FINDING LOST CIVILIZATIONS This

Chapter 11Returning to Mexico:The Hotel RoblesJanuary 2007It took me three days to drive to the Hotel Robles in Guayabitos,Mexico, from Monterey, California. On the firstday I traveled from Monterey to Phoenix. On the second dayfrom Phoenix to Los Mochis, where I stayed at the CessnaMotel. And on the third day I arrived at the Robles at five inthe evening.My father had arrived three days before and waschecked into the Robles in the same room that we had theyear previous. As I entered Room 31 I found my father sittingat the dining table where we greeted each other warmly.We reminisced and we were both amazed that a year hadgone by since we had last stood in that room. My old roomwas just as I had left it and we laughed when we saw thatthe nightstand still bore the coffee stains from our previousresidency there and those of countless other guests over thepast year. There was a new mattress on the bed, but to oursurprise we noticed that the protective plastic that encasedthe mattress had been slit around the mattress edges and leftto hang onto the floor. Perhaps this was an improvement;the year before both our bed sheets had large holes. In thebathroom a towel hook was missing from its base and atwisted, rusted coat hanger was there instead.The Hotel Robles sits on the Calle Jacarandas, whichruns parallel to the Bay of Jaltemba in the town of Guayabitos.It is a rambling three-story concrete-and-brick structurepainted white with yellow and red trim. Each rental unitcontains one or two rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchenette.There is a central courtyard to which all the rooms face. Onthe ground floor there are pools for both adults and children.To reach the upper levels there is a steep spiral staircase thatends at the roof.The Robles caters to Mexican families—my father andI were the only gringos staying at the hotel. During the weekthe hotel is mostly empty, but starts filling up quickly on49