Friday, April 02, 2010

windows of grace



One of the joys of Mexico is encountering what can only be called architectural oddities.


The door that does not seem to lead anywhere.  The church facade that looks vaguely like an afterthought.  The stairs with uneven risers.


Or this.


I stayed in the Hotel Hacienda when I went north to Puerto Vallarta for my zipline adventure.  It is one of the older hotels in Puerto Vallarta's Hotel Zone.  Not on the beach.  The poor cousin of the swankier resorts with their infinity pools and white-liveried waiters.


But I did not need luxury.  I needed nothing more than Motel 6 convenience.  A place to stay close to the marina to pick up my friends when their ship came in.


The room was adequate.  But the moment I came through the door, I noticed a heavy odor.  Perhaps the room had been closed up too long.


When I unpacked, I started looking around for the source of the odor.  I should have recognized the vaguely rotten egg smell of methane.  It was nothing more than sewer gases venting through the shower stall drain.


I covered the drain with the rubber shower mat to at least cut off some of the gas.


Then, I saw it.  The window.  Curved and stylish as Susana González.  As stark as a Chanel.  Someone poured their art into the design of this hole in the wall.


But, like so many things in this land that I love, form appeared to be everything.  Because the function was merely to open the window into the bedroom.  Or so I thought.


Until I opened my balcony door.  With both windows open, the bathroom window almost becomes another opening to the outside world. 


Really very clever.  While indulging in morning ablutions, you can pretend you are looking into the hotel's inner courtyard.




Architectural oddity?  Sure.


But this one works in beauty and practice.

 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, Alice, can you tell us again approximately where that rabbit hole was you fell down?

And did that cookie you ate, did it have a special taste or odor?

You mentioned methane. You're not a huffer, I hope.

ANM

Steve Cotton said...

ANM -- I suspect you are confusing deconstructionism with Carrollian tomfoolery.

Glenn said...

Architectural oddity? My hotel room in Guanajuato had interior windows, and curtains that adjoined a family dining room. At lunch time I peeked in, and they were enjoying a nice meal of pollo con mole.

Islagringo said...

I love these beautiful little oddities about Mexico. And that you take the time to observe them. Bravo.

Anonymous said...

I can assure you, Sir, I am not!

I haven't the derrida-do to carry off that sort of vague French intellectual analysis.

ANM

Steve Cotton said...

Islagringo -- It is one of the things I love about Mexico.

ANM -- And here I was thinking you just be be leading us through a stanza of The Jabberwocky.

Anonymous said...

Although "mims are morogrove," when properly decontextualized they are "mums in the orange grove," or "knickers in the glove-box."

ANM

Steve Cotton said...

And that is why some of us believe that deconstructionism has crashed upon the shoals of reality.

Mic said...

OK...now I'm officially lost Will probably worry about those damn knickers all night :-(

The little window is neat. I put in something like it (without the shutters) between my living room and kitchen (one day while husband was at work) so I wouldn't feel so cut off when working in the kitchen. Sure surprised him but said I did a good job. Had to reroute some wiring around it. A Fun project...like the little window in your room :-)

Steve Cotton said...

Mic -- I just found the bathroom to bedroom window to be a bit odd.