I haven’t written anything in a long while! I guess, it was just too busy a time, the last few months…
With mid December the rainy season came to an end, and with the dry season came the season for tourists. On the northern hemisphere, this is the cold time, and many people flock to the tropics to avoid the ice and snow.
By mid January we had our first dormitory, two of the toilets and one of the showers ready, so we decided to try to put it on Hostalworld and AirBnB.
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| curtains to add privacy |
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| very rustic, but functional |
Whao! We very quickly got many guests! And, what is even more exciting, many of them extended several days beyond what they booked!
Even though we still were working on the second, larger dormitory, and there was a lot of dust and materials between the entrance to the floor and the ready dormitory, the feedback we received was very positive.
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| upstairs are dormitories, downstairs a private room and dormitory for workers and volunteers |
I tried to build in a way that allows us to get by without air condition and that folks are not locked away and isolated from the world. There are big spaces between the lattice that make up the wall on one side, and on the other side there’s more window than wall. We wrapped the whole house in mosquito netting, to ensure that no insects crawl around the people while sleeping. Still, there’s a breeze in the room all the time, and in the night the cool, fresh air fills the room.
It all was an experiment. I am happy it worked out well! Most of our guests appreciate the design a lot. You can hear the sounds of the night like in a tent, but with the comfort of a real bed…
Having many guests in the hostal, often many guests also in the evenings at the restaurant, and continuing the work at the hostal, driving to the 2 1/2 hr away Santiago to find materials for the construction and ingredients for the restaurant, it was a super busy time!
There’s much more to talk about! I guess, I’ll write some more posts later…
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| sunset at the village beach |
For now: greetings from lovely Santa Catalina, Soná, Veraguas, Panamá…
