Trip Stats

4 months
5 countries
26 cities
62 different beds
9,200 miles on the bus
$8,500 spent (about $60 a day while traveling)

… I think I’m ready to be in one place for a while

Hostel Reviews

As a backpacker, you spend much of your time finding hostels, traveling between hostels, and staying in hostels.  When you find a good one it's s joy, and when you expect a great one and it's not it's a huge letdown.  For the trip as a whole I did a pretty good job of staying in nice ones.  In total I stayed in 29 hostels of all different variety, here's how they rank:

Get me out of here

• La Sirena, Palomino, Colombia – C-

The only hostel that I actually left earlier than I intended to.  It started off looking like a little slice of heaven, right on the beach, super chill, and hammocks to sleep in.  But that night was just terrible, it was my third straight night sleeping in a hammock, it was freezing, and hence I barely slept.  In the morning I just wanted to get the hell out of there, and I did.

Ok for a night, but wouldn’t stay much longer

• Hotel Marlin, Cartegena, Colombia – C
• Casa Mojito Hostel, Taganga, Colombia – C
• Casa Familiar, Santa Marta, Colombia – C+
• 7 Duendes Base Hostel, Salta, Argentina – B-
• Hostal Varayoc, Aguas Calientes, Peru – C+

It was somewhat unfortunate that my first hostel of the trip fell into this category, but it was only decent at best compared to some of the other places that I found.  I usually consulted Lonely Planet or Hostel World for hostel recommendations, so it was always disappointing when the place had promise but turned out to be a dud. 

Felt more like a hotel

• America del Sur Hostel Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina – B+
• Hostal Emperador, Copacabana, Bolivia – F
• Casa De Avila Hotel, Arequipa, Peru – B

Every once in a while I’d stumble into a hostel that really was a hotel, they just put more beds in the rooms.  The best by far was in Argentina, with an immaculately clean and nice hostel.  The others fell off from there, the one in Bolivia being my least favorite place of the trip.

Good, but nothing to write home about

• Hotel Pelikan, Taganga, Colombia – B
• Ayres Portenos Hostel, Buenos Aires, San Telmo, Argentina – B
• Hostel Bambu Mini, Puerto Iguazu, Argentina – B
• La Casona Hostal, Potosi, Bolivia – B
• Desert Nights, Huacachina, Peru – B

All of these hostels were great actually, absolutely nothing wrong, just got beat out by the ones that went above and beyond.  I can’t think of anything that these hostels did particularly well, or particularly different than any normal hostel, but all were a good time.

My own room!

• Hotel Anexo Mitru, Tupiza, Bolivia – B-
• Hostal Compania de Jesus, Potosi, Bolivia – B-
• Cruz de los Andes, La Paz, Bolivia – A-
• Hostal Tambo Colorado, Pisco, Peru – A-
• Ekeko Hostel, Lima, Peru – B

My first two and a half months on the road I always opted for the cheap dorm room, between 4 and 12 beds, shared bathroom.  At first I loved it, then tolerated it, finally I was over it.  It was around that time that I was in Bolivia, and so I made sure to splurge whenever possible on my own room.  It was amazing to have space to unpack my bag and have a little space to myself.  The places in Bolivia were for the most part nothing special, but the rooms in Peru were really nice, and not over the top money wise for my own room.

So good I never left the hostel

• La Brisa Loca, Santa Marta, Colombia – B+
• Arequipay Backpackers, Arequipa, Peru – B+

There were a couple hostels that were setup so that I’d never leave.  They had pools, massive televisions with binders full of DVDs, hammocks, pool tables, bars, restaurants… it was hard to get out of those hostels, let alone off the couch.  They were fun places to stay... for a while, but I didn’t fly 6,000 miles just sit in a hostel.

That little something extra

• La Casa de Felipe, Taganga, Colombia – A-
• Macondo Guesthouse, San Gil, Colombia – A
• Plantation House, Salento, Colombia – A
• The Art Factory, Buenos Aires, San Telmo, Argentina – A-
• Hostel Achalay, Bariloche, Argentina – A
• Hostel Lao, Mendoza, Argentina – A
• Pisko & Soul, Cusco, Peru – B+

This group of my favorite hostels was fairly easy to pick, as each one had some amazing to offer.  Like the Plantation House with tours of the owners coffee farm, Achalay with weekly dinners, or Lao’s free wine after 8pm that got the group to mingle.  They were also places that all had numerous activities all planned and priced out for the guests, great owners, and promoted a fun time.

The best of the best of the best

• Hostal El Refugio, Pucon, Chile – A+

However, only one hostel can be the favorite, and the only hostel I visited in Chile is the one.  It was just perfect, best kitchen, most comfortable bunk beds, best activities, amazing staff, and just a super chill atmosphere.  I thoroughly enjoyed every second of my time in that one.

My last big adventure – The Little Galapagos

It wasn’t really that crazy of an adventure, but for $20 it's a great bang for your buck: tons of birds, penguins (which are really birds but I feel deserve their own category), sea lions, jelly fish, and dolphins.  It was great fun.

I took a bus from Pisco to Paracas which is right on the water, and then onto a speed boat.  We saw the Candalaria, a giant picture in the sand.  It’s unknown who made it, when, or what it’s purpose, but it’s cool looking:

Then we continued on to the islands which was incredible and just filled with wildlife.  There used to be 22.5 millions bird but now only 300 thousands, which is crazy to imagine nearly 100 times more birds flying around above me.

 

It should be nothing but relaxation and smooth sailing from here on out, but if it’s not then I managed to stumble into a truly big adventure...