One Silao

Randal J B6 years ago

There is Limited access on the highway, so you feel kind of stuck most of the time. Taxis have to take you down to the airport to turn around in order to bring you back to the hotel. That gets kind of expensive if using taxis, especially if you're a Gringo, and you factor in the Gringo factor, where the taxis like to over charge for their services, and I speak relatively fluent Spanish. Uber would be the better alternative, at about half the cost of a taxi, but I couldn't get Uber to work there, some kind of location rejection issue on both my cell phones, my mexico phone, and my US phone. I had a taxi charge me 300 pesos for a short trip to the Applebees restaurant, maybe 5 minutes away from the hotel, probably mainly due to the gringo factor, but also because he had to run me all the way down to the airport to bring me back to the hotel, due to limited exit access on the highway. The rooms and bathrooms are small. The hotel reminds me of a cross between a Hostel, like you find in Europe and Asia, and a small economy hotel. Very clean rooms, good air conditioning, and very comfortable beds/pillows. Modest hot breakfast, toast, donuts, fruit, yogart, cereals, etc...You have to use your key to turn the lights on in the room, and to go to your room in the elevator, which is good security. But, it is kind of a pain to have to use your key to keep the lights on in the room, navigate the elevator, etc...A platoon of Mexican Federal Police were staying there too, so their 8-9 vehciles were parked in back, and they have machine gun toting guards stationed at the front door, and watching their vehicles in back, for their own security, not yours. I don't know if this is an ongoing thing...The ratio of Federales to regular guests is probably 10 to one, and many officers are often in the eating area for meals, breakfast etc... They are very polite officers, etc...so no problem there...It's just that some might call this reassuring security. But, in Mexico, being in constant close proximity to the Federales isn't the safest bet, as they are sometimes the target of drug cartels, as is indicated by their own alertness and attentiveness to their own security. Me, I'm a concealed carry guy, but if you don't like guns, this may not be the place for you. Frankly, I was more concerned with my close proximity to the Federales and not having my gun, as guns are illegal in Mexico for civilians.