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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Phoebe Weston in Cali and agencies

Sex swings, dance poles and mirrored ceilings: ‘love motels’ provide last-minute rooms for Cop16 delegates

A woman can be seen framed by the straps of a sex swing, standing next to a bed with a white leather headboard. There is a sign on the wall that says  'Faith, hope, love. But the greatest of these is amor.'
Diana Echeverry, manager of the Motel Deseos (Desires), in one of the rooms. She says housing delegates has been an adjustment, but one she is enjoying. Photograph: Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images

Robert Baluku, a Ugandan delegate to the UN’s biodiversity summit in Colombia, found himself between a rock and hard place when his team’s accommodation was abruptly cancelled, leaving them stranded before the start of Cop16 in Cali.

The city’s hotels were packed to capacity with thousands of country leaders, scientists, government ministers and UN negotiators, and Baluku was left scrambling for options – until the Motel Deseos (Desires) came to the rescue.

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