Hostal un Mundo

 Originally, Iris planned to rent out rooms in her house to locals. 

The hotels around here need more workers than are available in the village, so many people are commuting here to work. Early in the morning you can see several pickup trucks with the truckbeds full of people arriving. And the early morning busses (arriving at 6:30 and 7:30) are often full, too. The problem, though, is getting back home. The last bus leaves at 5:00, so those who want to (or could and would be needed to) work in the evening would be stuck here, with no place to sleep. 

Iris wanted to fill that need.

However, when trying to find accommodations for our guest-workers from Chiriqui we realized, that there is nothing available for guests on tight budgets as well. Most of the hotels are in the 50 to 140$ per night range. The two hostels in town, that are renting beds in mixed dormitories, are also almost 20$ per bed per night.

So we thought, maybe we can provide a mix of less expensive beds for guest and local workers as well. Even though the house is about 20 min walk from the beach in the village, we think, some backpackers and youngsters might prefer to save a few dollars on the bed and walk, rather than paying premium prices for 15 min closer to the beach... 

We'll see... For now, we're thinking (hoping) that between locals and thrifty foreigners, we're going to be able to have enough business to have the house pay for itself over time...

With the change in plans for the purposing, the floorplan of the upstairs changed as well. And the ideas about the landscaping around the house too.

Instead of another kitchen and 3 bedrooms upstairs, we're now thinking of making just one big room, and four toilets plus two showers for guests to share.

Instead of using blocks to build the outside walls, we're planning on using locally sourced wood on the side, and mostly glass on the front and backside.

But, all that will have to wait for now. First, we have to get the downstairs ready!