Translation of escotilla

It turned out that they did not have a license to house foreigners but I was too tired and besides, where else would I go. Furthermore they insisted that I should not bring prostitutes to their home.
They wanted to know everything about relationships in Switzerland. One of the asked me of how guys propose friendships to girls. I did not know what she meant and explained that we were very informal.
The days before I left to Mexico and Cuba I started to track the hurricanes in the region. September was not the ideal time to visit the region, but it fitted the best according to my previous boss.