My overdue review of our accommodations with Juan.
The area of El Laquito as a whole has older buildings that have either been remodeled or are being remodeled. There is a lack guest policy attitude at most of the building in this area and some units in numerous buildings are used by working girls providing incall services. No, it's not a bunch of hookers hassling people that walk by, it's not seedy at all. You wouldn't know it if you weren't looking for it. You are encountering them more in their natural habitat as they relax, shop and eat in restaurants. I personally found them unguarded and more natural when interacting with them. You are sure to encounter many beautiful women in this area which makes for some interesting day time and night time opportunities if you got some game.
We stayed in the Marinaire Building, located in El Laquito across the street from Atlantis building. The area is safe to walk at any hour as there is always either people or a taxi or two on the roads, as the end of this one-way street has the popular Hilton hotel.
You are only a 5 minute leisure walk to Playa Hollywood and there are bus stops located along the way. Within 5 buildings in either direction, there is a money exchange, an ATM which limited me to 300,000 per transaction, a small grocery, a few small convenience stores, 3 or 4 small restaurants and a pharmacy. Pretty much anything you need on short notice is available within a one minute walk.
Along with the bus stop, there are always taxis waiting right outside the door. 7 K to Centro and about 5 to 8 minutes. Sometimes the taxi back doesn't quite know the building name. Just tell them the Hilton and they will have to drive right past the building (there is no other way to get to the Hilton). Alert the driver to the building as you get close, you are about 5 buildings on the right before you hit Hilton.
The building itself is a bit dated as most of the buildings in this part of town are. There was obvious signs of remodeling and efforts being made to improve and update the property. There is full time security guard at the entrance who did their business and stayed out of ours. Always polite, respectful and responsive. All guest must sign in and they record the information but do not keep possession of passports or ID's. They will call your unit and just say the name of the guest that is there and ask if OK to let them in.
One thing that did happen, once the same girl came back twice, she was allowed access without the phone call. This is a two edged sword. I am sure they were just trying to be accommodating and it makes the repeating guest feel more welcome but this also places an onus on the guard being aware if other guests still are the unit. One slip up and this will could cause some awkward moments for the renter. As I know his intent was good, I appreciated it since it was clear during the second half of the trip that we had wifed up.
The building has an elevator, button for our floor stopped working on day 2. We took it one flight above and walked down one flight of stairs. Without a word from us, it was fixed the next day. There is a small pool out back with a few chairs but not much seating. It did not seem like they were trying to encourage people to hang there. The pool looked clear, there was no chlorine smell and I did not see a circulating pump. I looked on about 6 other pools at other buildings and many did not have them. I never use public pools or hot tubs so can't attest to the water besides it was clear. Best to avoid these bodies of water and not be the one on the hospital with the flesh eating bacteria.
There is beach access to a small but clean beach through a gate at the back of the property. Normally there is a buzzer to get in and out but the electric latch wasn't working, so there was no way to open it. Had to ask security guy and he came out and did the credit card swipe to "pick" the latch and let us pass. He said the part was on order. No biggie, we walked the "long way" back from the beach, a total of about three blocks.
The beach has about 10 cabanas with two plastic chairs in them. There was lounge style chairs for rent for an additional fee. Gringo price was 20 K cabana and 10 K per lounge. We paid 10 K for the cabana and I had a beach towel so never checked the chair price but I'm sure we could have gotten for half the quote or less. There is a prison looking restaurant at one end, never tried it. The touts and hawks are more bearable and accepted no on first or second command. On weekdays, normal beach hawks, fruit, beer, water, fish, food, and Jet Ski rides. On Fri, Sat and Sun, the hawks for water floats, temp tattoo, hats, clothes and jewelry also showed up. Weekdays bring a Bluetooth speaker and weekends they got music playing. Mixed crowd from child to grand ma with few eye candy opportunities. Mostly Colombians with friends or family. Relaxed and fun.
We stayed in unit 1004 for a week. At first entry, it seemed sterile. It was clean but it did not feel like home. The furniture is a bit dated and not very comfortable for long periods of time. There is a patio overlooking the beach but it only has an old wooden bartop table and two wooden stools. A couple of hammocks or a couch or something would have made this space 100 X better and more functional.
The television cable was spotty, reminded me of direct TV with a rain storm, if you know what I mean. It never actually worked normally our entire stay. The internet was reasonable enough to watch movies on with a small buffer time. Kitchen is small stocked, a few of everything you need. No spice rack besides salt and pepper, a clue about the units use. The bathroom was clean and the shower was HOT all the time!
Bedroom two has an in-suite bathroom, was large and had a walk in closet with a safe. Enough extra room for a guest to dance and be active. Bedroom one has access to the patio and a wall of mirrored closet doors along the bed and also a safe. This room is a little tighter and not much room for dancing and action. The beds were very comfortable and had 4 or more pillows each. What neither had was any kind of blanket or cover besides the sheet. Thought it would bother me but it never did. Both rooms had functional ceiling fans, a / see units, cable TV, safes, alarm clocks and plenty of lighting.
There is a washer and dryer in the closet of bedroom one. We also found hangers for clothes, iron and ironing board, hair dryers and can openers. There was only 2 towels in the unit. We asked for more and got 4 more the next day. Never did see Juan. We knew he wouldn't be there on arrival day and he tried to call us the next morning but we were sleeping it off. He tried again the next night but we had company. He was available by phone if needed and his assistant checked on us every few days.
All in all, it's a mid-level condo that met our needs at a cheap price We paid 630 for a week in a 2 bedroom condo for which we got what we paid for and more. I would say it is 3.5 stars and it would not take much to elevate this unit to a 4 star unit.
The big items needed are a new living room set and some kind of patio furniture. The little things that were missing and the reason for the sterile feel, bath mats, rug in bath in front of sink, hand towels, hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies and paper towels. I get the feeling either the unit has not been rented much or they take everything left behind after every user. We left many things as should have the people before us. Soaps, spices, towels, a bath mat, laundry detergent, paper towel rolls, some cleaning supplies and extra toilet paper. I wonder if the next guy gets them or if the staff takes them home.
Pro tip: Always pull up the felt liner in the safes of your unit, there may be some goodies under there as some things left behind should not be left in public view.
