mineral del chico

[hlamb]

I recently spent a few nights in Mineral del Chico, Hidalgo, near the capital city of Pachuca. It's a mountain town with amazing views over the hills, nice areas to walk and a good place to relax and see small-town life.

However, I would like to warn against the hotel we stayed at. It's called Quinta Esperanza and they charge 600 pesos a night for three people. We had a small suite, but the television didn't work, the lighting was very poor and the staircase was positively dangerous. The hotel itself is set in a beautiful grounds and I was planning to recommend it, until the towel episode. One morning while we were out, someone came in to clean and in the process took away three clean towels. They were not replaced so we had no towels at all. After a day of hiking in the heat, we returned, expecting to be able to shower. However, even when we asked politely for some towels we were refused. No reason was given. I speak decent Spanish and went back six times over four hours to ask for towels. The refusals got increasingly nasty. After four hours they started to cut through the lock on the door to the towel room, saying that they had locked themselves out. We finally got our towels and our showers after almost five hours of waiting.

I can certainly understand locking oneself out-I've done it a few times. But it shouldn't take four hours to decide that this is a problem! Not only that, but a good hotel would have borrowed from a neighbour or something, rather than annoy the guests for that long. I'm a pretty easy-going person and will let a lot go, but this got to the point of being ridiculous.

I'd definitely recommend the town, as most people we met were friendly and welcoming. We had some excellent meals and enjoyed their Easter festival. Just choose a different hotel.