The Hostel

One of my favorite things to do here, is visit friends who are staying at the hostel in Cabarete. The hostel is recently renovated, and is designed like a castle. One of my friends from the school stayed at the hostel and we went over to hang with him one day. We met all kinds of interesting people. There was Leo, the boy we were visiting, from Seattle who had been here for three months. There’s a guy named Harrison who just graduated from Cornell(?), and is here to surf before he has to go home and start working. There’s also two guys who came here and now teach kite surfing. One is from the UK, and the other is from France. Lastly there was a guy from Germany here, although all I think he was doing was partying. People come and go from the hostel, but those boys are/were there for a long time. It’s so fun to meet so many different people, from different cultures. Everyone gets along really well, and I’m always howling with laughter when I hang out with them. They also have some pretty sweet Barbecues.

I had never heard about Kite Surfing until I came here and talked about it with the Hostel boys. Kite surfing is really, really popular here. Cabarete is one of the top 10 best kitesurfing destinations in the world. People come from all over to learn and show off their skills. When I went horseback riding I was able to watch some of the surfers because we passed through Kite beach, and it looks like such an intense sport! The professionals can jump really high into the air, and twist into all kinds of positions.

I would LOVE to spend a few weeks at the hostel one year, and learn how to kite surf. It’s somewhat close to kite beach, and transportation is cheap within Cabarete. I feel like the word hostel gives the image of a dirty, grimy, cheap place for students to sleep. This place seems more like a nice residence hall, with good facilities.