Our host, Alba, had to leave town on short notice and had her friend, Marcella, help with the check in process. My girlfriend and I were hoping to arrive at the check in time (noon) but because her friend wasn’t available we had to change our travel plans to meet her at 2pm instead. When I pointed out that our check in time was supposed to be from noon according to Airbnb, our host seemed to become irritated over text. It was an inconvenience for us to have to hold on to heavy luggage bags longer than we would have liked in the middle of a hot afternoon and it was up to us to be flexible for her schedule.
It was a bit odd when we checked in as Marcella didn’t know where our set of keys were and we had to spend time looking all over the apartment for them (luckily our combined efforts were successful) as Alba was temporarily not available by phone. Marcella also stayed for about 30 minutes to clean the washroom and do the dirty dishes in the sink which was unexpected for us. I suppose I had an expectation that the place would have been ready for us by the time we arrived at 2pm…
The apartment could have been cleaner and some fixtures were in disrepair (notably some lights were dangling loose in the ceiling with exposed cables and the toilet flush button was missing the button but you could still flush if you pushed on the mechanism inside). Marcella didn’t speak much English and we didn’t speak much Spanish so the orientation to the place was somewhat limited. It was unclear where the garbage bin was and if we could have had some tea from the kitchen pantry for breakfast.
The room was well furnished but without air conditioning. In June, it would have been too hot inside the room without the window open to keep it cool so we kept the window opened all the time we were there. However, at night the street can be very noisy so I recommend bringing ears plugs as cars and people talking are likely to keep you awake. There is no mosquito screen so be ready to slap any that come in.