Nico loved it as much as we did, and we cornered Enrique that evening to ask him how serious he was about the hostel idea. Discussions went on till late, but it was clear that we would need to go back to Mendoza to talk about it more seriously. We spoke about very little else for the rest of the trip, and rushed back to Mendoza as soon as Pappy and Mammy flew home.
On this third trip, we stayed with Enrique at the house, and talk went on well into the early morning hours. We met Sofi, his then fiance, and she was as enthusiastic about the idea as the rest of us.
At this stage, the idea was to buy or lease the house Enrique was currently in, it belongs to a friend of his, and turn it into a hostel. Tara, Nico and I would renovate the house, adding bathrooms and walling off dorms. We would each go to Mendoza for three months a year and run the place, closing it down over winter or having Enrique and Sofi run it in those quiet months. We asked Enrique to contact his friend, and find out how much he wanted for the property. We made measurements of the house, and took countless photos.
In the afternoon of the second day, Enrique told us he had heard from his friend. It was not good news. His friend had received an offer of US$100 000 on the land and was not wiling to sell it for less. There was no way we were able to afford this. The whole idea was based on the fact that it was going to be cheap and affordable for us. I felt like I had been slammed into the ground. We had been so swept up in it all, it seemed impossible that it wasn't going to happen. I had to go lie down.
Two hours later, I was woken up by Tara saying that Enrique and Sofi had an idea, and I had to get dressed. The two of them had been driving around doing chores, trying to come up with an alternative for us.
They took us across the road, to their new property, where they were building a house for themselves and another corral for the horses. They had decided that we could use half of their land to build a hostel. They walked us through the land and explained which part would be set aside for the hostel. It was perfect. Almost the same situation as the other house, with a great view of the city, and a much better view of the mountains.
This is a view of the property from the road.
We liked the idea, it was a fantastic alternative. So we once again walked around taking measurements and lots of photographs, and we spent that entire night talking about the new idea. Enrique explained to us just how cheap building was in the Mendoza region, so it seemed this alternative was actually going to save us some money.
We checked out the site for the main house, and the view.
and the swimming pool.
The next day was our last with Enrique and Sofi, and we spent it helping them around the properties and, of course, talking about the hostel some more. We gave them US$600 in order to open a bank account for the hostel, and a goodwill gesture. They were to use the money to start work on the property - digging a driveway to where the hostel would be built, and a great big hole for the swimming pool.
When they dropped us off at our hostel in town, we all had a beer and toasted to ourselves. We were all happy and excited about starting this new venture together.
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