La hora de diferencia

Martín arrived in a new country after many hours of travel. At the airport, he looked at his watch and thought it was eight in the morning. He had a hotel reservation, so he took a taxi.

“Is the hotel far?” he asked.

“No, but there is a lot of traffic now,” the taxi driver replied.

Martín arrived at the hotel at nine. At reception, a woman told him:

“I’m sorry, check-in starts at ten.”

“At ten? I thought it was eight,” Martín replied, surprised.

The woman looked at his document and smiled.

“It’s nine here. Your watch is one hour off.”

Martín remembered that before leaving home, he had thought about changing the time on his watch, but he had forgotten. Then he understood that he had not arrived late: he had arrived too early.

He sat on a chair with his suitcase and looked at the street. He was hungry and tired. Then he opened his backpack and decided to look for a nearby place where he could have breakfast while he waited.

Martín found a small café across from the hotel. He went in with his backpack and ordered coffee, bread, and fruit. The waitress told him that breakfast would take a few minutes, but he could sit by the window.

Martín looked at his watch: it was quarter past nine. Then he looked at the café clock: it was quarter past eight. For a moment, he did not know what time it really was.

“What time is it?” he asked.

The waitress pointed to the clock on the wall.

“Quarter past eight. That clock works well.”

Martín smiled, but he no longer trusted his watch. He finished breakfast and went back to the hotel. The room was already ready, even though it was not yet ten. At reception, the woman gave him the key.

After leaving his suitcase in the room, Martín rested for a few hours. Later, he went back to reception.

“You have a tour of the city this afternoon, right?” the woman asked.

“Yes, at three,” Martín replied.

Then he looked at his phone. The screen showed two o’clock. Martín frowned. Was the time wrong on that, too?

Martín looked at his phone again. It still said two o’clock. Then he remembered that he had put it in airplane mode during the trip. That was why the time had not changed.

“Your phone also has the time from your country,” the woman at reception said. “It’s quarter to three here. The tour starts in fifteen minutes.”

Martín became nervous, but the woman smiled.

“Don’t worry. The group leaves from here at three.”

Martín quickly went up to his room and changed the time on his phone. Then he looked at the watch on his wrist. It was slow, too. He set it to the right time and went back downstairs.

At exactly three, the guide arrived at the hotel. Martín was ready at the entrance, with a bottle of water and his camera.

During the tour, he walked through the streets and really enjoyed the city. That night, before going to bed, he set the time correctly on all his clocks. At last, he knew what time it was and would no longer arrive early by accident.