Lukas and I have been working hard to prepare for the Feria de San Marcos, Aguascalientes’ biggest festival and arguably the biggest festival in all of Mexico. It goes on for three weeks and the city is expecting 5 million visitors from other parts of Mexico. We still have some space left for most of the weekdays but space for the weekends is going fast.

We’ve reorganized both of the hostel lounges to be more comfortable and – I think – pretty cool and funky looking as well. We seem to give each other good ideas and we’re making good use of all kinds of found items from local recycling centers. The furniture is all reclaimed palettes, refrigerator shelves, and of course our beloved Annika is here to welcome guests, though she doesn’t say much. We have two sets of checkers, playing cards, lots of books and magazines, and we now have a TV/DVD area set off from the rest of the 1st floor lounge. We’ve moved in some extra beds for the festival, repaired a handful of things that needed attention, and we’ve made sure that the place is clean and that we’re stocked up on purified water, towels, cleaning supplies, and the funky tambores the guests can use to lock their backpacks in for safety.

We’ve had some real help from one of our guests – a sassy French girl who is living and studying in Mexico and who came to visit us but probably didn’t expect to end up carrying mattresses. We can’t thank her enough for her help but she seems to be enjoying herself and that’s what it’s all about.

We also had two great guests from Korea spend the night with us. The fella and I walked through the city at 2am to find an OXXO (convenience store) that was open and we found one just a short stroll away. And we have a couple of Mexican lads who are here to participate in some of the sporting events during the festival. They’ll be with us for a few days and they’re making use of the terrace and the kitchen and the DVD player, where they’re watching themselves playing and trying to improve their performance.

We’re tired (Lukas more than me since he’s been working harder) and we’re going to get some sleep before the festivities start this weekend. They go until the 10th of May. I’m looking forward to it but somehow I think I’ll be glad when it’s over.

The Lukas Hostel has a new website! You can now find us on the web at http://www.lukashostel.com.

We’ve moved our blog to the new website as well. Read all of the news from the Lukas Hostel.

This update is just one of the exciting changes we’re making at Lukas Hostel to celebrate our one year anniversary (April 29th.) Come to the website to stay up to date on Lukas and the gang.