HOW TRAVELING THE WORLD MADE ME WANT TO OPEN A HOSTEL IN MY HOMETOWN
Once upon a time there was this woman called Alejandra Ugalde, a worldpacker at Jungla del Jaguar. Now she’s the owner of Corral d Comedias Hostel, in Mexico. She’s a Traveler and a Host. She knows the pure essence of Worldpackers by heart. Here’s her story told by herself…
For me, traveling is one of the only things that really makes you feel alive, getting to know new cultures, people, food, landscapes and experiences really opens your eyes and makes you realize there’s so much more than we think. No one has a wide perception of the world if stays in the same place the whole life. I’ve been traveling for 3 years now, always taking time to go back home and put things into perspective.
There was this time that I went to Costa Rica with my best friend Emiliano, we didn’t really made an itinerary, we just knew we had to get to Drake Bay, the rest was all about going with the flow. Then I decided to become a worldpacker in Costa Rica and that was amazing. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it happened to be a great experience.
I’ve always thought that wherever you go, you must give something back to the land you’re in. So working in a hostel, helping out other travelers and hosts while I had the chance to know the beautiful Corcovado, in Costa Rica, seemed like the perfect deal, and it was. As an environmental engineer, going to such a remote place, full of nature and quietness was absolutely flawless.
I got the chance to get involved with the jungle lifestyle and learn how to live in nature. That was priceless! I learned a lot about sustainable development as a worldpacker, but also about running a hostel, which gave me the tools I needed to open a hostel of my own.
As a traveler, I am always trying to help out those who took the risk to go abroad and experience the world, so having a hostel in my hometown was the perfect plan. Giving travelers a cozy, warm, friendly and beautiful temporary home was my dream.
I remember all the cool stories I had in hostels, so that’s why I want the travelers to make their own stories here. Guanajuato is a beautiful city to explore, so why not having a beautiful hostel? It’s all about sharing what you have with others.
My partners and I wanted this hostel to be as diverse as possible, so involving worldpackers from different cultures will definitely bring this place that international good vibe we’ve all experienced when we travel the world. Probably I wouldn’t even know about Worldpackers’ platform if I wasn’t one of them, but we are always looking for different ways to travel, so eventually I would have heard about it.
Having worldpackers is a great way to connect with people, and most of the times, travelers are very hard workers. They are so useful, always bringing up new ideas to the place, which makes it even more interesting for guests. At Corral d Comedias Hostel, we want people that can help us out to keep this place nice, tidy and clean, also someone who can give us new ideas of how to make it even better for future guests. We look for responsible people we can trust in.
It’s in my plans to keep on traveling as a worldpacker, especially when I’m applying and hoping for a match. So wherever a host says yes, I’ll be there.
While working in other hostels, I would always think about what I would do if I had a hostel of my own, how would I decorate it, what would I cook, what would I offer to travelers and what would I like to see there, until I realize that it wasn’t that impossible to do. So I started looking for opportunities and ways to make my dream come true. And now it is.
I hope Corral d Comedias Hostel gets even better every day, becoming a place where travelers can feel comfortable and welcome. Personally, I want to keep traveling as a worldpacker, that way I can learn with other hostels and bring cool ideas to my own. We all learn from others, so learning and passing that knowledge to other hostels will make me improve as a host and as a human being as well. Making the world a better place.
