This is one of the top hotels in the city which is just entering the modern age of international travel. And the choices are limited. The locals obviously see it as a attraction: There were three different wedding couples having professional photography done in the three-story atrium during the time I was there. The way I know it was three-stories? No elevator. My room was on the top floor. The stairs are good exercise if you haven't already spent the day walking the extraordinary sights of the city. Also, not so good if you forget something in your room or need to use the lobby to access the internet - which you will. There is no internet connection in the rooms. At the same time, my room, like the majority of rooms, faced the atrium. Again, atmospheric, but also a bit limiting. You don't want to open the window because the atrium's caged parrot's or macaw's piercing cry that I first thought might be a fire alarm is fairly constant, as is the noise from the wedding couples, their friends and the photographers. The room is 2-3 stars; the bed is one of the hardest I've ever slept in and I like hard beds; the bath was very basic; and the breakfasts and one dinner I had there were adequate. The staff tried their best to be helpful. It was what you would expect in one of the best hotels in a fairly remote city in a fairly remote country. Bottom line: this is what real travel is about.
