Of course one's first impulse as a volunteer advisor (VA) is to immediately add value and to start making a difference as soon as possible. One immediate, tiny difference I thought I could make at Hotel Copantl was with their guest suggestion boxes. It seemed to me to be a simple Spanish to English translation issue. The word "complaint" would lead to only negative feedback, when we all know that positive feedback is desirable in at least equal measures.
My suggestion was to change the message to "Guest suggestions", "Guest impressions" or "Guest feedback". Simple, right? This would ensure that the box filled up with something other than complaints, thus providing feedback as to what the hotel was doing well.
Turns out, not only are these complaint boxes the law in Honduras, but the exact wording is the law too.
Another concern arose in that Executive Chef Wilmer was serving beef in the hotel's outlets in two fashions only. Tenderloin was grilled to guests' preferred temperature. Every other cut was sliced thin and grilled or sauteed to medium-well or well-done. The Albertan in me immediately thought this a crime. There are a myriad of cuts on cattle and almost as many preparation methods from roasting to grilling to braising to poaching and more. Something wasn't right here.
An excursion to the Mayan ruins at Copan began to illuminate this issue for me. On the way I saw the Honduran cattle industry at work.
Cattle in Honduras live a simple life of
grazing natural grass their whole lives, often on hilly terrain that provides them with
plenty of exercise. This leads to generally tougher meat with little fat
marbling.
In Alberta, in contrast, beef cattle get relatively little exercise on flat land and end their lives with four to six months in a feedlot
where they are "finished" on a rich diet created by nutritionists. This is the secret to the Canadian beef we all know and love (hormones, antibiotics and feedlot issues acknowledged). Undeniably flavourful, tender, juicy.
New York or striploin steaks are a great example of this, at least in Canada. Note the contrast between Honduran striploin steaks and those from Canada.
As imported beef is prohibitively expensive in Honduras, the solution was to work with Chef Wilmer on some moist and slow cooking methods.
One last example of a reminder to seek understanding occurred when I asked Desiree
about swapping-out the cheaper looking paper napkins in the main restaurant for cloth napkins. This, I felt, would significantly raise the overall look and feel of the outlet. Her answer was to spend a few minutes observing her other, largely Honduran, clientele. I saw numerous guests who, once ice water had been poured by a server, placed their paper napkin across the top of their water glass. This was to prevent flies landing on the rim of their glass. Remove the paper napkins from the tables? By doing this I would be adding a step to the workload of a restaurant server by having them fetch paper napkins for guest who would undoubtedly ask for them.
"If speaking is silver, then listening is gold"
- Turkish proverb
