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CAACUPE, PARAGUAY Name: Hotel Blas Address: Price: $8 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1991 Review: In this religious and poor town, hotel choices seem to be pretty much limited to this only hotel that I found. Rooms are basic. However, the hotel can still be recommended. Drawback: Cobwebs. CABIMAS, VENEZUELA Name: Hotel Cabimas International Address: av. Andres Bello Price: $83 Rating: Best Reviewed: 1997 Review: Very nice, indeed! Truly luxury at its finest and truly a world class hotel. First, the preliminaries: those without their own means of transportation will have to rely on one of the worst and delapidated buses from the Maracaibo bus terminal to get to this city. After the tiring hour long bus ride here, you’ll find an unexciting city except for this outstanding hotel. Excellent four star hotel located within walking distance from the bus terminal and the center of town or a short ride by taxi ($3.50 - a bit high!). Rooms are spotless, spacious, comfortable and come with color tv (good cable with 46 channels including Fox, The Cartoon Network, The Travel Channel, HTV which is Venezuela’s version of MTV, The Discovery Channel, WGN and CNN en Espanol) with remote control and air conditioning. Nice touches include a hair dryer in the bathroom and a writing desk/breakfast table next to a picture window. Amenities include a swimming pool and a discotheque. If you’re on one of the upper floors (as I was), you’ll find a breathtaking aerial view of the city spread out beneath you. Service is excellent. If your travels takes you to the Maracaibo vicinity, you may want to take an excursion to the city of Cabimas and treat yourself to this very upscale hotel. English spoken by the sometimes helpful and indifferent staff. Highly recommended! CABO FRIO, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Nanaque Address: Price: $6 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1992 Review: Barely adequate hotel located within walking distance from the bus terminal. Rooms are basic but clean. Can be recommended! Price includes breakfast. CACADOR, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Alcacer Address: av. Br. do Rio Branco 732 Price: $18 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1995 Review: Adequate hotel (probably the best in the city) located a few short blocks from the bus terminal and a good walk to the downtown area. Rooms are clean, spacious and come with black and white tv (very sensitive and troubling) and that’s about it. Hotel guests who have an advantage of having a room facing the street will have a wonderful aerial view of the city since the hotel is located on a hill. Friendly and helpful staff. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CACAPAVA DO SUL, BRAZIL Name: Karlton Hotel Address: rua 15 de Novembro 487 Price: $25 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1998 Review: The best hotel that this hot and dusty city of 35,000 has to offer. Excellent hotel located a few short blocks to the bus terminal and right on the main shopping street of the downtown area. Rooms are spotless, comfortable, very tastefully decorated and come with a full length mirror, color tv (poor reception) and a frigo bar. Extremely helpful and friendly hotel staff. In fact, one young man who helps to run the reception desk speaks English (somewhat limited) and enjoys telling about the fact that last year he visited New York City. The rates are as follows: $17 (room without air conditioning and frigo bar) $25 (room with air conditioning and frigo bar which is the one I chose) $34 (a more spacious room with air conditioning and frigo bar) Highly and enthusiastically recommended! Price includes breakfast. CACHOEIRA DE ITAPEMIRIM, BRAZIL Name: Hotel San Karlo Address: av. Biera-Rio 65 Price: $34 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1994 Review: Good three star hotel located a few blocks from the bus terminal, in the downtown area and directly across from a river (extremely muddy). Rooms are clean, on the small side (there are more expensive and spacious rooms available with air conditioning and a frigo bar) and come with color tv, ceiling fan and a small writing desk. The best hotel in the city. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. Travel Tip: The upscale and affordable restaurant in the hotel is worth trying. An excellent hot and cold buffet, two soft drinks and a scrumptious dessert including 10% tip came to just $14. CACHOEIRA DO SUL, BRAZIL Name: Everson Palace Hotel Address: Price: $25 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1993 Review: Good three star hotel conveniently located in the heart of the downtown area and a short taxi ride ($3) from the bus terminal. Rooms are clean, comfortable, spacious and come with color tv and air conditioning and a poorly stocked frigo bar. There are less expensive rooms available without tv and air conditioning (however, air conditioning is much needed in this hot city). Recommended! Price includes breakfast. Drawback: You may be confused when getting off the elevator. When your room is on the 4th floor and the elevator reads that you’re now on the 4th floor, the doors will open up and you’ll actually be on the 6th floor. You’ll then have to walk down two flights of stairs. Therefore, the secret to get to the 4th floor is to press 2 in the elevator and it will take you to the 4th floor. Problem solved. To complicate matters further, the room numbers are not always in numeric order. CACHOEIRA, BRAZIL Name: Pousada do Convento Address: rua Inocencio Boaventura Price: $41 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1994 Review: When coming to this quaint city of 28,000, one must stay at the Pousada do Convento. Excellent three star hotel which is also a convent is run by some Bahian nuns and located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($6 - too high!) and in the center of the downtown area. Rooms are comfortable, spacious, spotless and come with color tv, air conditioning (noisy) and a frigo bar. Amenities include a swimming pool. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. Facts: The hotel has been converted from a 16th century convent into this excellent and well run hotel. Travel Tip: The restaurant in the hotel is worth trying but the service is medicore at best. CAIOBA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Parque Balneario Caioba Address: Price: $49 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1992 Review: Good three star hotel located a good distance from the bus terminal (located in the neighboring town of Matinhos which is only 5 miles away) by taxi ($5) and two blocks from the beach. Rooms are comfortable, clean and come with color tv, frigo bar and air conditioning. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CALABOZO, VENEZUELA Name: Hotel Tiuna Address: av. Via San Fernando Price: $20.50 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1997 Review: In this badly decaying and heat ridden city of 91,000, there are several hotels to choose from and most aren’t acceptable. The only acceptable one in this rundown city is this hotel that is located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($1.50 - excellent price!) and several blocks from the congested downtown area. Rooms are simple, spotless, fairly spacious and come with air conditioning and color tv. A nice touch is is that they give you a pitcher of ice water to quench your thirst. However, it’s my advice to drink only bottled water when visiting the country as bottled water from local stores is inexpensive enough. There’s a uniformed armed guard/ policeman stationed outside of the hotel which adds to my sense of well being. However, I have to question why a hotel that’s situated on the side of a highway that is not fancy by any means would need an armed guard stationed outside it.? Also, I notice that the door in my room has double locks on it which adds to my thoughts of, “is this hotel merely taking precautions and, perhaps, overzealous in their security measures?” or, “do I have reason to be concerned?” Advisary: One might question whether it’s in ones best interest to come to this city. Calabozo is seriously suffering from the disease of poverty and with poverty comes crime. An example would be that most of the small grocery stores have bars on the windows making it resemble more of a prison. A customer never steps inside the store. You simply tell the store clerk what you want through the cell-like bars. You hand him the money and he hands you back the merchandise through the bars and the transaction is then completed. There’s no real reason why anyone would want to come to this city. It’s such a crime ridden city that residents feel compeled to put bars all around their houses. Even during the daytime, when asking for directions residents were reluctant to speak to me for fear that I would rob them, and many went running from me. Obviously, the citizens of this city have good reasons for not trusting anyone. You might want to really reconsider coming to this city. CALAMA, CHILE Name: Hosteria Calama Address: Price: $50 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1990 Review: Excellent hotel and the best that this city has to offer. CALDAS NOVAS, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Morada do Sol Address: Price: $42 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1993 Review: In this tourist city there seems to be hotels in all price ranges. Good medium priced hotel located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($4) and on the main street of the downtown area. Although the rooms are somewhat on the plain side, the grounds that the hotel sits on are very picturesque which include palm trees and a fairly large swimming pool. Rooms are clean, spacious and come with color tv, air conditioning and a frigo bar. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CALDERA, CHILE Name: M’Hotel de Turismo Portal del Inca (cabana) Address: Price: $15 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1990 Review: Very quaint cabins located in this peaceful town. Rooms are cozy and come with color tv. An excellent value and highly recommended. Travel Tip: A very good but expensive restaurant adjacent to the hotel is worth trying. CAMAMU, BRAZIL Name: Pousada Green House Address: Price: $9.50 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1994 Review: Adequate pousada located across from the very tiny bus terminal (one booth run by one person) and close to the center of town. Rooms are basic but clean and come with a fan. Helpful staff. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CAMAQUA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Gloria Address: rua Olavo Moraes 1229 Price: $17 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1998 Review: In this rather small and ordinary city of 62,000, hotel choices seem to be limited to just two. Adequate hotel located several blocks from the bus terminal (allow at least 30 minutes walking time each way and you may want to consider taking a cab because it’s easy to get lost) and a few short blocks to the downtown area. Rooms are clean, average size and come with black and white tv (just two channels) and a ceiling fan. Want something a little bit less expensive? There are more basic rooms available without a private bathroom for only $13. Also, there are more luxurious rooms available for $23 and $43 respectively. Good value. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CAMBUQUIRA, BRAZIL Name: Grande Hotel Brasilia Address: Price: $7.50 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1992 Review: In this somewhat dying town of 12,000, hotel choices are severely limited since many of the hotels have closed their doors to the lack of tourism. Adequate hotel located within walking distance from the bus terminal and a few short blocks from the center of town. Rooms are basic but fairly clean. Mediocre restaurant. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. Travel Tip: The hotel offers a package deal that includes room and lunch for $14.50. However, it’s not much of a deal because if you pay for the room and lunch separately it would only be $11. CAMPINA GRANDE, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Mahatma Gandhi Address: av. Floriano Peixoto No. 338 Price: $12.50 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1994 Review: Good hotel located a good distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($5) and only a couple of blocks from the downtown area. Rooms are spotless, comfortable and come with color tv and a fan. The owner and his wife speak English as they have spent 10 years in the U.S. living in such states as New Jersey, New York and Utah and both are originally from India. Reliable early wake-up call. Very friendly and helpful staff. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. Advisary: Even though Campina Grande is a large city with a population of over 326,000 people, one might think that there’s an adequate number of hotels to choose from. The truth is, however, that many of those hotels may be filled up as there’s a shortage of hotel rooms to be had in the city. CAMPINAS, BRAZIL Name: San Raphael Plaza Hotel Address: Price: $97 Rating: Best Reviewed: 1993 Review: Very nice, indeed! Truly a world class hotel and certainly one of the nicest and most luxurious ones that I’ve had the pleasure of staying at. The hotel is located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($3.50) and is situated on one of the main shopping streets in the downtown area. Rooms are spotless, very spacious and come with color tv (cable) with remote control, frigo bar and air conditioning. Actually, the room resembles more of a mini suite. There’s a very nice and fully equipped kitchen including plates, silverware, pots and pans. In the main bedroom area there’s a balcony with a panoramic view of the city. Amenities include such things as a hair dryer in the bathroom. Also, the hotel has a swimming pool. Even with the 30% discount (the regular room rate was $132), it’s still expensive. However, if you’re looking for deluxe accommodations while staying in this city, this hotel would definitely be it. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. CAMPOS DO JORDAO, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Monte Bianco Address: Price: $40 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1992 Review: Being in this charming mountain resort of 37,000 reminds me of what it might be like to be in Bavaria, Germany. There’s an abundance of quaint hotels and this is one of them. Good hotel located a good distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($4) and near the main shopping street. Rooms are clean, comfortable and come with color tv. The room decor is done in such a way that it reminds me of being in a cabin (especially from the beautifully done mural of the woods that’s on the wall). Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. CAMPO GRANDE, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Fenicia Address: Price: $27 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1993 Review: Good hotel located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($5 - too high!) and about 5 blocks from the downtown area. Rooms are clean, spacious and come with color tv with remote control (located on the headboard) and a well-stocked frigo bar. Also, good and speedy laundry service at a reasonable price (prices higher for rush service). Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast CAMPO LARGO, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Parada Norte Sul Address: Price: $13 Rating: Worst Reviewed: 1998 Review: I must say I was very surprised at how difficult it was to find a hotel in this large cosmopolitan city. First, I went to the Hotel Campo Largo which is a very nice hotel and probably the best in the city. The desk clerk “claimed” that they were all filled up and gave me directions to another hotel. I went to the second hotel and they “claimed” that they were all filled up as well. Through a roundabout way with the help of the Locals and especially with one English speaking female that I talked with on the street, I was able to find the very last hotel choice that I haven’t tried yet. Even though the hotel is somewhat difficult to find, I finally found it. Poor quality hotel located on the edge of the city, next to a gas station and a good walk both to the downtown area and the bus terminal. Rooms are small, clean and don’t come with really anything. The communal bathroom is located down the hall. $13 is too much to pay for this“hole in the wall”. The desk clerk is a crabby woman who treated me as if I were an intrusion to her day. Not recommended! Drawback: The curtains on the windows in the room were so thin that you could see right through them. Also, ants and lots of them. Price includes breakfast. CAMPO MOURAO, BRAZIL Name: Campo Palace Hotel Address: av. Manoel Mendes de Camargo 940 Price: $27.50 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1996 Review: Good two star hotel located a few blocks from the bus terminal and approximately six blocks from the downtown area. Rooms are clean, somewhat small and come with color tv (excellent cable with several channels including HBO, MTV, and SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION) with remote control and a fan. Friendly staff. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CAMPO VERDE, BRAZIL. Name: Campo Verde Palace Hotel Address: Price: $16 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1995 Review: Good hotel (really more like a motel) conveniently located a block from the bus terminal, a few blocks from the center of town and situated peacefully by the side of a highway. Rooms are simple, clean and come with color tv ($2.50 less per night without) and a fan. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CANAVIEIRAS, BRAZIL Name: Porto Hotel Address: Pca. da Bandeira Price: $12 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1994 Review: Good hotel located a good distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($5), a few blocks from the center of town and on the waterfront. Rooms are clean, fairly spacious and come with a fan. There are rooms available with air conditioning for an additional $6. Hotel is run by helpful and friendly staff. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CANDELARIA, BRAZIL Name: Grande Hotel Address: Price: $15 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1998 Review: The best and only hotel that this hot and dusty city of 28,000 has to offer. If you arrive here on a Sunday (like I did), the city will resemble more of a ghost town since most stores are closed on that day. Nevertheless, adequate hotel located a few short blocks from the bus terminal and three blocks or so from the downtown (what very little downtown there is) area. Rooms are small and even could be described as being tiny and come with color tv (one channel) and a fan. Room rates are as follows: $12 (room without color tv) $15 (room with color tv) $18 (room with color tv and frigo bar) Recommended! Price includes breakfast. CANELA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Central Address: Price: $9 Rating: Worst Reviewed: 1992 Review: Your typical cheap no star hotel located near the bus terminal. Rooms aren’t too clean and don’t come with really anything. The communal bathroom is down the hall. Not recommended! CANOA QUEBRADA, BRAZIL Name: Pousada Address: At the end of the main street Price: $2.50 Rating: Worst Reviewed: 1994 Review: There are many inexpensive and barely adequate pousadas in this quaint village and this is one of them. The pousada is within walking distance from the beach and located on the main street. However, that is the only “plus” that I can find in staying here. Rooms are extremely basic, shabby and gloomy looking. Unless one is severely limited on funds, it might be better to stay elsewhere. Friendly owners. However, this place is definitely not recommended. Drawback: You may be awakened in the early morning hours by crowing as the owner also raises chickens here. |
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