“KOKOPELLI is a fertility god, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, who has been venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwest of the United States.” He is also said to walk around from village to village, playing his flute and collecting songs in his bag. This habit kind of reflecting the life of us backpackers, Kokopelli became the symbol of the Kokopelli Hostels in Lima, Paracas & Cusco.

“We are a community of open-minded travelers who live life without boundaries” being the Motto of Kokopelli Hostels, you feel at home right when you enter this magical place – or at the latest, when you enter our amazing bar ;) I’ve stayed and worked here for about 3 weeks now and I gotta say that it just doesn’t get boring. Not only is the atmosphere at the Hostel so chill & friendly, with all the staff & backpackers greeting each other and everybody smiling all the time, but also you can’t really call it “work” to hang out at the bar, meet great people and mix drinks all night long.

On our first nightshift, our boss, Martin (the best bartender around), gave us a little introduction into our work at the bar for the next couple of weeks, how to prepare all the drinks – most importantly, how to make a Pisco Sour – and the attitude he would expect from us during our shifts. On a side note, he also explained to us that the Peruvian women breastfeed their kids with milk from one & Pisco from the other breast – I guess that explains the love for the local national drink here ;)

These were his most important rules:

1. greet everyone that comes into the bar, be friendly, say “hola”, make them give you tips (he doesn’t care, how you do that)
2. SONRÍE=SMILE – all the time, no matter what!
3. have fun & love what you do – “this is not supposed to be work, it’s supposed to be an experience”

After getting us familiar with those, he added some other “provisions”:

• don’t let anything laying around the bar where the drinks are being made (he actually threw some of our stuff into the waste basket, when we left it laying around – we learned pretty quickly that he’s actually really serious about that…)
• don’t EVER mix Pisco with coke (Martin makes the Piscos himself & they are pretty much like his children – and his children are NOT to be mixed with coke!)
   
  

  

  The bar is open all day: 6-10am breakfast, lunch & chill out area during the day, from 5pm onwards you can enjoy the great food for dinner & at 8pm the party starts

  

  Preparing fresh passion fruit for the most popular Pisco – I didn’t even know that this fruit was so sour!

  

  The formation process of the Pisco

  

  

  Watching France-Portugal for the finals of the Eurocup – so sad they didn’t win, especially with all those French fans at the bar..

  

  My view “cuando soy cajera” – sometimes it’s really entertaining having to figure out what the people are trying to order, but a mix of English, Spanish, German, Dutch & sign language usually yields the right drink

  

  

  Preparing lime juice for the drinks

  

  Weekly schedule for the bar: some classics, like beer pong & ladies night happen every week, other events change and make for a diversified & fun life at the hostel

If you play by Martin’s handful of rules, remember the 3-2-1-Pisco-formula and like being around fun people until the break of dawn, you’ll have a pretty good time at the Kokopelli bar. Most volunteers get here through workaway and stay for about 3-6 weeks, which really helps with getting to know each other. It’s such a unique atmosphere with so many young and interesting travellers from all over the world, all sleeping in the same dorm, sharing stories & experiences, helping each other out with covering shifts, getting through stressful nights at the bar, hanging out at the hostel, going out at night (“Mama Africa” & “Chango” are the places to go), exploring the city, having breakfast together… becoming friends! At the same time, that makes it even harder to watch people leave: Suzan from California, Manon from France, Elliot & Lydia from GB, May from Australia, Emily from Florida – they all left and it feels kind of weird without having them around. Then again, there are always new people coming and it’s exciting to see how the new “bar team” functions and what new stories are about to take place. Being sent to this hostel, instead of volunteering at Tikari (an agricultural organisation that cancelled on us, a week before flying to Cusco) was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to us.

Having said this, “ARRIBA, ABAJO, AL CENTRO, AL DENTRO!” – and never forget to stir your Pisco Sour ;)

Lobby of the hostel: when the sun is shining, it’s great that everything is open but at night, the outside area gets really cold

Not the most beautiful and certainly not the tidiest place around, but our beloved home – the dorms & rooms people actually pay for look way nicer, don’t worry

May & I – ready to get some tips

Taco Night

Campfire Night

Alpaca BBQ

My favourite dinner before starting work at 6pm: rice, tomato, avocado, aji, salt & pepper (all ingredients freshly bought from the market for about 0,80€)

FREE SHOTS!!! Happens at least once or twice a week and Martin probably enjoys it the most ;)

Different DJs every week – from Inca-Tecno to Candle Light Music

Last but not least, the two people who keep all this alive and take care of us: Nicolas (left, owner of the Kokopelli Hostel Cusco) & Martin (Bar manager & definitely more than just our boss) – big thanks to these two for everything!