I arrived in the little fishing town of Punta del Diablo almost two weeks ago to an initial shock of seeing the dusty roads and small makeshift cafes that I had been expecting bustling with life! Of course it soon hit me that it was the easter holidays and everyone was heading for the beach! I was at first disappointed that it wasn't the quiet, chilled out little place that I had read about, but soon after arriving at our hostel, the wonderfully named 'El Diablo Tranquilo', we discovered it would soon be over in a day or so. So my travelling partner, Chris, and I decided a few extra days would do the trick so we could see it transform into the place I had hoped for so much since spending so long in cities! Little did I know that those few days would start extending by a few more days, every day, neither Chris or I wanting to check out and get on that bus out of town.

Well the last two weeks have passed extremely agreeably quickly turning from the crowded beaches when we arrived to empty streets and closed shops with the only sign of life being the few shop keepers, looking surprised when anyone walks in and a few aging fishermen in what seems to be an eternal battle to fix that net. We spent our time between pleasant walks along the selection of fine beaches, lazy afternoons spent swinging gently with the breeze in a hammock admiring the view over the village and ocean or sitting on the beaches soaking up the sun and taking a swim in the gorgeous waters of the Atlantic. This is all complimented perectly with a cold Patricia and a snack of my favorite fish and cheese empanada (I'm sure the lady starts making them before I even arrive, asking in my less than rubbish spanish 'Quisiera un pescado y queso, por favor' and beaming proudly to myself). In the evening we sit around on the veranda of the El Diablo Tranquilo hostel, drink Patricia and cook our meals of pasta and tomatoe sauce, this fast becoming a fixture of my nightmares in which I slowly drown in a vat of the stodgy mess. As the evening moves on so do we to one of the two bars in town, the El Diablo Tranquilo bar which is comfortable, spacious and has a great atmosphere for chatting and wiling away the hours till day break, then there is the Cueva Luna bar for a more crazy night. The owner making delicious cocktails, mixing the music (which varies greatly in quality from night to night), running the pool table and cleaning. Whoever said men can't multi-task.

After the first week we were beginning to have doubts in our ability to drag ourselves away and one night I turned to Chris and said 'What do you reckon about staying here another couple of weeks or so and getting a job at the hostel?', 'Yeh, ok' came the reply and that was that, rooms for free, two meals a day (at last no more of that starchy gob, 'Salad for me Diego', we're moving up in the world', and most importantly cheaper beer! Brian and Hedi, our new bosses, were more than happy to have us on board, meaning they could have some more time off, but I like to think it's more like they are excited about the touch of English class we are bringing to their establishment. We started with a few odd jobs to get us going which began with cleaning up the yard. We did this with gusto and then set about building a fire pit and having a bonfire to get rid of the wood left over from the hostels construction. This turned out to be a winning idea with the guests who almost forced us to set up a bonfire and we sold 9 and a half gallons of beer in one evening, 8 of those belonging to the Kiwis.

I started my first proper shift on the reception desk last night which got off to a great start with a power cut lasting 3 hours, but we made the most of it and sat together chatting by candlelight. The power came on about 1 in the morning and I settled down with a pot of coffee to sort out the emails, I achieved this with ease as there were none and so wittled away the nightime hours reading and investigating into my travel plans. As the time passed by in its usual manner I found myself pondering the possibilities open to me with a job like this, I could use it to do all those jobs like uploading photos and sending out emails that I usually don't get time to do, get up to scratch with my spanish (perhaps I could pay that lovely empanada lady a compliment before long winning her heart and a free snack) or even learn to play the guitar. What an epiphany that was, I decided to buy a guitar at the first opportunity and crack on with it. And before I knew it 6 o'clock came out of nowhere with a big grin on his face and I was off with a strange burst of energy, no doubt bought on by the copious amount of coffee I had consumed. I sauntered down to the beach, which is no more than a 3 minute walk, or 5 minute saunter, down the road, and had a swim while the sun began to light up the sky. The water was beautifully refreshing and just the kind of thing to wake myself up after a long night. After this I settled back on my favourite perch and watched the sun put on its magical light show. The clouds were in the perfect position to fragment and direct its rays into shafts of light spreading over the horizon, the clouds high above glowing on the underside in a variety of pinks, purples, reds, oranges and yellows. I was feeling pretty chilly from my swim at this point but couldn't bare to pull myself away from the spetacle before me. As the sun had finally rose high enough to start warming the air I set off back to the hostel thinking that if things were going to be like this everyday then I am going to be a very, very happy man.