Hostels and the people who stay there

Below is me blogging or rather facbooking and yahoo-ing at Heike. Theses are some of the awesome quotes they had painted around the hostel. check out the ash tray made out of a beer can.

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So, most people that stay in hostels are people on a budget or people looking to connect with other people from different countries. I think hostels are a great to meet other people from various countries. Backpackers and college students are the usual clients. I think 10% out of the people I see are over 40. Although that can be off since I am a pretty lenient age guesser. Slight side note, but relevant. Central Americans, as you know do not have a great view of Americans and I am going to lump Europeans right with us. They think we’re rich so try to scam us to get our money, (Although, I must say that when I speak Spanish I usually can avoid this gringo tax.) I discussed this the last time I was laid up with my broken ankle. I have come to the conclusion that maybe even poorer classes in America have a higher standard of living than most people in Panamá. But, even worse they think we have loose morals. (This is a general statement and does not apply to my behavior nor to the how have Panamanians been treating me.) However, the thing is some Panamanians and I am pretty sure this applies to Costa Ricans as well: they try to have quick flings with the girls. Ok in of case. If you have a head on your shoulders you would be expecting this. But what I was not expecting was how my fellow Americans and Europeans view each other. Besides the 20% of married couples that I have meet in hostels that are traveling together, most of the people could be single. The last time I was here in Bocas I broke my ankle so I spent a lot of time talking and playing cards with different people. One night the last time I was talking with a group of 3 people and one guy said a remark that had a sexual connation. It went over my head, so I didn't say anything, however, they girl I was talking to asked him to explain. This eventually led to a slightly drunk debate with 6 and more people about "how important is sex in a person’s life." The issue was that the previous girl (who was from NY) and I stated that we were going to wait until we were married to have sex. Out of everything that was said one thing stayed with me. This guy from Pennsylvanian said "I would think any girl (or he could have said person not sure.) Who is backpacking is sexually adventurous." This of course led to an explosion. Out of everyone who I speak with, I was not expecting this from a young guy. I was kind of disappointed to hear that from him. Does, the locals treat American girls this way because they see how American guys treat us? It just had me thinking and this time I just paid a little attention to how I acted and the people I surrounded myself with was acting. Sometimes, our actions can be innocent, but the consequences that they bring suggest that we should be more aware of our surroundings. Choi, for now.