''HOLIDAY FROM HELL'' HOTEL LAWNS SPRAYED WITH FEACES

Dave Lonsdale said: "The spray was like a mist that would hit you as you passed. The stench was horrendous and it was everywhere"

Cavendish Press

'Hellhole': Nadia's photo of herself and her husband during the holiday

A British university lecturer and her husband claim they had a holiday from hell in Cuba when staff at their five star ''Paradise'' resort began spraying the grounds with what appeared to be SEWAGE.

Nadia Lonsdale, 31, and her husband Dave, 57, had paid £3,300 for the two week, all inclusive stay in Cuba - yet were shocked when they emerged from their ground floor room to find the smelly dirty liquid being spread around the lawns.
Bosses at the Paradisus Rio De Oro in Guardalavaca said the spray was ''good for the flowers'' and refused to switch it off - despite guests having to brave a ''mist'' of tainted droplets as they headed out for breakfast.

Cavendish Press

Nadia's photo of construction work at the hotel

The holiday booked through travel agent, Thomas Cook, had seemed like the perfect getaway to celebrate Nadia's birthday and the couple's fifth wedding anniversary.
But the the hotel's official idyllic photos of the grounds seemed at odds with Mrs Lonsdale holiday snaps which showed brown patches of grass, building work, broken pathways, rubble at the poolside and beaches laden with litter.

During their stay the pool of the hotel was out of action for up to 13 days and when the couple went down to the beach to escape the construction work, Mr Lonsdale a school teacher, was bitten nearly 300 times by sand-flies.

Mrs Lonsdale, from Brighton said: ''The place may be described as a Paradise but it was more like a hellhole. We would open the patio doors of our apartment and be virtually knocked off our feet by the smell. The spray was like a mist that would hit you as you passed.
"We asked them to turn it off and put it on at night instead but they refused and said it was better for the flowers. The stench was horrendous and it was everywhere, all the way through the main building. They have sprinklers all over and one was right outside our room.

Cavendish Press

Nadia's photo of the raw sewage being sprayed over the lawns

"You woke up, opened the balcony and there was a raw smell straight away. Their attitude was to tell us they were having a drought. Everything looked really dry and I appreciate that but you can spray it at night. It should be on the ground too, not like a sprinkle system.
"Because it was like a mist, it was going everywhere - your clothes, your skin - just everywhere. It was all over the place, you had to try and dodge it but there was a breeze and it was blowing in that. There was no pool and rubbish everywhere. There were all these working cables around, it was absolutely filthy, just crazy."

Then couple's nightmare trip began as early as on the flight out to the exotic island itself, when Mrs Lonsdale sat next to an overweight passenger where she claimed she was squashed, she was unable to move, for the nine and a half hour flight.
She said she lost the feeling in her fingers and hand, which then slowly travelled up to her shoulder and meant she couldn't feel her arm at all. In Cuba she was taken to a medical clinic where she was dosed up on pain relief.

Mrs Lonsdale, from Brighton, who has since been prescribed muscle relaxant, Diazepam, and Gabapentin, which is used for nerve damage said: "We had been allocated seats and had to move, we were fine with that and said we would go to the other seats. When we got there, there was this huge guy who was about 25 stone. The arm rest wouldn't go up so I couldn't lean on my husband.
"I told my husband I was feeling really tingly, we got to the hotel and I explained that I couldn't feel my fingers. I had a sleep and woke up and couldn't feel my arm. Then I couldn't feel my elbow and then my arm pit. It was terrifying.

Cavendish Press

Nadia's photo of the pool area

"I still can't move my hands now and I'm spaced out from the medication. We went shopping the other day and my husband said he was embarrassed, I was like a lunatic not knowing what was going on."
Mrs Lonsdale who is a marketing lecturer at the University of Brighton said: "I'm supposed to start teaching next Monday, I can't drive, I'm a marathon runner and a diver too so I can't do anything. I feel so frustrated, I want to cry."