Overnight in Colombia’s Hostel at Sea (Casa en el Agua)

This is Casa Enel Agua. That means house on the water. Thanks Dora. It's a hostel in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Colombia. It's one of the most unique stays I've ever experienced, but it all started out at the airport where I started chatting with a girl at the terminal. Hey, where are you from? I'm from Texas. Yippee-ki-yay. Why are you going to Colombia? I have absolutely no idea. Neither do I. Nice. Want to go stay at a hostel in the middle of the ocean with me? Sure. Going on a trip to sea with a random airport man doesn't sound sketchy at all. It's a busy day on the streets of Cartagena. Cartagena. This is our first meal in Colombia. We spent the next few days exploring the coastal city of Cartagena. It's a beautiful, lively community and was a perfect introduction to the country. The people are friendly and Colombian culture is an experience of its own. But then it was time to catch the boat. We're headed to the boat that's going to take us off to this little island-y island. We're riding up a wheel. It's not the heat that gets you, it's the humidity. And so we embarked on the two-hour journey from Cartagena to Casa Enel Agua. But we still weren't totally convinced this was real and they might be kidnapping us to play squid game. The hostel's about 40 miles south of Cartagena and 15 miles from the nearest shore. And though it's in the middle of the ocean, it's right next to a group of islands that are absolutely gorgeous. We finally arrived at Casa Enel Agua and got all checked in at the front. They had free empanadas, so I was a happy David. And then this German girl showed us around, so let's take a tour. So on the main floor, you have this big open area where you can just sit and chill and relax. And this is also where the kitchen is, where they're always cheffing up some heat. This is the bar where our boy here will whip you up one of the best margaritas in the Caribbean. The bathroom is also on the main floor, which has a composting toilet since you're in the middle of the ocean. Now let's go upstairs where we'll see the different options for rooms. You might be thinking this place looks really expensive, but it's actually super reasonable considering how cool it is. There's several different private rooms and these are each about a hundred bucks a night. Then we have our six bed hostel dorms and these are about half that at 50 USD. You can also rent these hammocks overlooking the ocean for about $40. And this is actually what I'd recommend because it gets super hot out here and this is probably the coolest area to sleep. When you stay at Casa, you're basically stranding yourself at sea with 20 strangers you've never met before and as an extrovert, I loved it. Everyone I met out here was super chill, but naturally Airport Girl and I found ourselves forming a close friends group. So let's meet the squad. This is Josie, a 19-year-old German girl volunteering at the hostel. She was working here in return for food and lodging and I think that's really cool. This is Charlie, Charlie Skipper. He's a bloke from the UK. He calls cookies biscuits and I'm assuming he has tea with the Queen on a regular basis. This is Anna from Sweden and she is an entire mood. She's one of the happiest people I've ever met and just being around her will cure your depression. Ukraine dude. Yeah, he was really chill, you know, he was a great guy. I literally just forgot his name. I just found out there's a ladder and cliff jump here. So I am so stoked about that. I'm gonna go yeet it with the British bloke. You ready to jump? Yeah. You got this. Scary. Look, there's an eel or something. You're just stalling now. No, you got this. You just gotta yeet it. Much of this hostels beauty is hidden beneath the surface. So be sure to grab a snorkel and go explore the turquoise waters. My American impression is it's not great. You look like a lizard. Just taking in that Sun. You know, you tanned pretty quick for a British guy. That's a compliment. Are we tanned yet? Or are we still so light when putting ketchup on our mac and cheese? I just lost the whole thing. Oh my God, look over there, there's flying fish. Those are called birds, Charlie. Next, our whole squad loaded up on a boat and headed away from the island on a special quest. Salute. I didn't grab a cerveza, I'm stupid. Yeah, I'm regretting it right now. We could share. Aw, sharing is caring. Sharing is caring. The Ukrainian dude loves sharing. We were headed to a nearby island called Santa Cruz del Aizlote which is a town of about 1,200 living in the middle of the ocean. The island is the size of about two football fields and it's powered by a generator and solar panels. It's not going to be like so nice. I don't know what you're thinking, but it's going to be a lot of birds. Wow, you're doing a great job of selling this place. We met up with our tour guide who is a local of Aizlote and she took us through the buildings to explore this unique village. One thing I love about travel is getting to see how different people around the world live life and this embodied that in the fullest. I've been to 28 countries, but nowhere along my travels have I seen anything quite like this. So cuddly, I love him. Despite being in the middle of the ocean, the people of Aizlote know how to have fun and the local kids challenged us to a football match. You guys are honestly totally right calling this football. American football is trash. Yeah, I agree. I'm out of film. Oh no, it's too bad we don't live in the 21st century where you can just shoot digital. Hey. This is such a unique town. I've never seen anything like this. It's just a bunch of buildings just floating in the middle of the water. One thing I really love about here is that even though the town's kind of run down and old, everyone's just having so much fun. It's such a lively community. I think we all need to be more like that. I love meeting Swedish people because every time I do, I get to make this dad joke. I hear that there's barcodes on all your Navy ships in Sweden. Is that right? I don't know. It's so that they can scan the Navy in. The sun was getting low and our willingness to reenter society was getting lower. So we spent the evening just hanging out and having a good old time on our little slice of the Caribbean. So when you take a shower here, you're allowed one bucket of water. They obviously don't have fresh water out here for running water. So they have to import fresh water from wherever fresh water comes from around here. And then you can use it for a shower in bucket full. Every night at Casa Enel Agua, there's a party. So don't expect to get much sleep. I mean, how often do you get a turn up in the middle of the ocean? And that's a wrap on my trip to Casa Enel Agua, the most unique hostel I've ever stayed in. If you're ever in Cartagena, it's an absolute must-see. So I put the booking link in the description. Thanks to all my friends from around the world for making this trip so memorable. It's moments like this that make me love travel. Oh, and here's some advice. Talk to strangers at the airport. I don't get it still. Scandinavian. Oh! I think this is a fish eye floating in the sofa. Is it? Yeah. Oh my gosh, that is a fish eye. But I'll eat it. Shannon's my camera girl. Professional. You're doing great. Videographer.