La Casa Cafe

The owner of a Colombian restaurant in Ecuador gave me a brochure of San Antonio – the traditional area of Cali – and recommended me to stay at least 1 night there. On the brochure there were some hostels advertised, but not many have good websites or responded the emails. Finally I got an answer from “La Casa Café” which was actually the first one I sent an email to. If you can make a phone call, better do it. Not many business in South America work fast with emails...

This hostel is located near downtown in the Bohemian and traditional San Antonio. It's an old house with high ceilings that was transformed into a hostel. Therefore they don't have many rooms and there are no private bathrooms.

This hostel is cheap. Fee just includes accommodation. Internet, breakfast, are not included, but they have a communal kitchen, books and board games for the guests.

The bed was just ok. Later I realized that beds in Cali's hostels are not the best, so this one could be considered a very good one, haha. When I arrived I found a newspaper and cultural brochure on my bed, sweet. Also all the house is decorated with pics of old Cali.

They are also a cafe, small and cozy one, and there's an internet cafe next door.

The only bad thing here was the shower. There was no hot water, but I'd stay here just 1 night so it wasn't that bad. I guess it wouldn't have been so bad if I was taking a shower in the middle of the day.

But you will stop thinking about any inconvenience, when you meet Paola - the girl in charge of the place. She's one of the friendliest person I've ever met. I was in contact with her before leaving Lima and when she opened the door she said me welcome to Cali like if we were friends from a long time ago, so sweet! She was really helpful and helped me as much as possible, including paying the cab for us.

Maybe it's not the most comfortable place, but the friendliness is the best!