Chilpancingo

I went again to the world's ugliest city to deliver samples. But I want to talk about the hotel I crashed at (I arrived at around 1 am and checked out at 7:30 am). It's the oddest hotel I've ever seen.

To begin with, Chilpancingo is rather small, but it's a state capital. It has nothing going on there except the state's government. Therefore hotel chains don't bother with it. Therefore all it has are small, independent hotels.

Anyway, this one was ok, rather new, perfectly clean and with good service. But:

They don't take credit cards over the phone. If you want a guaranteed reservation, you have to transfer money to them directly.

The room lacked tissues, an internal phone directory, a channel guide, and pretty much any and all information about the hotel. Things you get even in flea-infested no-star hourly-rate motels. There were also no glasses or cups at all. Of course there's no restaurant, no gym, no pool and no business center.

On the plus side it was very cheap. About $35 for the night (or part of the night anyway).

What I still can't figure out is why a city is there in the first place.

The drive to and from is not a nice one. For one thing it's all over hills and mountains, meaning lots of curves and grades. IN addition, Mexican highways exist in two forms only: under construction and under repair. You won't ever see one just in operation. This one was particularly bad right now, with one detour and no less than five lane reductions scattered along the way. My time for 770 km round trip, excluding drive time in Mex City on the return, was 8:50 hours.

From the SCT website, it says that it should take a lot less time than that. Although it spells out 18 steps, only three #8,#10,#12 are reasonably long distance. Which steps (or all) are too optimistic).


Tiempo 2:46 h:min Distancia 273.77 km Casetas $140.00 mxn Combustible $232.18 mxn Costo total: $372.18 mxn Casetas: 3


1 ) Inicia en Plaza de la Constitución. Plaza de la Constitución Distrito Federal, Cuauhtémoc 108.23 m 1 min
2 ) Continua recto por San Antonio Abad. José María Pino Suárez Distrito Federal, Cuauhtémoc 909.61 m 1 min
3 ) Continua recto por Calzada de Tlalpan. San Antonio Abad Distrito Federal, Cuauhtémoc 2.37 km 3 min
4 ) Continua recto por Tlalpan. Calzada de Tlalpan Distrito Federal, Benito Juárez 10.22 km 11 min
5 ) Continua recto por N/A. Tlalpan Distrito Federal, Coyoacán 5.15 km 6 min
6 ) Continua recto por Insurgentes Sur. N/A Distrito Federal, Tlalpan 253.88 m 1 min
7 ) Gira ligeramente a la derecha sobre México - Cuernavaca. Se encuentra cerca de una caseta. Insurgentes Sur Distrito Federal, Tlalpan 38.91 m 1 min
8 ) Continua recto por Libramiento de Cuernavaca. México - Cuernavaca Distrito Federal, Tlalpan 61.57 km 37 min
* Tlalpan $47.00
9 ) Continua recto por Cuernavaca - Acapulco. Se encuentra cerca de una caseta. Libramiento de Cuernavaca Morelos, Cuernavaca 14.28 km 10 min
10 ) Continua recto por N/A. Cuernavaca - Acapulco Morelos, Cuernavaca 58.47 km 32 min
* Ing. Francisco Velasco Durán $30.00
11 ) Gira a la derecha sobre Cuernavaca - Acapulco. Se encuentra cerca de una caseta. N/A Guerrero, Huitzuco de los Figueroa 94.75 m 1 min
12 ) Continua recto por Vicente Guerrero. Cuernavaca - Acapulco Guerrero, Huitzuco de los Figueroa 114.80 km 1 h 02 min
* Paso Morelos $63.00
13 ) Continua recto por N/A. Vicente Guerrero Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo 3.29 km 4 min
14 ) Gira ligeramente a la derecha sobre Oaxaca. N/A Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo 201.33 m 1 min
15 ) Continua recto por N/A. Oaxaca Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo 203.45 m 1 min
16 ) Gira ligeramente a la derecha sobre Insurgentes. N/A Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo 43.15 m 1 min
17 ) Continua recto por Ignacio Ramírez. Insurgentes Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo 721.34 m 2 min
18 ) Finaliza en Ignacio Ramírez. Ignacio Ramírez Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo 937.36 m 2 min

Según la tradición, el 1 de noviembre de 1591 se funda la población de Chilpancingo.

Did you stay in this hotel? The other ones look a little scary.

Well, at night I drive slower as a precaution, especially on the highway. On the return trip, I got stuck at lane closures where heavy equipment was being moved, twice. That added almost 40 minutes to that leg.

I forget the name of the hotel, but it was something like Hotel Parque.

BTW, that website you consulted is outdated. The tolls are $220 pesos each way.

Quote: Nareed

Well, at night I drive slower as a precaution, especially on the highway. On the return trip, I got stuck at lane closures where heavy equipment was being moved, twice. That added almost 40 minutes to that leg.

I forget the name of the hotel, but it was something like Hotel Parque.

BTW, that website you consulted is outdated. The tolls are $220 pesos each way.

I found one called Hotel Del Parque, Chilpancingo about a block from the Cathedral that was advertised in the low US$30. It looks servicable and convenient for that price.

I found an updated government website that says
$70 Tlalpan
$45 Alpuyeca
$95 Paso Morelos
$210 Totales

Tolls are so freaking high in Mexico.

Quote: Pacomartin

I found one called Hotel Del Parque, Chilpancingo about a block from the Cathedral

I don't recall seeing a cathedral, but then I wasn't looking for one.

here's something which tells you how screwed up the city is. According to Google maps, walking from the hotel to where I was going took about 900 meters. Driving there took 3 kilometers.

I wonder is that's due to the highway bisecting the city through its center.

Quote:

Tolls are so freaking high in Mexico.

And there are many of them.

Oh, there was something really odd, too, regarding the hotel.

First, I sent them an email with the payment info. They replied an acknowledgment and confirmed the reservation. Then I replied again asking for a smoking room. So far so good.

I didn't receive a reply, but figured I'd ask when checking in. Later I was about to purge the SPAM folder, when I noticed their reply right there.

Now, consider I started the thread to that address, got a reply, and replied to it. How did their last reply wind up as SPAM??