My girlfriend and I arrived at a bohemian traveller’s hostel just as everyone was starting to get into the rhythm of the night. We had both been hiking to get to the beachside hostel surrounded by dense jungle for 3 days, allowing a layer of dirt and sweat to settle into our skin and clothes that we desperately needed to cleanse ourselves of. Rushing to drop our bags off in the upstairs dorm room we hurried to the outdoor showers that skirt the common area of the hostel to rinse off the days of heat and hard slog through the jungle.
It seemed that we had arrived at exactly the right time as a crowd of young, tanned, healthy-looking travellers from every corner of the globe had flocked to the common area for sunset. A tan guy with wild hair had started pouring ice-cold mojitos into whatever vessel he could find in the unruly kitchen while two girls were doing shots of the mixture off each other’s body and giggling uncontrollably at themselves. A few girls stealing furtive glances at me under the cold shower as I washed away the dirt from my face and muscular body revealing that I was not a swamp monster at all and actually quite a good looking bloke in a rough sort of way. A tall dark and handsome type with 3 days of stubble and deep green/grey eyes that held the gaze of the brazen girl still looking at me before she shyly looked away.