moon over linden suites

The view from our window.

Last Saturday’s full moon was left unnoticed as we were cooped inside a hotel room somewhere here in the city. It was a change from our usual holy week sojourns for the past six or seven years that were spent out of town, mostly in the beach. This year, it’s two days at a hotel in the midst of a business district. Not that we had much choice, we were simply enjoying a complimentary stay then extended it to one more day--to enjoy the crowded pool some more and maybe just to tell ourselves that we were actually away somewhere and not just less than half an hour away from home.

But being “away” for a break is quite good, actually. Especially since we were enjoying amenities that were sorely missing from our daily lives- immaculately clean, uncluttered surroundings, air conditioning, cable tv, a bathtub, full-length mirrors, SPACE- it was all there to be indulged in.

To me, hotels have always seemed like entering another world. It’s so easy to shut off the outside world. Just draw the curtains down, and you couldn’t even tell if it’s night or day. Or if you wished to, you could even forget that outside is a third world country smoldered in dust and dirt, and blistering from the hot summer sun.

I'm probably not the type to get used to hotel living. On our second day, I was getting bored and all that tv watching was starting to hurt my eyes. But there was nowhere else to go. To me there's still nothing like going to the beach. You may not be splashing in the waves, but a stroll or just sitting down on the sand can be just as fun. And surely, being at the beach, you couldn't possibly miss that marvelous full moon.