Back in 2004 a group of old time friends moved to a somehow ruined house. They were looking for a place to settle, but at the same time, a place that could capture the mind-set they were in. They wanted a better lifestyle as opposed to higher income, to live in community instead of secluded luxury, to embrace a lively & traditional neighborhood and not another fancy yuppie housing project... they wanted happiness, no matter how naive that sounded. To many of them, it meant taking strong personal decisions, like leaving their jobs or moving to another city. The city was out of question: Valparaiso.
Once they found the house, things were not easy. To be honest, nobody knew exactly how they were going to pull it off, or if it would last. But slowly the place became kind of an open house, a meeting point for students, young professionals, expats, exchange students and outcasts of all sorts. Suddenly there were waiting lists of people wanting to move in, as soon as a room became available.
Kuky, one of the "inmates" started calling the house "Planeta Lindo", Beautiful Planet. Everyone laughed it off. It sounded absolutely corny. But it stuck. We started calling it that way, our families started to refer to our house like that, and some of us use it even as a password nowadays.
The day came when one of the occupants had to move away. Pedro decided to move with his girlfriend for good. It was not difficult to find a replacement: charming & lovely Ginger. In 2010 we expanded the house by renting it's first floor (previously an office), and so grew the number of occupants to 10. Now, almost a decade after it's start, 55 people have been Planeta Lindo occupants, and they keep showing up for meetings, parties & our spectacular new year's eve celebrations.
For a long time some of us wanted to be able to figure out a way to make a living by promoting the same good intentions we had when we started Planeta Lindo. So the idea of a hostel came to our minds. We wanted that travelers or people just passing by could also join us, and get a taste of our beautiful neighborhood and sharing community. We found a gorgeous old house a few blocks away from the original one. We fully renovated it and added a rooftop like no other in Valparaiso, a fantastic kitchen and a cozy bar, among other things. Planeta Lindo, the hostel, became the natural counterpart of our first house. If you come to visit Valparaiso, you'll be welcomed to take part in the Planeta Lindo experience. And if you're from overseas and thinking in moving to Valparaiso, our hostel is definitely going to be a great place to start your search for a permanent place. We'll help you out to get into the heart of the city and it's vibrant community. And if you're lucky, you might even find a vacancy in our original house!