One girl's wanderings across the many wonders of the world.

With the mountains towering either side of us and the road stretching before us it seemed like we were the only people in the world. A tiny triangle on our map told us where to head to find ourselves somewhere to kip for the night. We had decided to drive to find places off the beaten track but ten days into our trip the hostels had become a blur of dorm rooms, cold showers and breakfast bagels. We’d been driving that long a hostel would have felt like the Hilton.
Eventually we pulled up in front of a ramshackle house perched on the side of a little hill; with the tiles hanging off the roof, a rubble driveway and nobody insight, my internal monologue was one of groans and expletives. Still, we piled our stuff out of the car, greeted by an unusual ‘earthy’ smell, and made our way to the front door. Inside there were computers I haven’t seen since 1998 and a shop of essentials which caused yet another stream of mental cursing (who has a shop without chocolate?). We were guided through to the garden at the back of the building by Samson, a giant mountain dog, and his owner and shown to our room for the night.
To say I was surprised is a mild understatement as I stood back and surveyed three large train carriages on an abandoned set of tracks. An inspired decision had brought this lady to buy sleeper train carriages and rent them out as individual rooms. Suddenly a miserable situation had changed into an adventure worthy of children’s literature. We spent the next half an hour taking pictures of ourselves as the train’s driver, complete with hat and jacked up seat, before exploring the train’s surroundings. To add to our excitement our venture outdoors brought us face to face with Samson’s roommates - two rather large and rather fluffy llamas.
After a delicious supper of pancakes, cooked for us on an open fire by our quirky host, we were invited to stay as long as we liked, and had full use of the boats and canoes moored up at the lake’s edge, which on further discovery was just through the bushes behind the train!
It’s safe to say that our stay at this hostel was one we will never forget, and after travelling many other countries since then I am yet to find a gem like this one. Lesson learned; don’t judge a hostel by its broken roof, there might just be a train or a few llamas hidden behind it.