Cheap Mexican beer, greedy bastards, and wildfires

Right. So I'm on again. After dinner last night we were sleepy and the internet was being slow so I just went to bed.

I'm less than thrilled with this hotel. It looks nice, and it's in a great location as far as swimming in that very fun lagoon/pool that Carina had a picture of, but on closer inspection it's probably not worth the money we paid for it. For one thing, if we want them to clean our room it's an extra $20. It's $2 for beach towels. It's $2 to get new shampoo, conditioner, etc. You get one of each when you check in, and that's it. It's not like I really need to have our room cleaned (we're only here for three nights), or extra shampoo (although that would've been nice since I have long hair) but come on! How much more can they charge us for? Also, the furniture is all faded and cracked, the toilet seat isn't attached straight, it's tiny, the mini fridge/freezer barely gets things cool, much less actually freezes them, the restaurant is closer due to "unforeseen circumstances," etc.

But I do like Carins! So far we haven't had any really great, ohmygod this is unbelieavable food, cuz it seems like all that food is insanely expensive. Every time we've asked for suggestions on where to eat they tell us somewhere that's really good, and over $50 a person. When we ask for something a little cheaper (there are tons of them) they tell us to try one of the many cafes along the boardwalk. Not too helpful.

But the beer's good! Although at the first place we went to they tried to sell me a Corona, which I just thought was hillarious. I didn't fly 7,000 miles to get a Corona.

Yesterday was, unfortunately, our only free day while we're here in Cairns, which is too bad cuz apparently the casino next to us has a cool little zoo complete with the option of taking your pic with a koala. The guy who told us about this said they have evening tours too, but I think by that he meant 5-7, and we don't get back until 7, so yeah. Maybe next time.

Oh! And for the reef today we rented a nice camera witha 2 gig card, so we'll get TONS of pics. We were only going to buy a disposable, but the girl quickly talked us out of it. Granted, it really didn't take much convincing. It's $40, which is a little expensive, but well worth it.

At least, I think it is.

I mean, how many times am I gonna get to be here? Do I really want to risk shitty pics?

Oh, and not to worry, the fires are nowhere near us. At least, not right now. When we're in Sydney they may become a problem, though. I guess there are 34 uncontrolled wildfires in NSW at the moment, although most of the deaths have been in Victoria. Which is all very sad, and not something I particularly feel like dwelling on while I'm on vacation.

So I'm gonna go grab some breakfast.

:)