With all the depressing reports in the news at the moment we thought we would try and lift your spirits by sharing a few of the funniest and weirdest encounters that we have had in the hostel over the past few years.

I was once on reception when a guest due to check in arrived in a panic. She told me that she had forgotten to pick up her bag when she arrived at the airport. Having realised in the taxi she was closer to the city than the airport, she thought it was best not to turn back.  Instead have us call the airport to have them look after it for her until it could either be sent here or she could go back herself and pick it up.

Knowing the procedures at the airport we told her not to worry. We would give them a call and locate her bag for her. I asked her for her passport as I knew that the number would be requested when we made the call. Her expression turned from worry to sheer panic. In her rush to get to the hostel she realised that she had also left her 2^nd backpack, containing her passport in the taxi.

After a number of phone calls we managed to trace both bags down and they were returned to the very relieved guest.

For the first two years after opening the hostel I lived on site. After finishing work at midnight I would unwind for a couple of hours watching movies on my laptop in my room. One night this was interrupted by a blood curdling scream from the adjacent dorm at around 2am. It was clear that this wasn’t just someone messing around.  Rather by the sound the person was clearly very distressed and possibly even in fear for their life.

Fearing the worst I jumped up and ran into the room. I turned the light on to find everyone sat up in their beds looking around trying to understand what was happening. “What’s going on guys?” I asked. No-one replied. “That scream came from this room didn’t it?” I followed up, a question that was replied to by a silent and shocked nod from all the guests inside. “So what happened?”. There were a few moments of silence before the guy on the top bunk next to me embarrassed, said “don’t worry, its nothing”. “Was it you? Why were you screaming?!”. He looked down. “I just had a nightmare” he mumbled in response as everyone started to laugh.

A couple of years ago we had a group of 3 middle aged Peruvian women in the hostel. They didn’t look the typical type of guest we tend to host.  Always perfectly done up with makeup and hair straightened, with dresses straight out of a fashion catalogue. On their last day in the city they decided to go to Parque Arvi, the national park on the outskirts of the city. They left the hostel in the morning dressed to the nines, certainly not appropriate attire for a hike through the forest. Parque Arvi however isn’t just hiking, there are restaurants and also artisanal markets which are worth a trip so unaware of their plans we didn’t feel the need to comment.

The last transport back from the park leaves at 6pm. The park rangers go home at this time and being as the following days were Sunday and Monday was a public holiday.  There would be no one around until Tuesday morning.

At 6pm we received a phone call from one of the group saying that they were lost in the park. We tried to call the park rangers but all of them had left work for the day. The sun had set and the girls had no idea where they were. We called the police but they weren’t interested in sending a search party with it being outside the city and such a large area. They were told they had to find their own way out.

The girls walked through the forest at night in their high heels trying to find some kind of civilization. Coming across a road, they were relieved to be able to flag down a bus and were ecstatic that they had found salvation. Colombian buses often stop off on route for a bathroom break so that passengers can stretch their legs and buy drinks and snacks. When it came time to leave they got back on the bus in good spirits thinking their next stop would be the bus station in Medellin. 10 minutes later they realised that one of them hadn’t got back on the bus. Instead she had been in the bathroom when the bus left. The driver refused to turn back so the two girls were consequently forced to abandon their friend.

The third member of the group finally managed to hitch a lift on the back of a motorbike and the trio were reunited at the bus terminal in Medellin. They finally made it back to the hostel with mudded and torn clothes around 10pm that night.

Parque Arvi, Medellin

We have a plastic roof outside our entrance, and the big windows in the dorms on the second floor open onto this area.

It was a normal, quiet night in the early hours of the morning.  The guy working the nightshift was sat on reception with not much to do. Suddenly there was a bang and a leg appeared through the roof that is in clear view of reception. Assuming that it was someone trying to break in, the receptionist went out to confront the person. Rather than finding an aspiring thief he was shocked to see one of our guests, who was equally confused as to what he was doing up there. It turns out he had a history of sleep walking, and during the night had gotten out of bed, opened the window and strolled out onto the roof.

He was really apologetic and equally scared of what could have happened. We both agreed he should try and get a dorm on the first floor in the future.

We had only been open for a few weeks and I was working the nightshift. Sat on reception, I noticed a particularly repugnant smell, as if someone very ill had been to the bathroom and not flushed. I grabbed the air freshener spray and went into the bathroom to investigate.  After inspecting I quickly realised that wasn’t the origin of the smell. Strange I thought, it must be coming from the toilet upstairs. I headed upstairs but it became apparent that it wasn’t coming from there either.

Sitting back down on reception, confused, I started doubting that maybe it was my own mind playing tricks. I sat back down but there it was again, this eye watering stench. I got up and walked around, following my nose to one of the dorm room doors. I turned the door handle and slowly opened the door.  Suddenly I could sense someone diving at the door from the other side to stop me getting in. The horror of what had happened quickly dawned. For want of a better expression, our drunken guest, who by pure luck was the only one in that room that night, had evidently shit the bed.

We had to throw away the only weeks old covers and mattress.

Around 9pm one night a guest came to ask advice on what time she should leave for the airport.  “What time is your flight?” our receptionist asked.  “It says 15:30 on the boarding pass” she replied, “but we don’t use military time in the States, so I’m not too sure when that is”.  We had to break the news to her that 15:30 is 3:30pm, and her flight had probably arrived at its destination hours ago.

She rebooked for 14:00 the following day, after double checking what that time actually meant.