Back a decade ago, when I was living and working as a reporter in Costa Rica, my US-native roommate and I had so many visitors staying at our little casa in Barrio Vargas Araya over the stretch of a few years that our landlady was convinced we were running a hostel.

US-ers, Canadians, Argentines (one of whom would soon after become my husband), even “Tico” friends used our couch as a landing pad just outside the main city.

“Son amigos,” I’d say to her each morning as I rushed off to work, leaving some scraggly travelers to linger over coffee and papayas, to do their laundry, to have a shower and to plan their next adventure. “Te juro, I swear.”

Feels lately that history is repeating itself here in Patagonia. Our little cabin in the woods has had a steady stream of amigos/gringos popping in for a night, two nights, three or even for two weeks. It’s been like this since Christmas time. We have one guest room, which normally is our ’slacking out/guitar/TV’ room, and a second precarious sleeping spot in our storage room. And there’s always room for a tent or two out in the yard. But it’s not exactly spacious. And privacy is at a definite minimum.

Ahh…. the quiet days of December when I had the whole place to myself are now a distant memory.

Some stop by here in the middle of a month-long sojourn through Patagonia. Some are working in the area and crash for a night or two during their days off. Others land here fresh from the gran norte and then stay here until the get their sh*t together to move on. Or until we can’t take it anymore and push them (with a good map) out the door and down the hill.

I know, it’s a super cozy place, with good food, a nice view, lots of green space, great wine and coffee, and friendly vibes. Who wouldn’t love it here? But there’s a lot of Patagonia out there to discover, no?

After an epic lunch out on the picnic table pouring over maps, we’ve just sent three off to go climb a volcano, and have another amigo arriving tomorow at 1pm.

And so that means we have the night off.

No gringos to entertain. No endless questions to answer. No line-ups for our tiny bathroom. No one to negotiate with or get distracted by.

Thing is, I miss ‘em already. Who is coming next?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 1:15 pm and is filed under A life of adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.