the hostel

a hostel is a weird wonderful place where curious travelers aggregate for sleep and neat surprises. when i first arrived in argentina, i hostel hopped for around a month in the enchanting busy city of buenos aires. not knowing what to expect of youth hostels, having never been in one let alone live in it for a full week, i was quickly introduced to a non profit institution, an entity of acceptance and assimilation and an oasis of boisterous kindness that i have continued to admire. hostels are discrete; little gems discovered by the shoe-string traveler, the questioning yogi, the antsy businessman, the laid back rasta and the post grad idealists. from giddy dutch honeymooners to fiftysomething hippies, i encountered them all. and unlike many places, the hostel is really quite open. open-minds, open space, which inevitably creates, open people. curious and in that state of travel bliss, the hosteler creates a distinct community within an international city that is equally diverse in geography as it is personality. so, i have always been found of hostels and the services they provide. last week i was looking at volunteer work in d.c. and came across an ad seeking a 'Fun Event Host' to create and coordinate hostel activites three days a month. i went for the interview, found the manager engaging and sincere e voila! i start training on tuesday :) d.c.- a political city with pockets of charm