How Much For A Room At This Fine Establishment?

As Caitlin and I were preparing for my parents to come visit, one of the big ticket items to check off our list, was the issue of housing. As you can imagine, sticking them in our postage stamp of an apartment was not going to be easy. We wanted them close however, and spent half a day wandering around the surrounding neighborhoods, visiting hostels. We did our best to stay optimistic that we might find something close. As we left each place, impressed by what they had to offer, we would continue to echo the refrain, "don't you wish that place was closer?" Encouraged by a street vendor who responded positively to our question about hostel/hotel availability leading toward our apartment, we headed off following his general directions. Talking about how great it would be if this place could be our holy grail...we picked up the pace. As we turned the corner down a side street, we immediately knew where we had been directed. A large, bright, pink building stuck out from the rest and advertised HOTEL FOREVER in big white letters. We entered through an overly complicated entrance and thought that, while it was clearly a bit much, the added security would likely be of comfort to my folks. The door was answered and we entered the lobby. Caitlin opened the line of questioning and asked about their nightly rate. When the women responded with a price for the first three hours, I immediately thought we were dealing with a language barrier issue. I started to correct her, and illustrate that we wanted a room on a nightly basis. But as these words made their way out of my mouth...my brain did the math. I saw Caitlin, out of the corner of my eye, 10 yards ahead of me on this one.

"What's your nightly rate?"
"9000($16.25) for the first three hours...."
"oh no, we were looking for a rate for a day...a whole night..."
-lady looks around uncomfortably-
"well that will be........"

The woman was looking increasingly confused and uncomfortable. I started to question the perfumed scent, the black, fake marble on the floor. I started to notice the padded and buttoned upholstery covering the walls. By this time she had been joined by her coworker and the realization was hitting everyone. I threw in the towel with a hasty gracias, we turned on a dime and headed out of there. She followed us to the door and closed it behind us. As we were nearing the door, Caitlin's shoulders were shaking and I was doing my best to hold it in.

Outside, safely away we doubled over in laughter before continuing the search. Part of me wishes we'd brought my folks by, just to see if they liked it! Yikes!