Saturday's Venue

In the above picture, Steve stands at the entrance to our venue for the blogger's presentations on Saturday. It is the Technologia Turista Total. This establishment is owned and operated by one of this year's co-chairs, Joanna.

As you can see by the entrance gates, this place has been stunningly restored and turned into a school. Here's a closer look at the entrance, looking into the inviting courtyard beyond.




The place is full of old and interesting artifacts restored to almost pristine condition. Like this fountain, artfully surrounded by ginger flowers and Mayan grinding stones.




The hallways were bright and cheery. I love it when the old, original tiles have been left in a home. Or restaurant. Or hotel.





The back courtyard has a little coffee shop where you can sit under this sticked roof and study for your next class or send text messages to your sweetheart. I did neither.





If you look closely, you can see the water trickling from the old stone pipe into the bowl below. It made a very cheerful sound as it lightly echoed throughout the area.

There was even an old well. I doubt that it is still being used. This used to be a private residence so I am sure it saw plenty of use in it's day. Those blue doors in the background led to the classroom where are presentations took place.

Even the interior windows were framed by these beautiful tiles. Some had pieces of ornate grill work over them.

Some were just placed there for art's sake. I like that a lot.

The coffee shop courtyard also has a tree growing in it. Providing plenty of natural shade and dappled lighting to the area.

As well as fresh oranges!

But, alas, nothing is perfect. I only have two slightly less than enthusiastic comments to make about this splendid place. Look at this entrance walkway to our classroom.

It was a mess of stones set into concrete at dangerous angles and almost impossible to comfortably, or maybe even safely, walk across. For somebody with mobility problems like I am currently having, or somebody on crutches or any other kind of walking disability, this is pure Hell.

I did overhear our hostess telling somebody that these stones were from the original house and that they had wanted to preserve them. I applaud and commend this desire. However, would it have been so bad to put a decent walking path down the center and then to have lined it to the walls with these stones?

My second criticism is one that I encounter a lot in Mexico but certainly was not expecting in this swanky joint. I needed to blow my nose at one point and opened every stall door in the Men's room looking for a piece of toilet paper. This is what greeted me in each and every one of them.

With the staff that I saw on duty that day, and knowing that a large group of people were going to be in attendance, I can think of no earthly reason why this detail was ignored. A big tsk-tsk to an otherwise outstanding venue.