Having lived in Santa Fe for more than half my life, I've seen buildings and signs here come and go. The crumbling merchant landscape that is Cerrillos Road presents an ever-evolving view, and while I'm usually focused on tamping-down my road rage or looking for a decent song on the radio during bumper-to-bumper traffic, every once in awhile, a piece of history smacks me in the eye hole, and I take notice. Sometimes, I even pull over.
1412 Cerrillos Road has been the address of The Santa Fe International Hostel for more than 30 years, offering travelers a place to stay, eat, and freshen up for what could be considered a pittance compared to the rates charged at your average City Different lodging facility.
This low-key respite —a 501(c)(3) educational Not-For-Profit corporation — operates like a well-oiled machine, and although there are numerous rules and quirks you won't find at traditional hotels or motels, the benefits of staying at this hostel, and many others like it throughout the world, are many.
Hostel owner
Preston Ellsworth is an eccetric one, to be sure. He's an avid collector of vintage Mercedes-Benz cars; he is a champion of Santa Fe's homeless population; he filters discarded restaurant cooking oil to make biodiesel fuel; and he refuses to put televisions in any of his hostel's rooms. In what Ellsworth calls his "nightly experiment in intended community," the exchange of words, ideas, music, and art have more to offer than an honor bar and cable porn. And weary travelers flock to his address in anticipation of just such encounters.
As a courtesy, I asked hostel employee Robert Frisch (sic) for permission to take a few snapshots of the building's historic, monolith-like sign, and he obliged (after checking my credentials carefully), even taking me on a tour of the hostel's facilities — but not the rooms, out of respect for his guests.
"We're pretty low-key," Robert told me. "No business cards, no flashy brochures... what you see is what you get, and it does attract a particular brand of traveler. Serving the backpacker, the low-maintenance tourist, the poor adventurer, that's our business model. In a place like Santa Fe, there aren't many options for travelers on a really tight budget. It's a culture thing. A community thing."
The rates at the Santa Fe International Hostel vary depending on the length of your stay and your comfort needs, but one thing is set in stone: you are your own maid. Because of regulations regarding 501(c)(3) educational Not-For-Profits, visitors must hail from out-of-state. And if you think this laid-back facility won't do some background checks on you, think again.
"There is this tendency in Santa Fe and other American tourist towns to equate hostels with homelessness or unsavory characters," Robert said. "In other parts of the world, hostels are celebrated as an imporant part of the tourist culture. I think, in the U.S., there's a condition of what city government wants the perception of its tourist draw to be, and we [hostels] often get left in the dust. We screen guests and staff when we deem it necessary. It's a safety thing, not a personality judgment."
The hostel functions as a nonprofit organization offering inexpensive shelter and other services to international guests, but sometimes, their mission is misinterpreted by city agencies and other nonprofits operating within city limits. Robert explained:
"The police used to bring people here that they had found on the street: drug addicted, mentally disabled, homeless folks ... and homeless shelters were listing us on fliers in their facilities as a go-to place for their spillover. Look: We work with businesses like Whole Foods and other nonprofits to provide food for the homeless and other at-risk groups, but that's not the core mission of our organization on this property. We're not equipped or designed to be the intervention guy, or the bootstrap. We house travelers. That's our deal."
The exchange of ideas between cultures
is at the core of this hostel's mission, and the staff's work collecting food to offer its paying guests — for free in many cases — does not make it a food pantry. The hostel sports one of the cleanest kitchens I have ever seen in Santa Fe, and the grub that can be had at no cost to patrons is clearly marked as such. Cooking duties are shared, and the ingredient list changes daily, depending on the donations the hostel receives from Whole Foods and other organizations. In late January, for instance, $150 worth of Stilton Cheese made its way to the hostel kitchen. A post on
the hostel's Web journal attributed to "William from Portland" says,
"Let’s start with the kitchen: a fully equipped commercial outfit (but for a stove oven, though the toaster oven does well for everything but whole turkeys or pizzas…) literally bursting with gourmet trimmings and bustling with conversation and laughter filled my heart with mirth and my belly with impressive and delicious snacks and meal — all included in the price of staying for the night! What does one do with $150-worth of (free) Stilton cheese? You might just find out if you stay here!"
Robert told me that the hostel will be buzzing in late March:
"It's going to be crazy. We have so many people booked and so many people that want to stay here on their travels, we're going to have to turn some people away. The average stay in the Santa Fe hostel is 3-4 days. But once people get here, they start to relax, and really take in the town and its beauty, and they get to know the other guests. Sometimes, it's hard for them to leave. I guess that's why we're still here, and why they keep coming."
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