Note to Self:
(From journal 11/19 before angrily switching hostels from el Diablo Tranquillo to Casa de los Buyos)
After spending a night at a hostel owned, operated, and inhabited by only Americans, I've decided to make a more concrete effort to avoid Gringo owned and catering hostels. Travelers at these are all just party seeking gringos who don't attempt to learn Spanish and only care about hang out with themselves. Locals complain that places like Hostel el Diablo Tranquillo contributes nothing to the local economy. By vertically integrating, it keeps its costumers from going to local bars in the village, renting surfboards from local shops along the coast, and participating in activities offered by providers other than the hostel. Instead of employing Uruguayans, el Diablo Tranquillo's owner returns home to Wisconsin every year to recruit American workers to help out in his hostel.
After the second disappointing hostel in a row, I'm committed to avoiding chains and foreign owned hostels. I refuse to go to another place that tries to claim that Buenos Aires has only one bar open on Friday nights. Travelers aren't ignorant. If the staff won't share their local knowledge with us and sends its guests to hostel sponsored bars with outragous cover and NYC priced drinks, we´ll leave and won't recommend their hostels to people we meet down the road. Immigrants trying to assimilate into the community are fine owners as Timote at Hostel YoYo proved, but I refuse to give my business to any more ex-pats trying to extract every last peso from backpackers in order to fund privileged ex-pat lifestyles abroad.
After spending a night at a hostel owned, operated, and inhabited by only Americans, I've decided to make a more concrete effort to avoid Gringo owned and catering hostels. Travelers at these are all just party seeking gringos who don't attempt to learn Spanish and only care about hang out with themselves. Locals complain that places like Hostel el Diablo Tranquillo contributes nothing to the local economy. By vertically integrating, it keeps its costumers from going to local bars in the village, renting surfboards from local shops along the coast, and participating in activities offered by providers other than the hostel. Instead of employing Uruguayans, el Diablo Tranquillo's owner returns home to Wisconsin every year to recruit American workers to help out in his hostel.
After the second disappointing hostel in a row, I'm committed to avoiding chains and foreign owned hostels. I refuse to go to another place that tries to claim that Buenos Aires has only one bar open on Friday nights. Travelers aren't ignorant. If the staff won't share their local knowledge with us and sends its guests to hostel sponsored bars with outragous cover and NYC priced drinks, we´ll leave and won't recommend their hostels to people we meet down the road. Immigrants trying to assimilate into the community are fine owners as Timote at Hostel YoYo proved, but I refuse to give my business to any more ex-pats trying to extract every last peso from backpackers in order to fund privileged ex-pat lifestyles abroad.
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