Bahia Principe is the name of a chain of Hotels welcoming guests in the several places: Canary Islands, Punta Cana, Jamaica and Riviera Maya. Their logo is a sunshine with a spiral, symbolising the atmosphere of happiness always spreading inside the place. In fact, temperatures on the coast are warm all year round, and it is very easy to enjoy sunbathing on the beaches of the Caribbean Sea even in the middle of winter, when a lot of other countries are still suffering from the cold.
Even if I had a giant suitcase with me, the moment I arrived at the hotel I was not a tourist. I had to be this time on the opposite side of the counter. With a big smile I had to welcome all the customers on the first day of their holidays and assign their room.
Estaba lista por esto? Obviamente!
My Job
My role as a Receptionist at the hotel was extremely important… thousands of ways more than I expected! More than a hundred of tourists arrived everyday at the Hotel from every corner of the world. The majority of them were Americans, Canadians, French and Russians, escaping from the cold weather of their countries! Thanks to the fact that I speak all these languages, every new guest in the Hotel was sent to me so that the language barrier wasn’t a problem any more. I was so grateful to be able to help!
“Welcome to Bahia Principe! Did you have a nice trip?” These first words I pronounced were combined with a huge smile and a Cocktail that I prepared minutes before. “Could you please show me your passport and your booking confirmation?” I checked their reservation while the tourists looked around amazed by the exotic architecture of the Reception. They already had a room assigned to their name, so I had to find the designated folder containing the right keys and check if it had already been cleaned.
“Este es el mapa de nuestro resort. Están ustedes en el Hotel Tulum, que se encuentra directamente frente a la playa. Aquí está el buffet ‘Yucatan’, donde pueden tomar su desayuno, almuerzo y cena. Pueden ir a las albercas a relajarse donde tendrán un excelente equipo de animación. Que se diviertan!”
The most amazing thing about my job was to see new guests coming in from far away to enjoy the vacations they had so much dreamt about. The hardest one was to be always prepared to answer their thousands of questions on how the hotel worked and where they could find this or that.. but I quickly became a real expert of every corner of the Riviera Maya!
Mis compañeros
As my position in the hotel was just a trainee, all my co-workers were mostly Mexicans. I had never had a mexican friend before, and never heard the Spanish accent of Latin America. It was a bit confusing at the beginning to understand all the crazy words they put in their speech. However, they were just amazing people who helped me familiarize with such an environment so far away from home. Also, I can tell you that they are crazy about chilli pepper. If a Mexican person tells you “no pica”, don’t trust him: it will probably burn your mounth!
The Wildlife
The last amazing thing I want to describe about my life in the Hotel was the presence of very different animals. As I mentioned in my article about Tulum, we were literally immersed in the forest, so that animals were likely to cross my street everyday I went to work. The most particular ones were the Cautí, similar to anteaters but tinier and cuter.
Others were the Sereque, more a mix of rats and rabbits. On the trees you could easily see Ardillas, red squirrels, jumping from one branch to the other, and lots of Iguanas enjoying the sun at the sides of the roads, and cute Mapache, hungry at night and going out searching for food.
Gracias a todos los trabajadores del Bahía Príncipe, los extraño mucho y espero verles un día pronto!
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