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Two Weeks in a Hostel in Cartagena
A Newly Converted Hostel Traveler
I’m sitting on a catamaran called Swala in the middle of the harbor of Cartagena. I came here a couple months ago on another boat, Global HitchHiking with some good friends. The boat was called Atalanta, a 38-foot monohull. It’s been a great visit in Colombia, but this boat is leaving today and we’re sailing for 5 days through the San Blas Islands and on to Panama, where my circumnavigation by crewing will be complete.
Over the past two months, I’ve taken Spanish lessons, traveled to Medellin and Bogota, and stayed at my very first hostel. Yes, that’s correct, I’ve traveled around the world for the past 2 years, visiting 40 countries, and I’ve never stayed at a hostel before. I always had reservations (no pun intended) about staying at hostels. And with Airbnbs around the world being cheap, I always opted for the private room in someone’s home over what I thought was a circus at a hostel. But the past two weeks have changed my mind.
