Galileo Hostel - Backpacker's Hostel, San Jose Costa Rica

She's a mystery breed, we think Rhode Island Red/Americana however, one thing's for sure.  She's the biggest chicken we have on the farm.  She towers over everyone else in the coop including Charmin our rooster.  She isn't laying yet, but we're hopeful, seeing as anything that comes out of her is going to be enormous.

Our fearless manager and resident Mexican, Boozie makes great taco's and when he gets mad he swears in Mexican Spanish.  Come to think of it he swears in Mexican Spanish a lot.  He's also the surrogate father to our hamster Hip Hop Anonymous.

Candee, a White Non-Bearded Silkie (Gallus gallus domesticus) is the mother of the coop, taking under her wing any and all new arrivals until they're ready to start laying on their own.  It is only fitting she is named Candee, after the mother of one of our founders.  She's full of spunk and is always clucking away tending to her flock.

Abbs is from somewhere where it snows a lot.  She rode a horse down here or something and never left.  She escaped from a circus in Kathmandu and traveled throughout southeastern Asia in a trapeze troupe.  I think.

These girls showed up one day old and cute as a button.  Blanche immediately showed herself as the loud one of the group and took over calling for food when it was time to eat, and when it wasn't.  Once old enough to make it out of their initial habitat in Reception next to the television, they moved out into the run with the rest of the girls, where Candee immediately took to mothering them and teaching them how to nest.  Now a days they can be found, all four, sharing the same nesting box - waiting for the first egg...

Hemp.  It's renewable.

One day the Galileo crew went to the market.  We returned with none other Davey Jones.   Davey is a Double Tailed Royal Blue Betta (Betta splendens). His original home was an over-sized beer stein.  However, after a growing concern that he might get accidentally mistaken for someone's beer, Davey moved on up in the world.  He now resides at reception in quite a larger tank, swimming happily among his seaweed and occasionally fighting with "that other fish that looks just like him" (a.k.a his reflection).

(It took me like two months after writing this to get a photo of Davey, and I'm not sure if he's okay...)

Often found with her head in the clouds, Sara makes the best grilled cheese in the world (sorry Mom), she bandages our knees after basketball games, and gets us antibiotics from the pharmacy after late night swims in toxic lakes (see above picture).  She also participated for Belgium in the most recent Winter Olympics as an alternate for the national curling team.  Most likely.

Socrates is the newest member of Galileo.  He came to us from Guanacaste in a soap dish.  He is a Pinkpatch Tarantula (Acanthoscurria antillensis), though a bit smaller than you would expect.  He lives on top of Bowser's tank and helps to greet guests at the beginning of your stay.  Socrates has a unique wisdom as well, he is happy to share his knowledge and prognostications with any and all of our guests.  All you have to do is simply write down any question you may have, and set it outside of his tank for him to find when he wakes up (Tarantulas, even old wise ones, are nocturnal).  Then head to bed, and wake up to Socrates' answer.  No need to thank him as he's usually asleep again when the house starts moving in the morning.

Redneck.  Hillbilly.  White Trash.  Dad?Bro?  He answers to a lot of names, but when he does he's got a perfectly poured pint in hand to welcome you to the Rugged Pineapple Bar.  I also have it on good authority that once when he was just a yipper-snapper in Mississippi his porch collapsed and killed over twenty dogs.  I should also mention "Jonathon can run a 4.13 40 and strikes fear into entire O-lines as soon as he drops his towel in the locker room." that is of course, a direct quote from Jonathon.

Bowser has been with Galileo for a little less than a year, she is a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) and was a "gift" from a friend who was leaving Costa Rica and bound for new adventures in the Far East.  Bowser is extremely social as Matt had taken wonderful care in raising her, so naturally the obvious choice for the placement of her tank was right at our entrance to greet everyone who comes through the door.  She loves to climb, and also loves to eat any live fish we try to spruce her tank up with.  Best part is now you can tell your friends you saw a turtle in Costa Rica (just don't mention the tank)

Small.  Canadian.  Likes juggling.

Bongo is one of our original pair of rabbits.  He is an Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) and he and his brother Carl Lewis came to us at the same time small enough that they both fit in an open palm.  Sadly Carl Lewis passed away after about six months with us, but not before some seriously comical bunny-chasing antics around our backyard come time to go to bed.  That left Bongo by himself, and that's when his friendship with Charmin really blossomed, you could see them snuggling together in Charmin's coop at night while she nested, and Bongo even taught Charmin to LOVE banana leaves.  They still live together.

Charmin is a Scots Grey (Shepherd's Plaid, Chick Marley)and came to us with three of her sisters when she was a day old.  She was smaller and fluffier than her siblings, and so she was given the name Charmin.  A lot of construction was going on at the same time on the new chicken run and coop, and somehow or another her heat lamp got switched off and she fell into her water dish.  When we found her she was not breathing and her eyes had shut.  We jumped into action and whipped together a heat box in a couple minutes, using zip ties instead of traditional fasteners to get the job done super quick.  Well after about three days her eyes had started to open more frequently and she had started eating a little from the tiny bottle-cap we rested her head on.  Then after about two weeks she was stumbling around the box a little more every day.  After a couple months we could let her out in the yard every day for a few hours.  Problem was, she was so much smaller now than the other chickens (who all turned out to be roosters) that she was bullied constantly when they were around, she couldn't share the perch and started nesting on the ground.  She had adapted more to humans than anything else and acted terrified whenever she was around the other birds.  The only living space we had available was with two of our bunnies.  And that's how the friendship started.  Today, Charmin and Bongo are inseparable, it's even been witnessed once or twice Charmin riding around on Bongo's back. 

Fast forward a year and Charmin's three brothers were taken to market to make room for a new flock of fun chickens, and Charmin was left alone in the chicken run with three baby chicks.  That's when the transformation happened.  When left without other Roosters in the run to compete with, Charmin's comb started to come in beautifully, her jowls dropped, and she learned to crow.  Come by the hostel and let us introduce you to Charmin, Galileo's own female rooster.

Charmin is also classed as an endangered breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

No one's really sure who he is or what it is he does around here, but he always seems to be around.  This may be the only known picture.

Rocky was left at the hostel almost three years ago.  After some puppy dog eyes and serious face licking she was added reluctantly to our crew.  She now runs the hostel and will most likely greet you as you arrive.  Although she's left her street days long behind her, she never lost the, "I-haven't-eaten-in-days-please-just-a-little" look.  We assure you she gets more than enough as it is and often eats better than our staff.  Please, please, please don't feed our dog.

Christ why won't our staff stop buying animals...