Marujo Hostel

I stayed five nights at this hostel as a solo woman traveler. I’d been worried by the negative reviews, but I’d happily rate my stay 10 out of 10. It felt safe, was clean, and is in a great location. The staff were very polite and friendly. There’s a supermarket and fish market nearby, and there was no bad smell at all at the hostel. It’s convenient to buy seafood and cook it yourself.

We had a frightening experience with the male owner or manager. He spoke to us in a very threatening, aggressive way, and as two women we were scared for our safety. Nobody told us we had to leave immediately after check-out, either at the start or when we returned the keys. We’d vacated our room on time and were working in the common area, as we’ve been allowed to do at other hostels. We left when he came over, but that treatment, without any reasonable explanation beforehand, was unacceptable. The rooms were alright, but the hygiene could have been better. The common areas smelled of fish, and I saw laundry being folded on a dirty couch. The location was okay, though the street felt a bit creepy at night. The Wi-Fi also seemed to stop working several times, possibly to stop us from working or make us leave during the day. It still showed as connected, but suddenly didn’t work, even though it had been fine before they saw us working. Because of that scary and deeply uncomfortable incident, we have to warn others about this hostel. Be safe. Their reply to our safety concerns makes up lies, which is another example of the unprofessionalism and poor treatment of guests.

I stayed four nights at Marujo and met some really nice staff. It was clean, had everything we needed, and they invited guests to join dinner on New Year’s Eve. Highly recommend this place!

The people are very kind and the atmosphere is nice. My favorite part was the churrasco they put on once a week. It was awesome.