Clouds Below the Mountains (2 page)

Lucy struggled out of her jacket. Although the coach was air conditioned she still felt warm and wished that it was the end of her shift and she could go and take a shower. Once she had seen her clients into their accommodation, she had to take her turn at the rep's desk in the hotel foyer. There was always a guest who needed a question answering. What time was their pickup on Friday? Was there a local bus into Playa De Las Americas? What was their limit on their duty free allowance? Could they still book a trip to La Gomera? All questions that would have been answered if they had attended the Welcome meeting, but a lot of people couldn't be bothered turning up. They preferred to grab a sun bed in the mornings, not be stuck indoors. Still, at the end of the day she was enjoying being a travel rep', Lucy thought. It was better than being behind a reception desk, in a Manchester hotel.

***

The coach driver began to slow as the San Lorenzo hotel came into view. It was a short walk from the sea front, just as the area became Costa Adeje. It merged in with the other hotels, apartments, shopping arcades and rooms for rent. Though with the flaky walls, that used to be cream, it had a downtrodden appearance and recently had been down graded to a two star hotel.

Paco spoke quickly to Lucy in Spanish. Although she couldn't speak the language, she understood that he was going to set her clients down on the main road outside. There wasn't room for the coach to attempt a sharp turn through the entrance. Besides it was down a steep hill with cars parked on either side.

“Mr. and Mrs. Murray, this is the San Lorenzo,” shouted Lucy, as though the couple and their two teenage boys hadn't noticed that this was their hotel. They looked at her a little sheepishly, as if they didn't want to get off the coach, but to stay on to somewhere else.

“Poor buggers,” said Paul quietly to Cheryl. “ I hope the Valia's a better place.”

Once the Murrays had collected their luggage from the baggage well under the coach, Lucy dressed again in her company jacket, took the family into the San Lorenzo reception. It was a sparse place, furnished with a few heavy wooden tables and chairs in the foyer. There was one morose looking male receptionist speaking on the telephone and didn't look up as Lucy presented herself before him. She hated this. The coach and her other clients were kept waiting, while he took his time before dealing with his guests.

“I'll have to go,” she said to Mr. Murray. “Any problems, give me a ring. You've got my number on the card that Kath handed out.”

Lucy, wished not for the first time that her company would pull out of using this place for their clients, as she ran back up to the waiting coach and hauled herself back onto it, but Kath had said, “What could the clients expect for the price that they were paying? The place was clean, the food was adequate, all the place needed was a bit of refurbishment.”

Lucy asked the driver to move on, after telling him that the next stop was at the Mountain View apartments, then settled herself down to watch the passing tourists, as they struggled up the steep incline, carrying bags of shopping from the local Supermercado, or dragging tired kids along with them. Her mobile rang, making her jump as her mind hadn't been on her job at that moment. She had been thinking about what she would wear on her next girls' night out with her friends.

“Lucy speaking,” she answered. “Oh, hi Kath, yes we have just dropped the Murray family off at the San Lorenzo. What's that? The Harrison's? No, I didn't think to ask if they had checked in. I'm sorry, but the man on the desk was busy on the telephone, so I left the Murray's to book themselves in with him. Well, I'm sorry Kath, I just didn't think to ask. I wanted to get back to the coach because it was parked on the busy main road. Have you got any Gatwick passengers bound for the Lorenzo? Well, can't you inquire when you take your clients in? Yes, I know you have enough things to think about and I'm sorry I've let you down. I'll try to remember if it happens again.”

Oh, boy, Kath was mad at her, Lucy thought, as she switched off her mobile and what was worse, she would have to face her at the rep's desk later on.

***

The coach pulled up outside a block of apartments called Mountain View, after it had crawled up the hill in second gear. The place was named aptly, as it looked towards a small range of mountains from its front view and if one craned their neck out of the apartments on the fourth floor, the sea could be seen in the distance. The building was quite new and architecturally well designed, as it rose into a triangular shape, so only the balcony of each apartment came over the rooms below. The exterior was painted in quiet hues of pink and grey. Cries of excitement came from the Hollins boys, as their parents told them to shift themselves and move to the front of the coach.

“Thank heavens for that,” Paul said to Cheryl, who was avidly reading the penultimate chapter of her interesting book. “At least now we can see whose going to the Valia and I'm happy we've got rid of that little lot.”

Lucy shepherded the family into the foyer of Mountain View, which was light and airy with modern lighting and groups of tan leather chairs tastefully placed around large oak coffee tables. The receptionist was waiting for them, smiling in welcome at the sight of the cute little girls. She greeted Lucy in Spanish, “Buenos dios Senora. Como sta?” Lucy replied with “Muy bien” and headed for the coach again.

Ten more minutes, Lucy thought to herself and then I'm going to take a shower. The rep's desk can take care of itself, while I get out of this sticky blouse and make myself smell a little pleasanter.

Her accommodation was in the annexe of the Valia. She had an apartment to herself, with a well equipped bathroom, whilst Tina and Anna shared a large room next door. The entertainment team, or Animacion as they liked to call themselves, lived in an apartment block up the hill away from the town. They were employed by an international agency, as were the Kids Club staff and the rest of the personnel were hired by the owner of the hotel. It all made for a hotchpotch of workers hailing from lots of different countries, but surprisingly they all seemed to get on very well.

The coach drew up outside a fairly modern four storey building, newly painted with a peach exterior and green woodwork. The circular driveway was too narrow for the vehicle to attempt parking outside the porticoed veranda, leading into the Reception area. Besides, a round stone wall with two palm trees in it, had been built centrally to give the place a tropical air.

“Welcome to the Valia Hotel,” shouted Lucy, above the noise of her clients rootling around in the overhead luggage racks, chivvying the children up and making a dash for the back exit of the coach, in order to be the first in the reception queue. “Please go to Reception once you have got your luggage and have your passports ready to show the staff who you are.”

That was all she had managed to say. She realized she should have made her announcement earlier, when the coach was coming along the approach road. Never mind, she thought, I only had to tell them about the All Inclusive bands and Reception were bound to tell their guests about them anyway.

***

Paul Cooper was the first to reach the reception desk. He had leapt out of the coach as soon as the back exit opened. Struggling with two of the family's four matching tapestry covered suitcases and instructing Cheryl to grab the others, he managed to trundle up the ramp and into the cool marbled floored entrance hall. There was a water feature in the middle of the foyer, with a female stone statue clutching an ewer, from which a constant stream of water fell into a bubbling pool. There were potted palms and comfortable looking sofas covered in a durable burnt orange fabric, pulled up to large glass topped coffee tables. A middle aged couple sat with their books upon their laps, sipping from long tumblers of cooling drinks and watching the newcomers with interest.

“ Buenos Dios,” Paul said to Maria, one of the two dark blue suited receptionists on duty, who greeted him with a ready smile. “The Cooper Family. We have reserved a suite of rooms for the next fortnight. I hope you have allocated somewhere quiet, as my wife is a light sleeper and she wouldn't want to be disturbed by any late night revelers. We did indicate this on our on line booking form.”

“Si, Senor, we are aware of your requirements. Although we only have one suite of rooms at this hotel, the rest are twin rooms or doubles with space to put a junior bed or cot in as well.”

“Well, I'm not interested in what other bedrooms you have. I just hope that the suite you have allocated to my family is suitable.”

“I am sure it will be, Senor. Please fill this form out, then I will require your passport which we will hold until your leaving date. When all bills have been settled before your departure, it will be returned to you. Then I must ask on which wrist you would like your All Inclusive band?”

Paul, was beginning to feel that something wasn't quite right in what the receptionist had just said to him. He felt uneasy that his passport was being taken away until his departure. What bills would he be paying anyway? He had paid on line with his Visa and unless Cheryl was going to make use of a hairdresser or a beauty room, or he made telephone calls from their room, there wouldn't be anything more to pay. Their food had been paid for, drinks as well, the Kids Club and entertainment were included too and what was this All Inclusive band she was on about? There had been no information on the Periquito website about that. He scowled to himself, as he assessed the situation and made no move to fill the out the reservation form.

“Come on, Mate,” said Fred Baker, who had been standing near to him whilst Paul was listening to Maria. “What's the holdup? It's the rules that they keep your passport. I've been to Tenerife seventeen times and it's perfectly secure in their hotel safe.”

Paul wasn't entirely convinced. He had been on lots of holidays before with his family, and surrendering his passport for more than twenty four hours had never been the case. Still, the old boy seemed to be going along with it, so he'd chance it just this once.

He began to fill the form out, but his mind was on this wristband thing as he wasn't feeling happy with having to wear a band. What was that all about? He handed over the form to an irritated Maria, as there was still another four people to deal with, because Dania, her colleague had picked up the Reception telephone which had been ringing insistently.

“I'm not happy about having to wear this wristband thingy,” he said, glaring down at his Rolex watch, thinking how silly he would look with a band beside it. Especially as he had noticed the receptionist had it already for him, a white length of plastic with holes punched in it.

“It certainly won't look well with my watch and my wife has some rather expensive bracelets. A cheap plastic thing like that will look the pits.”

“Unfortunately, Senor, it is hotel policy. If you do not wear it, we have the right to withdraw their All Inclusive tariff from you. We have to do this, because people who are accommodated in other hotels come in to watch our entertainment and have been known to order drinks that they haven't paid for.”

“Well, I think it's ludicrous”, Paul blustered. “I wouldn't have brought my family here if I had known we were to be tagged like common criminals. Where's that rep' that we came from the airport with? I'll put a complaint in, you see if I don't.”

“Fine, Senor,” said Maria politely, though inside she was seething, but trying hard not to show it.

“Could you step back and let me deal with the next guest. Your Periquito representative will be at her desk now. Just around the corner in the lobby.”

There was a communal sigh of relief as Paul snatched up his passport and went to join his wife and children, who were looking at him in puzzlement. Dania had finished on the telephone and soon there was only the Cooper family, as the other guests went off after being given the keys to their rooms.

“So what are you going to do, Paul?”, asked Cheryl, nervously. She knew what her husband could be like when he was backed into a corner. He could be very stubborn and wouldn't come down off his high horse, even if it meant flying back to Manchester. Jack had begun to whine that he was tired and was fed up with his Gameboy and Annabelle said she was bored with her book and when could she get into the swimming pool?

“Does it matter, Paul, if we have to wear a wristband? If that is the rule of the hotel in order for us to have All Inclusive, can't we just go along with it? The children are tired and I'm looking forward to getting out of these clothes and putting on shorts and a T' shirt. Be a dear and go back to Reception. We're hungry too and could do with having a look for the restaurant.”

“No, Cheryl, I want to see the rep' first and make a formal complaint. Then I shall look at our suite and check that it is to our satisfaction. Only then will I consider whether we will be putting up with these petty regulations. However, it looks as if the rep' has skived off somewhere, so you take the children to have a look at the swimming pool and I'll wait here with the luggage.”

Cheryl did as she was told, glad that she could leave him with the situation. Left to her, they would be in their suite of rooms by now and she would be in front of a mirror deciding what to wear.

***

Paul sat on one of the sofas overlooking a paved patio that lead down some steps to the large rectangular swimming pool. He felt really aggravated that the rep' wasn't in evidence and the receptionists were cold shouldering him, as if they didn't want to get involved. He was desperate for a drink. The bottles of pop that they'd brought with them for the journey had long since gone and he was loathe to go down to the pool bar and have to pay. He debated whether to use the public telephone and ring the Periquito resort office, he couldn't use his mobile because he hadn't got a signal yet. He waved to his wife, who was sitting on a sun lounger watching their children playing on some gaily painted swings in the kids' area. If it wasn't for the petty hotel policies, he could be getting the sun on his face himself