Hi all,
Just wanted to let you know that we are doing fine.
Tuesday night was a challenging night for us. At about 9ish we were upstairs playing Phase 10 with Allan and Sidsel, when we started seeing lights going on and off-flickering for a few minutes, some lights were glowing super bright, and then a very loud boom coming from downstairs and grinding noise. Shortly after, we heard the Belgium family yell their word for fire in French, then thankfully they yelled it in English, as well. We never moved so fast to grab Andy and Dana out of bed. Our hearts were thumping, that is for sure.
It turns out that there was an electrical short/fire, and a power surge into the TV in the main living room that set it on fire. Also the electrical box in the garage was sparking pretty badly as well. Luckily the Belgium husband grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the TV, and Luciola used a broom handle to shut off the main power. The fire extinguisher dust, as we saw the next morning, coated everything in the whole hotel. One of the Belgium men touched a metal table and received an electric jolt, so the electricity was "loose in the house" which was especially scary.
After a few frantic calls by Luciola to the fire department, the electric company, and the owner of the hotel everything was all situated. Things are so different here, as the fire department said that since the fire was out they didn't need to come. In the US I think we would had had at least a crew come and check it out.
When the owner came he wasn't appologetic at all, and started in on the excuses, and to have us just go back to bed, as he would have one of his employees come over and check it out. As you can imagine, we didn't trust that our safety was in his first interest, as he didn't call in an electrician but had one of his employees come over to make sure the main electric was off. So the husbands took 2 hour shifts to stay awake during the night just in case there was any fires in the walls.
In the morning he had a couple of his other employees over, and we heard every excuse in the book other than he was cheap and didn't have the proper wiring in place. The owner told us it was the electric wires from the street (not anything wrong interally). His wife, the agency rep for the Danish families, told us that it was the TV. They should have gotten their stories straight. One thing for sure that they were straight on though was that it wasn't their fault:) It was readily apparent as the fuse box was pretty shorted and burned out and that the fuses were laying on the floor all burned up, that it was internal.
So after our morning appt at the US Embassy to apply for Dana's Visa, which was approved by the way and I pick it up today at 3:30 (yeah), we decided to move to Hotel Paris. It is about a mile from Las Palmas and so far we have really been impressed. Below is a picture of Dana proudly displaying her American Visa. Below that is a picture of the outside of Hotel Paris where we are now staying.
As far as Las Palmas goes, I could never recommend this to anyone traveling here. The owner has demonstrated again and again that his profits are paramount to the safety and satisfaction of his guests. All 3 of the 4 families moved out (the one remaining flies home today so they didn't want to move for 1 night), which will send a message to Peter the owner. We were sad that we missed the exchange of words between the owner and the Belgium wife. I guess she was agressive and at one point told him that he didn't care about people, that he only cared about money. You go, girl. Anyhow, if you are encouraged to stay at Las Palmas please talk to your representative to stay elsewhere. The staff at Las Palmas are absolutely wonderful and it was very emotional to say good-bye to them. We are already missing them today. But the owner and his "dynasty" are absolutely ridiculous.
Last night we went out for dinner at a revolving restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. We along with Allan, Sidsel, and Jonathan took Jeaneth, the manager at Las Palmas, out for dinner. She is just a doll, and we are going to miss her so much. The food and the view at the restaurant were incredible.
Anyway, we are happy to be at Hotel Paris for our last 4 nights. The food this morning at breakfast was wonderful, and we have met another couple here adopting their daughter. They live in Michigan. So it will be nice to hang out with them for a couple of days. Tiffany, Tim, and Kelsey are pictured below. Such a nice family. Kelsey is just a few weeks older than Dana and was adopted from Los Posingos.
We fly home on Sunday!!!!!!!
Just wanted to let you know that we are doing fine.
Tuesday night was a challenging night for us. At about 9ish we were upstairs playing Phase 10 with Allan and Sidsel, when we started seeing lights going on and off-flickering for a few minutes, some lights were glowing super bright, and then a very loud boom coming from downstairs and grinding noise. Shortly after, we heard the Belgium family yell their word for fire in French, then thankfully they yelled it in English, as well. We never moved so fast to grab Andy and Dana out of bed. Our hearts were thumping, that is for sure.
It turns out that there was an electrical short/fire, and a power surge into the TV in the main living room that set it on fire. Also the electrical box in the garage was sparking pretty badly as well. Luckily the Belgium husband grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the TV, and Luciola used a broom handle to shut off the main power. The fire extinguisher dust, as we saw the next morning, coated everything in the whole hotel. One of the Belgium men touched a metal table and received an electric jolt, so the electricity was "loose in the house" which was especially scary.
After a few frantic calls by Luciola to the fire department, the electric company, and the owner of the hotel everything was all situated. Things are so different here, as the fire department said that since the fire was out they didn't need to come. In the US I think we would had had at least a crew come and check it out.
When the owner came he wasn't appologetic at all, and started in on the excuses, and to have us just go back to bed, as he would have one of his employees come over and check it out. As you can imagine, we didn't trust that our safety was in his first interest, as he didn't call in an electrician but had one of his employees come over to make sure the main electric was off. So the husbands took 2 hour shifts to stay awake during the night just in case there was any fires in the walls.
In the morning he had a couple of his other employees over, and we heard every excuse in the book other than he was cheap and didn't have the proper wiring in place. The owner told us it was the electric wires from the street (not anything wrong interally). His wife, the agency rep for the Danish families, told us that it was the TV. They should have gotten their stories straight. One thing for sure that they were straight on though was that it wasn't their fault:) It was readily apparent as the fuse box was pretty shorted and burned out and that the fuses were laying on the floor all burned up, that it was internal.
So after our morning appt at the US Embassy to apply for Dana's Visa, which was approved by the way and I pick it up today at 3:30 (yeah), we decided to move to Hotel Paris. It is about a mile from Las Palmas and so far we have really been impressed. Below is a picture of Dana proudly displaying her American Visa. Below that is a picture of the outside of Hotel Paris where we are now staying.
As far as Las Palmas goes, I could never recommend this to anyone traveling here. The owner has demonstrated again and again that his profits are paramount to the safety and satisfaction of his guests. All 3 of the 4 families moved out (the one remaining flies home today so they didn't want to move for 1 night), which will send a message to Peter the owner. We were sad that we missed the exchange of words between the owner and the Belgium wife. I guess she was agressive and at one point told him that he didn't care about people, that he only cared about money. You go, girl. Anyhow, if you are encouraged to stay at Las Palmas please talk to your representative to stay elsewhere. The staff at Las Palmas are absolutely wonderful and it was very emotional to say good-bye to them. We are already missing them today. But the owner and his "dynasty" are absolutely ridiculous.
Last night we went out for dinner at a revolving restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. We along with Allan, Sidsel, and Jonathan took Jeaneth, the manager at Las Palmas, out for dinner. She is just a doll, and we are going to miss her so much. The food and the view at the restaurant were incredible.
Anyway, we are happy to be at Hotel Paris for our last 4 nights. The food this morning at breakfast was wonderful, and we have met another couple here adopting their daughter. They live in Michigan. So it will be nice to hang out with them for a couple of days. Tiffany, Tim, and Kelsey are pictured below. Such a nice family. Kelsey is just a few weeks older than Dana and was adopted from Los Posingos.
We fly home on Sunday!!!!!!!
4 comments:
Mark,
I have been following your trip since the beginning. What a story you all have to tell! Many good wishes for a safe return trip. I can't imagine how nice it will be for all of you to be home!
Kelly Bond
My heart just skipped several beats reading this....thank God you're all ok, have found a great place to stay & are safe and sound.
Love, Mom / Nana Marybeth
We are so glad everyone was okay!! Sorry you had to have such a tramatic experience--thank goodness it is the end of your stay!!
Hope the rest of your stay goes well and you have a safe trip home!!!
All the best~
Brian, Mary, Lauren & Ben Jaenisch
p.s. We have just secured a site for the LSS Latin Adoption Picnic. It will be Sunday September 14th at Trapp Farm Park in Eagen. You will get an invite in the mail but hope you can mark your calendar and plan to join us!!!
Geesh,,,sounds like quite the soap opera going on down there!! Glad everyone is safe and SOON you will be home! Can't wait!
Why is it that the only thing you can count on in international adoption is that you can't count on anything???...today, 3 days after they told us we would be traveling in 7-8 weeks they are saying it could be 8-12 weeks...ugh...I might just go insane yet!
melanie
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