating there. It felt like all eyes were on me and that’s the way I like it on my birthday. The star attention and compliments-Leo enjoys this very much. I spent some time talking to the adorably cute manager and making friends with the staff. They weren’t aware of my birthday until it slipped out that I turn 30 today. 

As we became more comfortable, I was joking that we can take a full cake from the desert table with a few candles (I would settle for a few). The staff would come around and I would say to him. “What happened did someone took a bite from my cake?”

“Make sure you guard it or bring me a full one.”

Then I would tell the manager that someone ate my cake and he would just smile. "Tell these people to please stay away from my cake." I was definitely interested in making him smile. 

At this point, I am still waiting for my friend, but I am eating and talking so I am content.  Crab, Sea bass, capri mozzarella, roasted potatoes, and all kinds of salads/gourmet cheeses-yeah I’m good. What was a bit annoying was that he kept saying he would "come in five minutes"(this just triggered my Moroccan experience) This expression pretty much sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me...so I focused on the present moment and ignored my phone.

Anyways, he finally did show up an hour late, but he was on the other side of town. I totally forgave him and was thankful he did make the effort to come. He is truly like a teddy bear and his face is so sweet and kind. He makes me laugh and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner together. 

At the end, they all come up for the cake and “Happy Birthday.” They sing in Spanish and English. It’s a happy moment for me. These people are so wonderful and not just some random people, but people I took the time to get to know a bit.

              

Off we went next to the Rock and Music lounge where they had amazing live music each night. This night was “The Old Times.” The place was filled with Colombians and I was rocking out as if I was one of them. Everyone was typical Latin America singing along with the lyrics, hands up with glasses inside their palms. 

There were two of the Spanish songs I recognized and loved. Marco did not seem very interested, but he said he was just watching the music.  Perhaps, he was watching the girls because these Colombian girls are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. They all have this long, straight dark hair that is down to their butt. They wear huge platforms and tight jeans or pants with a dress top. The men are not as attractive, but if this is a taste of Colombia I like it. 
 

The band ended about a half an hour after and we called it a night. With or without my friend Marco, it would have been a great night for me because I loved the people I was around and that’s what matters on a birthday… okay, okay and sometimes the ritz and the glamour.=)