Checking Hotels out in San Blas

Thursday we kind of just took it easy.

(Just realized it is Saturday already - I need to get cracking on this.)

Thursday we went to the campground restaurant for breakfast. I had pancakes. Nice thick fluffy one they were pretty good with Karo maple syrup. Did a couple more loads of laundry. Have to do them more often cause the machine just doesn’t hold a very big load. Spent half of the day trying to upload that video of the boat ride. Internet just wasn’t cooperating at all.

I still haven’t decided about the shout box at the very bottom of the blog. Should I keep it or not? That is the question? And who really cares about the answer? The blog does have a comments box – and thank you to all who make comments. I do read and appreciate all of them.
I try to make the blog interesting to any one who happens by it. Guess that is one of the reasons why I include so many pictures. They show so much more and are more attention-grabbing (used the thesaurus for that descriptive word) than just my blah, blah, blah. This is a very colorful country. From the mundane –fruits and vegetables – to the magnificent – buildings and murals etc.
For as cool and cloudy as the day started out it warmed up fast and was more humid than usual. Lots of smoke in the air. Don’t know if someone was cooking or if some fields somewhere were being burned out.
When we were at the place waiting for our boat ride I picked up a little brochure about a small hotel in San Blas. After reading about it we ( I ) had to go see it. So we all piled in Willie and took off for town. Found the hotel with no problem – the Hotel Hacienda Flamingos. It is a gem! Built in 1880 by the So Pacific Railroad to be used as a terminal. [At one time San Blas was a very important shipping port.] In 1912 there was a bad flood that washed out the railroad bridges. This caused the abandonment of the terminal. Later that year a German businessman, Señor Delius, purchased the house to be used as private quarters for his employees. At this time many ships from the Orient docked in San Blas so there was an economic boom.  In the 1930s he went bankrupt. It was purchased in 1938 by a wealthy man to give to his wife. In 1950 she turned it into a hotel. In the 1990s there was extensive remodeling.
Of course we went inside. The rooms rent for about US$120 a night. Some pictures of the place.

The entrance

Hall around the patio -check out the floor tile

More hallway -

What the chairs were looking at - the patio

The pool area -- little chapel in the background

Star fruit teee - lots of fruit trees growing around pool area

Inside the little chapel

Mosaic Last Supper on altar

From there we went to another hotel and checked it out. The best thing about it – in my mind – was the piece of onyx behind the desk.

And the hanging plants in the lobby.

After visiting the hotels we had lunch in McDonalds again – no not The McDonalds burgers but Mike McDonalds Restaurant. I had filet empanizado – breaded fish – very good with salad (usually have to squeeze lime on the salad as you very seldom get any dressing) and fries. Bill had been salivating thinking about Chili Rellenos but when he got his it was too spicy for him to eat. The last time he had it here it was perfect. Guess there was a different cook today. There was a big sign out front about the days special. Shrimp. But when John asked about it the waitress didn’t seem to know anything about it. TIM – that is Mexico.

It’s amazing the neat things you can find in these little towns if you’re willing to walk around and really look at things. And talk to the people who live here.
The front of the Palacio Municipal is almost completely painted now.