On our first day in Colombia, we got a good example of the level of hospitality of the members of this Association (http://colombianhostels.com.co). Prior to departure, we used the Lonely Planet Colombia (Country Guide) guidebook to locate a good, convenient hostel in Cartagena. The one we liked, Casa Viena, emailed us back that they could not guarantee a spot because their guests sometimes stayed longer than anticipated. But, the email went on to say, if they did not have a room, they would find us comparable accommodations in the area.  We decided to trust in that promise because our inexpensive flight would keep us in transit nearly 24 hours and featured an early departure. We would probably be exhausted when we arrived.

Once we had cleared immigration in Cartagena, Colombia, we caught a cab to Casa Viena and they were true to their word.  No space available, but they got us into a nearby hotel that we absolutely loved.

This was our first introduction to the convenience, courtesy, and professionalism of this network of hostels in parts of Colombia, although we did not even know it at the time. Casa Viena staff forgot to tell us that they were part of a network… We learned that about it a week or so later from Elke at El Gato Negro café, one of the best informed and most capable travel gossips we met during our travels!

A week or so after arriving, we happened to stay at another hostel that was also a member of the Association: La Casa de Felipe in Taganga. There, we mentioned that we would head to Medellin the following week. Sandra, the charming and capable wife of Felipe, asked if we wanted her to book us a room in the Palm Tree hostel in Medellin, a place they were familiar with, and pay her so that it was a guaranteed reservation. Absolutely!

What had happened was that Sandra filled in the details to what we had learned from Elke, making us aware of the Association and making our travels much simpler many, many times. The convenience of having a room assured and prepaid helped make our between-town travels much more relaxing. (Exactly how all these pre-payments get sorted out is beyond me but it works. Perhaps they even out in the long run.)

One of the big benefits for us was that we met quite a few helpful travel gossips in these hostels, backpackers like us who loved Colombia and South America and were enjoying every bit of it. Although many travelers spoke English, Spanish was usually the language of choice at these hostels. At each one, however, there was at least one staff member who spoke English. Plus almost all of them had book exchanges, allowing us to keep true to our vow of only one book to carry. From Medellin, the staff at the Palm Tree booked us into the Plantation House in Salento. Tim at the Plantation House booked us into El Maco in San Agustin. Very simple and very satisfying.

Finding out there is “no room at the inn” can be challenging worldwide, whether in a small town in Colombia or in Paris, France. (And I shall refrain from ranting about the time we had to sleep in a park in central Athens or the night in Germany we had to drive three additional hours with a tired two-year-old due to mixed-up reservations and Oktoberfest.)

In Colombia, we have stayed at four of the member hostels and used services of a fifth, all of which we recommend highly. Other travel gossips we met had stayed at the other hostels and had positive things to say. This association and its members are highly recommended. And, if they do not have a member hostel in the town or city you will be visiting or the neighborhood is not what you prefer, another excellent resource for hostels and advance reservations is www.HostelTrail.com.