Dateline: March 15, 2011 – Salem, SC– Thumbing through the RCI Catalog on my bed
“Hmmm, we want to fly or sail into San Juan, since we can’t walk. Looking at a map frame of the island, there’s a group of resorts in the Carolina sector of the island. ”
Next, I used my intricate thumb search tool, “eeny, meeny, miney, mo…” to encircle the list of resorts. Sol Melia Resort, Rio Grande Puerto Rico was the default resort in my complex research.
The resort itself is a truly amazing ‘piece ‘a work’, just like its architect, Donald Trump. Set with marble inlay, the floors shine like the bald heads I saw at my high school reunion this summer. As you stroll through the lobby there are ‘bali beds’ with curtained fronts in case you feel faint from the heat while walking through. The lobby isn’t air conditioned, because there were few walls to encircle the area. Many buildings in Puerto Rico have no air conditioning especially those close to the sea.
My son, Mike in Gran Melia Lobby with Bali Bed
Another area of audacious opulence was the Hollywood couch lineup or “divine divans.” A thousand years ago, I can remember going to the movies with my mother and watching glamorous movie stars drape themselves over this furniture while appearing to faint.
Hollywood Couches Gran Melia Resort
You might be a bit confused about the terminology surrounding this resort. First, I said it was the Sol Melia Resort and then I talk about the Gran Melia Resort. You think you’re confused? I didn’t know the difference and what it meant for us as a family until two days before we left Puerto Rico.
In the pre-planning mode of this trip I was in that “new widow” fog that I used to counsel new widows about. The fog stayed very dense until about May. Even after it lifted, I didn’t remember to go back and search for the things that got lost in it. One of those things was questioning the difference between Sol Melia and Gran Melia. I called the resort frequently to ask other questions. I also got my Spanish speaking daughter to call. Frequently, the desk just doesn’t answer. Puerto Ricans are not concerned about time, efficiency or getting into a sweat, everything is, mañana. I did get to be friends with a very cute desk clerk, named Daniel. He was very helpful, if and when, he answered the phone. I finally resorted to sending red letter emergency e-mails with my questions. A week before the trip, I had a burning question, and the desk clerk actually picked up the phone, “Hello, this is Jesus,” I knew I’d finally get some answers and I liked this guy very much!
As I mentioned in the previous post, we got lost on our way to the resort. It was 1 am before we arrived. I didn’t know that there was a difference between the Sol Melia Resort and the Gran Melia Resort since they were both on the same plat of land. Gran Melia houses hotel type rooms. Sol Melia is the condo side of the resort. I figure this was the dividing line in the divorce settlement between Donald and Ivana Trump. Whichever one was the bigger bucks, Ivana got, after all, she did have the kids. Sol Melia has a small kitchen and more balcony area, so it has to belong to Ivana. If not, she needs to reopen the divorce settlement to get it. Speaking of balcony areas, for some reason, my grandchildren were embarrassed when I sang, “Don’t Cry for Me Puerto R-r-r-ico-o-o” on each pass through the balcony area overlooking the parking lot. Hey, even Madonna would have laughed at the take off!
As I look back on that first nite, I remember rolling around in a golf cart with a nice looking kid named Hernando, who worked on the resort. Hernando was just as lost as me, because the girl at the Gran Melia Resort had given him a room number for us, but we weren’t staying at Gran Melia! We were staying on the Sol Melia side of the resort (hereinafter known as Ivana’s side.) After 20 minutes of rolling around, Hernando and the security guard did find our room and the guard cussed out the front desk girl in Spanish over a walkie talkie, interesting…. Puerto Ricans are interesting because they will begin talking in Spanish and end in English when they realize you are a name brand American from Oconee County, South Carolina.
The ice cubes that Hernando brought me cost $20 that night, I was so glad to get to the room and have cold water that I over tipped him. My daughter yelled, “Stop Mom, it’s just the first night!” I told him to take it, that I’d be wanting him to give me some transportation on other days for the 20 bucks. Mind you, alot of what I was saying to Hernando was through my in-house translator, Señora Stephanie McMann, AKA, my oldest child and big sister to Mike. She did a good job because Hernando took me on four golf cart trips over the course of our stay. Every time he saw me he asked, “Señora need a ride?” I said yes, whether I needed one or not. I had to let him work off that $20 and he had a cute smile.
Stay Tuned…be back later with Part Three: Plantains, Skirt Steak, and Richie