We thought it might be time to share a little more info about the hotel. The Bolingo Hotel is a Swiss operated hotel in Abjuja located 1 block from the British Embassy and just about 2 blocks from the U.S. Embassy.
We can begin by sharing that a five star Swiss hotel in Nigeria equates to a low level Motel 6 look –a-like in the U.S. Our rooms are pretty tired looking, with walls that look as if they have not been painted for some time. Since it a somewhat older building the electrical upgrades consist of conduits on the surface of the walls with big box outlets. The interesting thing is that each outlet has it’s own on/off switch just like a light switch. The hotel sprinkler system consists for red water hoses on every floor.
As we have shared previously the high speed wireless internet in each room seems to be not. At least a couple of floors do have long Ethernet cables but you have to look around the tops of the walls in the area of the closet to find them. We searched all of our rooms, all of the Holy Angels team rooms and have determined that most rooms and floors do not have service. The lobby is a hotel hotspot but while the wireless signal reads excellent connection, the pipeline is slow during the day and it is impossible to connect. It is usually late in the evening before you can connect.
In addition to the multiple blackouts we experience, all of the lighting throughout the hotel is dim which seems to be typical of everywhere we’ve been including the airport. It’s reflective of the challenges Nigeria faces in its ability to produce and distribute adequate and reliable electrical resources.
Even though all rooms have a king sized bed, apparently it is rare that two people stay in a room. We all had only one towel, (no facecloth or hand towel) one coffee cup with spoon, one glass, etc. We pretty much have to beg for an additional towel. Each day is a new adventure when we come back to our rooms. Sometimes both towels are gone replaced by one new towel. Other days, we have our original towels left in place and no clean ones which is better than other days when we come back and there are no towels at all.
The beds are really hard and the pillows really flat. Some of us love the beds but most of us hate the pillows. Mrs. Strahn fried her hair dryer on the first day when she forgot that when using an international adaptor, you’re not supposed to use the high heat setting. She threw it away and when Mrs. Harrison returned to the room the housekeeping staff (all male) asked if she meant to throw it away and could he have it. When she said yes, he returned a few minutes later to ask for a note stating he had permission to take the dryer.
Yesterday there was an electrical surge during one of the presentations accompanied by a loud bang and the plug on the av cord no longer worked. One of the Nigerian SAGE officials asked for a pair of scissors, cut off the plug, stripped the wires and stuck the bare wires back into the outlet. Worked like a charm!
The dining experience has also been different. The restaurant seems to only serve buffet style for all meals. As we seat ourselves, we are each brought one bottle of water. The whole restaurant area is open for seating but there are not really enough tables for all of us to eat at once. That wouldn’t be a problem because with so many people in line, tables are always opening up but…they never reset the tables as they are emptied. Tables are not reset until after the dining period is closed. The buffet serving dishes are somewhat small and food can run out quickly. The serving dishes are refilled very slowly and sometimes not at all. The students (and many adults) have been a little challenged by the food choices. They tend to be pretty much the same for every meal with only minor variations and most dishes have a very ethnic flair with lots of goat, cow tail soup, and “mixed meat” stew. Even the dishes that are “American” style such as spaghetti are spicy and really do not resemble their American cousins. With so many countries and cultures represented it must be difficult to provide foods that please everyone’s palate. When they put out trays of cold food, pasta salads, rolls, desserts, etc. the trays are wrapped tightly in plastic wrap but no one removes the wrap. There is a small side table with rolls and butter, fresh fruit salad, desserts etc. and it is pretty well emptied by the students before the first 20 people are through the main line.
Mrs. Jones orders café au lait from the coffee bar and it’s very good, fresh and hot. When Mrs. Harrison ordered plain coffee from the same place, they poured water into the electric hot pot on the floor, put instant coffee into a thermal carafe and when the water was hot, poured it into the carafe and then very ceremoniously poured the hot instant coffee from the carafe to her cup.
The Olympic sized pool is about the size of a large home pool, the recreation center consists of a ping pong table and a swing set. Understand that this is the third best hotel in Abuja (Hilton is # 1 and Sheraton is #2) which probably makes it the third best in Nigeria though we don’t know much about the hotels in Lagos which is a larger, more vibrant tourist area. The rooms here are supposed to cost $200-250 and night and the Hilton starts at $300 and quickly goes to $700 a night. It is interesting though how quickly you adapt to the eccentricities of the hotel and it almost becomes home even with all the flaws. But we will really be glad to get home to our own beds, towels and pillows. Good night.
