Todos Santos Hostel
Expecting good manners.
Written by Dario Orrico
Photography:
Ana Laura Vargas
León Vargas
Dario Orrico
Upon arrival, I saw again and again guests become stunned by the silence and ease, they stand mute and awkward at the gate waiting for someone to walk them through it.
It’s a good way to start. It immediately makes you aware that this is a place that warrants your social skills.
Not to say it’s a socially demanding environment per se. People silently coexist with ease.
The Rules:
1. Don’t be a dick
Hostel
“Noun: An establishment which provides inexpensive food and lodging for a specific group of people soca as student, workers, or travelers.”
You get a fresh towel and your tippy cleaned every day, as you would expect. The general kitchen, bathrooms are cleaned twice a day.
Bar service available but no food. You’re welcomed to cook in the kitchen.
The rest is up to you. If it stays clean all day or if it degenerates into hell is reliant on the internal group dynamics. To further understand the complexities of being a tolerable human being we redact the following.
Rule 1 extended:
1.1 Read the room
During my stay “loud” wasn’t the theme.
1.2 Don’t be destructive
Take care of things, clean up after your self, don’t stink, etc.
1.3 Be constructive
Add what you can, clean up a mess you didn’t make, wash a dish that isn’t yours, follow the rules, inform the staff of anything out of line that you can’t manage yourself, etc.
“I know if you take photos from the right angle you can make this place look 5 stars, but where not, this isn’t even glamping and I don’t want people to have such high expecta-tions come and demand things we cant offer.”
Glamping
“Noun: A form of camping involving accommodations and facilities more luxurious than those associated with traditional camping”.
– from the Oxford English Dictionary.
“We’re also not a brothel either. Once a guy came and took a picture of an ashtray full of buds someone filled overnight. That’s not what it’s like here. I don’t believe that’s how we should be portrayed.”
The mute awkward guests stand at the gate expressing a sort of ingenuity, an innocent fear, they say “can you help me check-in” with their eyes, but not with their mouth. They’ll even reply to a “good morning” without asking to be assisted with their check-in.
I didn’t intervene either. It’s an important moment of realization. It’s important you know that you’re far away from your self entitled privileges. You’re not funneled by the architecture towards the front desk, here you won’t be immediately swooned off your feet by some “perky” plastic host.
You’ll have to speak your mind, express what you need, engage in cultivating a friendly environment for yourself.
The “lobby” is a small office next to the kitchen and living room. There’s always someone sitting around reading a book, having a meal, drinking coffee, playing the guitar or flute, or any other bohemian act you can think of.
The sociable approach the group respectfully enthusiastic, the introverted rely and piggyback off of this natural overflow to incorporate into the group.
WORK FOR TODOS SANTOS HOSTEL.
We’re looking for volunteers. 4 hours presence at the Hostel, 6 Days a week in exchange for a bed in the dormitory or a camping spot. Minimum 3 weeks stay.
Luxury is an often misunderstood concept. To merely poses, to be useless, engorged, dissociated, pampered children is no privilege.
To speak of amenities we must first reestablish our criteria.
Amenities are, amidst the substance of reality, gifts of true beauty, con-structive artifacts that add to life.
List of amenities found at Todos Santos Hostal: A Guitar, An Old Leath-er Arm Chair, Bicycles & surfboards available for rent, Cheesegrater ( to make hashbrowns ), A Hammock between trees in every secluded garden, Bar services, Tons of free organic Hostal grown mangos (according to season) and
Magic.
Magic is a sort of natural flow. It could be expressed through sociology, psychology, evolutionally, spiritually, but I mean concisely the lot of it. It’s what art has, it’s a sort of common internal human narrative, a way in which certain realities sync up our feelings.
This is what I’m getting at. It’s what stuns people when guests first encounter the Hostal. A common feeling that calls for a cer-tain kind of human essence.
I don’t believe this is done by design, it’s a mix of Todos Santos Hostal intrinsic nature, its lack of personnel, Todos Santos itself.