|
  | |  |
The Secret Garden
Entry 5 of 24 | show all | print this entry |
Position Vacant
Want to work at the Secret Garden? Here´s the deal. Backpackers wanted to work 6 day weeks (morning or night shifts). Must be friendly, outgoing, and willing to work.
What will you get:
- Accomodation (in shared living quarters down the road from the Secret Garden)
- Meals (breakfast and dinner, and lunch when on shift, served daily by our chef Mario)
- 20 hours of one on one Spanish classes per month
And the Kicker...
- All you can drink, All the time!!! Even when on shift!!
In short... the perfect job!!!
(Please note that this job placement is not completely representative of that which appears at the Secret Garden, but more a representation of my recollection of the advert, including possible reading between of the lines... but this is certainly the deal we got!!)
In short... the perfect job!!!
So what to say about our time in the Secret Garden... so many good times... so many fond memories!!! So much craziness it would be hard to fit it into a space small enough to hold your attention, but I will try...
In one month I do not think I have ever had so much fun, or drank so much free alcohol (and the free is also not necessarily required in this sentence) in my life! Days usually saw us getting up at 7am if we had morning shifts (I say usually because occasionally we slipped, including one breakfast shift I arrived to at 2pm, thanks Shawn for having my back!!) and serving eggs, fruit, and juice in a hung over state to guests that were usually (if we were doing our jobs right) also enjoying the same hung over stupor. Recovery plan...
8 parts rum or capareña mix
1 part ice
1 part left over breakfast fruit juice
a dash of freshly squeezed lime
Blend for 5 minutes and serve ice cold with a slice of lime for garnishing, and repeat.
This fantastic tradition was started early in the course (though with some first time cliches tu y Belmont no esta bien) and was such a success that we soon had many others joining in our so called "Blender Days" (and you will be happy to know that the guys we handed over the reigns to when we left have stayed true and the tradition lives on!!). These days could see anything happen from cutlery being taped to every accessible area of he staff involved so as to aid them in greeting new guests to the hostel (I do not expect you to understand of coarse unless you have woken up and started a Blender Day at 8am, and continued throughout the coarse of the day), or ice-cube tray water fights, hot candle wax fights, ground coffee fights (yeah... that one didn´t go down too well), spiking of the breakfast juice to create what we dubbed "Jugo Nuevo" for the guests, making creative mystery room bookings or just about any other crazed antics that a drunk and in charge Aussie/Canada combo can come up with (which did not ever seem to include building the shelves in the Bodega that I was assigned as a long term project and at the end of our time there had 1 shelf complete!! haha)... trust me, good times!!
The evenings shifts though were usually a whole lot more exciting, as given the Secret Gardens $4.50 all you can drink for 2 hours over dinner deal we usually didn´t find it too hard to find some willing partners in crime to join us on our dinner serving, beer swilling binge that would creciendo (sp?) with good times (and Cuba Libres) around the roof top terrace bonfire, or No Bar on Tuesday nights, or Heinekins or Palatus or Huaynas for the weekends and all you can drink down and dirty good times!!
I also managed to escape the hustle of Quito from some time out at the beach in Montañita. Montañita is a tiny beach side village that is a bit like what Byron was like right back in the day, just a couple of dirt streets lined by some cool little shops, restaurants and bars, with a very chill hippy vibe, and it just an all round good time town! This was a fantastic time whale watching (the same humpbacks that pass the East Coast at home), chilling beach side at Puerto Lopez with some Secret Garden friends, enjoying the BEST Piña Coladas I have ever had, salsa dancing by the beach, surfing the Montañita swell the one day it picked up (which was fortunately the day I was out!), brilliant brunette surfer chicas (LOL!) and just enjoying the good life at la costa, and all, of coarse, with such fantastic company!!
And really at the end of the day this was the best thing about the Secret Garden, the people we met! So many great friends who stayed with us a long time, or simply passed through but added to the experience in their own way during their stay. It was all you that made it such a special experience and downright good time! So thanks again, I am sure many of us shall meet again, and I can´t wait to relive those good times.
Until then... Viva el Jardin Secreto!
May the memories (and the blender drink tradition) last forever!!
Mark
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Ecuador or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
8 votes 
