The end of the weekend guest story.

The guests left yesterday. They were lovely -- only a bit ditzy. The reason they didn't get here was that they left their house two hours late. I can understand why they might not want to call us from there (I don't know what long distance charges are in Mexico) -- but I still think they could at least have sent an email. But enough about that.

Here's the embarrassing part. They must think I'm the world's worst hostess. Apparently, back when I signed up for this, I must have read something that told me as a host, I'm supposed to provide "a light breakfast." They had to ask for it! (I thought giving them a place to sleep was all I'd signed up for.) The reason for my confusion is that it's possible to trade houses without the hosts even being there. But even in that case, you're supposed to provide the fixin's for "a light breakfast."

It gets worse. On the last day, they show me a flyer that the people who started this whole idea put together. The guests are supposed to tip the hosts 200 pesos a night! Oy. I don't want money for this! I'm reading this in absolute horror right in front of them, while they're drinking the coffee and eating the cereal I gave them. Money? Now I'm wondering . . . did I give them their money's worth? Two hundred pesos is worth about $18. Times three. That's $54. Too much to be a token and too little to be a business. I have a friend who uses the word "mortified" a lot. Now I know exactly what she means.

Fortunately, they begged off paying for some reason. (They spoke to Ross, not me. They didn't have change, maybe?) And they offered to let us stay at their place for free. What a relief. They must have had some idea how bad we would have felt taking their money. They did take us out to dinner on Saturday, and that was plenty of compensation.