The Casa En El Agua, wow, I’ve got a lot to say about this hostel. We all loved it. I had first seen it advertise on Instagram, it was a ‘LadBible’ special, for any of you who know who that company is. They made a short video which captivated me, they added the name at the end of the video, and I added the Casa En El Agua into our itinerary.
When I was making my plans to visit my friend, who lived in Medellin, we decided to take a side trip to Cartagena as well, and he meet us there. The Casa En El Agua is a must for any travellers visiting Cartagena. Although the word hostel is what they would class it as, there were many different types of people there, not necessarily backpackers. I would stay it does appeal to the younger adult market due to the party vibe it gives off. So bear this in mind before you book.
Your day starts when you arrive at Cartagena port, they tell you what time you’re going to be leaving in an email a few days before the departure, which for the faster transfer was about 10 am. You line up with all the other travellers who were heading to the hostel that night as well. The speedboat transfer time in total took about 2 hours, it’s not too long when you compare it to the other transfer of 5 hours. The speedboat takes you out of Cartagena port and across the aqua blue sea to the hostel. You can see the Casa En El Agua in the distance and you can feel the excitement on the boat as we edge closer and closer.
When you arrive at the hostel everyone that is either already staying there, or leaving that day, is waiting for you. Cheering, shouting and playing loud music for when you arrive. It looks like fun straight away. I believe they were playing ‘My House’ from Flo Rida when we turned up. It felt like I was back in Asia again. The staff that worked there were other travellers, they were English, and always up for a laugh, as they were young adults just like us.
There were multiple different types of people that were staying at the hostel. There were couples, groups of friends, solo travellers, couple of friends, groups of travellers who had maybe just met somewhere else in South America. There was a mixture of ages starting probably from 18 and going all the way up until about 35. Most likely they had seen the same advertisement we had on social media.
The Casa En El Agua was beautifully made, all wooden features, bright colours which had probably been painted by other travellers. It had a typical backpacker vibe as people were enjoying beers, either in the water, or by the bar. Everyone was mixing and socialising with each other. People were dancing as the music was blasting all day, even into the night, because remember – we were on our own private island in the middle of the sea. No one was around us, perfect.
Casa En El Agua is very compatible to add into any Cartagena itinerary, you just need to have one spare night. Of course, you can stay longer if time permits it. We felt the full effects of the hostel in just that one night we had, which was exactly what we intended, we didn’t feel like we needed any longer than this. I wouldn’t recommend booking the hostel either side of any international or domestic flights, just in case you have any delays. You will also only be able to take a certain amount of luggage across to the Casa En El Agua. So book-ending this stay with a night either side in Cartagena is a must, this means you can leave all your larger luggage behind.
The Casa En El Agua beds are very easy to book via their website. We decided to go for hammocks which were $21 per person per night. You could of course go for a private room, or one of the dorm rooms – which had bunk beds, but these where more expensive. If a hammock, as a bed option, is available; why wouldn’t you go for a hammock? $21, you’re probably thinking this is quite a lot but if you think about it on a whole; you get a hostel which is completely unique on it’s own island with an amazing amount of atmosphere, your hammock for the night, meals included and a welcome drink as well. We were happy with it.
The extras you need to this about was getting there. When booking your Casa En El Agua stay, the website directs you to the transfer company which you then pay to get yourselves over to the hostel. Unless you try and hop on some local fishing boat, there isn’t any other way to get to the hostel apart from this company, ‘Tranq It Easy’. There are two different routes you can take though. The faster route which is a speedboat, is what we took, but of course the more expensive of the two options. It cost us $38 per person just for one way. Or you can take the slower journey which takes about 5 hour and 15 minutes (one way), what a waste of life, and it’s only $12 less in total. No thank you.
You pay a deposit first of all and then you pay the rest of 70% when you get to the hostel, including your return transfer which from what I remember was about $28 per person. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE CASH WITH YOU, THERE ARE NOT ANY ATM’S AT THE HOSTEL.
It may be an expensive stay in total and I guess it is depending on your budget. However it’s just an experience that you don’t want to miss, particularly if you’re going all of that way to South America. It was worth every penny – we just looked at it from a total cost in the end and decided not to worry about it. I would highly recommend the Casa En El Agua to any traveller heading to Colombia.
LEAH HANCOX 