I decided to celebrate my birthday this year with a party, lots of fun!  I was hoping for a poolside party, but some unexpected showers came, so we started off inside.  Soon the weather cleared up, and we headed out for dancing under the stars, plus a few people took a swim: sorry Rich- just couldn't resist, you shouldn't stand so close to the edge ::)  It was a great mixer for several of the new arrivals that had just gotten in earlier in the day, and nice to hang out with everyone that's been around for a few weeks.   One of my neighbours made a few great dishes to snack on, including foccacia-mmm!  Thanks to everyone that helped me celebrate another year of older and wiser :)

I love the mix of people that the hostel brings.  This week, we've had a 62 year old from Northern Ireland, a family of 3 women from the mainland, a guy from Israel, and my long-termers who are here for a month, both from the States, one that's working on his dive instructor course, and the other that's just hanging out.  Love that, wish I had a month to just hang out :)  Also incoming, a Canadian that's here for a few months, volunteering at Clinica Esperanza.  On the weekend, I have someone coming that's been traveling through Central America doing kids programs, as well as a few new volunteers for Clinica Esperanza.  Always great new stories to tell, excellent company :)  I love my hostel :)

On my website, there's an administrative page that I can go to, to see how many people have viewed the site each day.  This has always been a little exciting, same with each new email asking for availability, just watching my business grow a bit at a time.  Yesterday was a new milestone: we hit 217 views, the first time over 200! 
Life at the hostel has been going well.  We have a few long-termers in at the moment (all here for a few weeks), and the whole gang has been going out together (well, usually I don't, but I did tag along for Johannes' goodbye night- he's been my volunteer, helping out at the hostel for about 6 weeks, and just left for Germany... brrrr).  No more ant invasions, thank goodness! 
Anyone heading to the hostel next weekend can prepare to celebrate: my birthday is coming up, and I"m having a party :)