Butter C.
Yelp
I've been meaning to write this review for a long time. I suppose I put it off because it was such a negative and disappointing experience, I prefer not to remember.
So last summer, as a gift to me, my father paid for 2 nights at Menla for a program I was very interested in (Buddha and the yogis). He did the same, the year before but I only stayed for 24 hours the first year.
Let me say, the place is beautiful and the food was great (when they prepare enough and when they don't have you wait a half an hour to serve it -but that's a whole other story...).
So my experience: when I arrived I was told I was lucky that the rain had ended and there was no more rain in the forecast (I was planning on camping on the grounds). With this information from the front desk person, I pitched my tent and did not put the rain fly on since they - the front desk- gave me this info about the weather.
The first day, while I was attending the program, without my knowledge, it actually did rain. So I returned to my tent to find all my clothing, sleeping bag, etc sopping wet.. I told one of the people who worked there what happened. Keep in mind, it was late and I wanted to attend the class early on the next morning. I was told I could use the dryer to dry the items myself. I was also told I could stay in the dorm. I was surprised because of the nearly $500 price tag for 48 hrs (while camping) that they could not support me by drying it for me so that I would not have to miss sleep, the program, or a meal. I also went to the dorm to find what looked like no bed available. I talked to another person who worked there about this. He showed me a bed that looked slept in and said this one is clean even though it did not appear clean and the bed was not made. When I pointed out it had no pillow case, I was told to wrap my clothing around it and that should be fine. I was also told that even though there was something like 20 people in the room, that there were quiet hours and people were very quiet. This was not true, in fact, people were talking at normal levels after 1030 for quite awhile even though our wake up time was 5am. I decided to try to sleep on some cushions in the room across the hall which was a gym... I was exhausted and just needed to get some sleep! Well, the gym had rodents... it was so pitiful that it was funny. I returned to the dorm for almost no sleep because of someone's alarm going off at 430am for early morning yoga practice.
The following day, I did not want to miss any of the interesting but expensive program to dry my own bedding and clothing, I spoke to one worker trying to explain why I did not want to miss any of the program to dry my things! I still got no assistance and a lot of talk which in itself was a practice to not let it disturb me. For example, i was told they decided only to let people camp on the grounds who were experienced campers from then on... Well, guess what? I am an experienced camper. So experienced that I know that in national parks, retreat centers, and ashrams that up to date weather info is given by the facility to the campers (including sudden changes in weather). Up to date weather info was always provided by Sivananda ashram, Harbin, Sierra hot springs, national parks I have camped at, etc. Note, that these were not upscale expensive destinations like Menla. I was told this one or that one would take care of me and that the manager wanted to see me before my departure. No manager appeared and I could not find the manager. I was told I would receive an email and that I would be taken care of for the extreme hassle.. no email arrived. The worker I spoke the most with told me to email him if it was not resolved. I emailed him but there was no reply.
And then how to return and tell my father how it was after he gave me such a thoughtful gift.
