When Mr. Hyde Checks You In

On Isla Cozumel, we had the most bizarre check-ins of all my travels. The owner of our hostel is one of those people who has the unique ability to reduce you to feeling like a child no matter your age.

We rang the doorbell and a second later another backpacker let themselves in and held the door open for us. We went in to head to the reception, only to be met with the furious owner who was not impressed with our “behaviour”.

“No one comes in here without my say so! You understand?! I have a stalker don’t you know?!”

I thought she was joking. She wasn’t.

She then proceeded to lead us back outside, show us the doorbell, and demand that we do it again “the right way”. An embarrassing pantomime.

Then the whole Covid procedure was both elaborate and pointless. At one point she was wiping the rucksack on my back with a cloth. We received a long lecture on the Covid rules on the island in an accusatory tone as if we had somehow already breached them all. The weird thing was that we had our masks on for all of this doomsday talk and tourist shaming only for her to add at the end.

“You must wear your masks at all times, but, of course, you don’t have to wear them in here.”

Then she nonchalantly whipped hers off and motioned for us to do the same. It felt like a trick to catch us out. We’d been there talking to her with them on for the last 40 minutes…

She showed us a local map and asked us what our plans were for our time here and we said mostly snorkelling.

“JUST snorkelling?!”

She spat the words at us. We nodded, confused at the aggression.

“Not diving?! You do know that this is one of the best barrier reefs in the world right?!”

I weakly tried to explain that I’ve dived before and have had serious problems with my ears not equalizing and it causes me a great deal of pain so now I just snorkel. She scoffed and walked off.

Ever since then, she was really lovely to us and extremely helpful. Like a completely different person. I was baffled.

We went to have another look at the reviews of the hostel and most of them mentioned her by name. Some reviews described her as the kindest, most wonderful human being. They said she helped them immensely and made their trip. Others described her as a horrible bully who ruined their trip. There were a couple of horror stories.

It seemed strange that most people only experienced one side or the other of her, we were unlucky enough to experience both. It made me feel on edge, she wasn’t the person you wanted to get on the wrong side of. All I could think was thank God we only had a few days booked.

It was as if Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ran the hostel!

It makes your mind wander. What is it all about? A reaction to a bad day, mental health issues, or just someone who enjoys a power kick. Or is she a distant relative of Dr Jekyll? What do you think?

Have you ever experienced anything like this?

Thank you for reading! Hearts and tips are always welcome and your support is very much appreciated.

This story was originally published on Medium

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