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 Travel & Outdoors | October 2005 
Utah Family Takes Shelter from a Hurricane in a Mexican Bordello
 Nate Carlisle - Salt Lake Tribune
| | Their adventure not exactly 'G' rated... |
They say, "Any port in a storm," but not many ports have vibrating beds and windows in the showers.
When Hurricane Wilma struck Cancun, Mexico, one central Utah family abandoned their hotel and wholesome fun for refuge in a house of ill repute.
"It had all the red lights and the places to put the money and things like that," said Bruce Anderson, 44, from the Millard County town of Oak City.
Anderson, his 43-year-old wife Sharla, and their sons Clancy, 17, and Derek, 15, arrived in Cancun on Oct. 13 for a week of scuba dives, bull fights and sightseeing. Then Wilma started approaching the Yucatan Peninsula.
The Andersons were unable to find a flight off the peninsula, so the Marriott hotel where they were staying moved them and other guests to a one-story concrete structure it called "a shelter." The hotel didn't tell the family what the shelter normally serves as.
"We just got there and figured it out," Clancy said.
The shelter, the Andersons said, housed activities that appeared to range from peep shows to prostitution.
The complex consisted of a series of units with their own garage. When a car pulled in and the door closed, the family surmised, a red light turns on and the driver would walk into the unit.
Inside, the features included a vibrating bed and a shower with a viewing window. The furniture was bolted down.
The Andersons, who on Thursday were referring to their shelter as a "bordello," said they never saw the building's regular occupants or customers.
The family was to return to Utah on Oct. 21, but flooding followed the hurricane and the Andersons spent five days in the bordello. Though unique from the average tourist's experience, the Andersons' accommodations weren't luxurious. The complex's water was turned on for only one hour a day, and the family had to collect rain water to flush the toilets. There were eight people to a room and those who couldn't fit in the bed slept in lawn chairs.
However, the family praised the Marriott management for its efforts. Many who suffered through the hurricane hunkered by the hundreds in gymnasiums or convention centers with little food and unsanitary conditions. The guests in the bordello were brought food and games to help pass the time. The family also made friends with other guests moved to the bordello.
The family was moved to a hotel on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they flew with other guests to Atlanta on Marriott-chartered planes. They arrived Thursday at Salt Lake City International Airport.
Despite the problems, Sharla Anderson said she wouldn't trade the trip.
"It was such an experience of working together with other people to get through something like that. [It was] a lesson for the boys," she said.
ncarlisle@sltrib.com |
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