Roots and Wings: Hostel in the Forest, Brunswick, Georgia

I've epitomized this hostel as one of my only known roadtrip destinations for a couple months now. Ya know how when a movie gets tons of hype and everyone thinks it's great, your expectations are so high when you finally see the movie that you're always a little let down, and then you realize that it was a pretty good movie, you just had unrealistic expectations? That was my mood swing at the Hostel in the Forest.

We arrived at 7pm, just in time for 1/2 a tour of the premises, "circle of thanks" and communal dinner. My spirits were SOOOOOOOOO high. The people were amazing, the food was amazing, the premises were amazing.

My evening ended by dancing by myself in the kitchen:

The next day (Thursday, January 7) we hiked the trail around the 131 acres owned by the land trust/hostel that is the Hostel in the Forest.

We found a lake,

jungle palmetto groves,

a huge tree,

a hut with a hammock

The walk thru the jungle was warm and sunny, quite a change from the frigid Asheville temps. Sayings are posted all over the grounds: "Loosen Up"

or "You're Gorgeous" on the mirrors:

After our morning explorations the hostel volunteer staff hooked us up with a workt rade task: making "curtain walls" for the screen hut. We got all the tools we need, but the given materials were a little questionable: three really ratty blankets. What style do we choose? Rob and I brainstormed and settled on a rolling panel design with bamboo rods sewn into the bottom, both as weight and for ease of rolling. The project followed a similar trajectory to my mood at the hostel: I was really excited to have a project, excitingly challenged by the task, annoyed by the hiccups in said project, dismayed to be creating something that looked like it would have very little merit and finally surprisingly pleased with the outcome. The blankets were so holey they could have been blessed by the pope. Patching was the idea but it takes forever and there was no way we were going to complete the project in the 4 hours of daylight we had to work on it. We began it; the project is started in a way that works well.

The Hostel in the Forest has been going strong for 33 years. It has morphed over that time from an international hostel (jumping on the Hostelling International bandwagon for a short while early on) to what it is now which is much more an experiment in communal living and back-to-the-earth cooperation. It is staffed by a crew of volunteers who are have daily responsibilities like tending to the composting toilets, cooking the evening meal, cleaning the common spaces or caring for the gardens. Then there is the rotating task of manning the phones, taking reservations and being the greeter. Whitney Husz is the present manager. She receives a modest stipend and the final say. She is the arbiter as well as the designator of tasks. All staff contribute to the list-making of jobs to accomplish around the compound and Whitney assigns said jobs to work-trade hostellers. There's plenty to do, but I imagine there's also a delicate balance of necessary guests vs. work-traders staying without paying.

There is a price paid by the staff in such a seemingly idyllic jungle palace: their home is constantly "invaded" by strangers (hostel guests).

Imagine waking in your own hut and walking the boardwalk to the main dome where the kitchen is to get your first cup of morning coffee,

but before you get to the pot you have questions tossed your way by hostellers trying to follow the rules of recycling or looking for the spatula to cook themselves breakfast. Makes the "be here now" taped over the clock on the coffee pot that much more ironic. Staff and Managers last 3-4 months on average. The art of living communally might be a meditation in and of itself.