We stayed at a Marriott on the Argentinian side, near Iguaçu/Iguazú/Iguassu Falls. The Hotel Internacional. Ugly place, but the only hotel within the Parque Nacional.
The views from the room were lovely, though, and the paths that took you up to the Argentine side of the Falls were right outside the door.
The Hotel Das Cataratas on the Brazilian side was more attractive, in a pink Portuguese stucco sort of way that reminded me of our old home in Belém. The hotel is right there across the river, but you need to drive thirty-five miles and pass through Brazilian Customs before you can loop back and see the hotel up close and personal.
Truth telling, I would’ve much preferred just a hammock in the old hotel that the Marriott replaced.
The old Cataratas hotel is still there, falling into disrepair, no longer used. It’s been declared a landmark and won’t be torn down, but hasn’t been used for decades. Now, it’s just sitting there waiting for someone with the time and the money and the government connections to do something with it.
The first aid and ambulance folks who wait for someone using the kms of paths out and around the Falls to need some medical aid are the only folks in the hotel buildings these days.
The old hotel has a dreamy past-days quality about it. I could happily nap through an afternoon rain in a hammock slung on the porch. You can start here and shuffle through some pictures I took. If I had the wherewithal, this is the sort of thing I’d spend the wherewithal on, saving old places with dreamy qualities.
But the title of this post is “Pillows,” not “Hammocks,” not “Ugly Hotels.”
Non-plush sort of traveller that I am, this was the first time I’d stayed at a Marriott since they started pouring money into their new bedding program a year or two back. The bed was indeed very cozy and comfortable, but I completely understood where the housekeeper complaints are coming from.
The heaviest part of the package was the duvet and comforter. Really, do they need to make the coverlet so heavy? Give me the extra padding between the bottom sheet and the mattress. Certainly keep the five or six pillows — I was in heaven with pillows — but you don’t need to wear out the housekeeping staff with the overly heavy and puffy coverlet on the bed.
Be kind to the backs and hands and arms of the people who care for the rooms. The guests who love the new plush sleeping experience probably would get the bulk of the experience if they just had the comfy bed, 400 count sheets, and, of course, those soft, soft pillows. Ditch the coverlet or make it lighter. The cover doesn’t need to be so heavy to be puffy, attractive and warm.
Be kind to the housekeeping staff.
Maybe I should go splurge and buy a handful of soft down pillows for my bed. A few hundred dollars would set me up with enough down pillows to make me cozy, happy. I just can’t see me spending that kind of money on something so self-indulgent, though.