Hotel Casa Kolping Chiloe

We were backpacking in Chile and on the look-out for cheap, yet decent accomodation when we arrived in Castro. We checked out a couple of hostels recommended by our travel guide and found them all very awful and pricy. Finally, we discovered the Kolping hostel in a side street near the main square and got almost ecstatic when we entered it. Unlike all the other places we had checked out, they were able to offer us a room which not only gave us enough space to stand next to and move around our bed but also offered a - not grand, but nice-enough - view of the roof-tops of Castro (we had a room on the top floor). The hostel, rooms and the bathroom were inpeccably clean and very pleasant. The common rooms were rather nice and spacious and there was free internet available on a computer in the lobby (bring a little waiting time since all guests share but one computer). Breakfast was included and was adequate (rather basic, but it's after all a hostel and not a five-star hotel). The staff was very kind and helpful. As pretty much everywhere in Chile, they spoke not one word of English but we still managed to communicate in very broken Spanish and the extensive use of gestures and similarly basic means of communication. Probably the only drawback was the kitchen which did not really accomodate for any number (not even a small number) of guests cooking in it. It probably was even supposed only to serve the family running the hostel, although they said they were ok with it when we asked if we could use the kitchen. However, we did not see any other guest doing the same during our stay. Altogether, the hostel is one of the best ones I have stayed in during my Chile trip and I have very pleasant memory of it.