Here's a funny story, true to life, just for your amusement.
I ordered something from MercadoLibre (they're like Amazon but for Latin America). It was just a dust-catcher attachment for a power tool I have, no big deal, a $25 thing, not useful to anyone else.
I filled out the form with my address. I live in the Cancun hotel zone, one long street 20km long. The usual way directions are given is the name of the condominum and the distance along the road (in kilometers). There are street addresses, but they aren't really used and never posted and I don't think the delivery people have any idea what is where by address. They use the km to get close, and they know the buildings in their area. Sometimes.
So there is always a field for extra instructions, and I filled it out, saying "across from X". X in this case is a hostel diagonally across the street with a unique name (and a big sign). That usually works.
Not this time. I got a notification that the package had been delivered, and signed for by a Miguel Hernandez. I went down to my building's security casita, and they didn't have it. I don't know all the guards by name. It turned out no Miguel Hernandez worked at my condo.
So I went up and down the street and asked the guards at neighboring condos (these are not small apartment buildings!). No Miguel Hernandez worked there.
Finally in desperation I thought, well, maybe they missed the "accross from" part of my special instructions so I went across to the Hostel and asked at the front desk. Nope, never heard of Miguel Hernandez.
Then one guy said "why?"
So I told the story, that someone named Miguel Hernandez had signed for my package.
Hold on a sec they say. One guy (there were 3 of them by now) gets on a cell phone and speaks in spanish (too fast for me). He gets off the phone. The other guy asks me to repeat my story. Then he says "Oh, Miguel Hernandez, he's one of the managers here!"
They pull my package out from below the desk, not 2 feet from where my feet were on the other side, and hand it to me.
I ordered something from MercadoLibre (they're like Amazon but for Latin America). It was just a dust-catcher attachment for a power tool I have, no big deal, a $25 thing, not useful to anyone else.
I filled out the form with my address. I live in the Cancun hotel zone, one long street 20km long. The usual way directions are given is the name of the condominum and the distance along the road (in kilometers). There are street addresses, but they aren't really used and never posted and I don't think the delivery people have any idea what is where by address. They use the km to get close, and they know the buildings in their area. Sometimes.
So there is always a field for extra instructions, and I filled it out, saying "across from X". X in this case is a hostel diagonally across the street with a unique name (and a big sign). That usually works.
Not this time. I got a notification that the package had been delivered, and signed for by a Miguel Hernandez. I went down to my building's security casita, and they didn't have it. I don't know all the guards by name. It turned out no Miguel Hernandez worked at my condo.
So I went up and down the street and asked the guards at neighboring condos (these are not small apartment buildings!). No Miguel Hernandez worked there.
Finally in desperation I thought, well, maybe they missed the "accross from" part of my special instructions so I went across to the Hostel and asked at the front desk. Nope, never heard of Miguel Hernandez.
Then one guy said "why?"
So I told the story, that someone named Miguel Hernandez had signed for my package.
Hold on a sec they say. One guy (there were 3 of them by now) gets on a cell phone and speaks in spanish (too fast for me). He gets off the phone. The other guy asks me to repeat my story. Then he says "Oh, Miguel Hernandez, he's one of the managers here!"
They pull my package out from below the desk, not 2 feet from where my feet were on the other side, and hand it to me.
