Regent Park to the Rescue

The Regent Park in lovely Jardins has saved the day! Several weeks ago when my pending move started becoming more and more real, I confirmed with the Consulate that between the end of the lease for my apartment and my actually leaving Sao Paulo, I would need a hotel that accepted cats. The unexpected response was that in fact, hotels in Brazil did not accept pets. This rather complicated affairs, as the search was now on for someone who could potentially take Felix for up to two to three weeks. Most of my co-Canadians already have cats, and not wanting to impose, I did not ask very many of my Brazilian friends. At one point, I approached a Canadian living here on a three-month contract and much to my delight, he immediately agreed to house Felix pointing to the fact that he missed his cat back at home quite a bit. So two weeks ago, I took Felix to his new temporary home. The only complication being that my friend would be moving to Africa before the end of the month, thus leaving Felix homeless once again.

Realising that matters were getting increasing urgent, once back from the Rock ‘n Roll Tour of Brazil, I quietly enquired at the Regent’s front desk whether or not the hotel would accept Felix’s presence. Again, to my great fortune, the fellow working at the desk during this period had a cat back at home and knew all about their problemlessness [hmmmm … the spellchecker does not seem to like this word]. Ensuring me that he would do his best to convince the manager, an hour later I was informed that Felix could indeed join me at the Regent Park. So two nights ago, I picked Felix up from his newest uncle and brought him back to the Regent. He seems to have settled in quite well and the hotel staff all fawn over him! I must admit, it is a little bit strange to be pretty much living in a hotel, cat and all. But having been a client of the Regent since 2001, it almost is like home and the staff, almost like family.

My only concern is that Felix will start to think that this is the way that things work. Every morning someone comes in to make the bed, change the towels, and clean the bathroom, and then every evening someone comes in to fold back the comforter and make sure that everything is okay. Likely I will have to plan some deprogramming activities once we arrive in Recife!