Hostel pets (by Joe)

We´ve had some wonderful ´pets´ in some of the hostels and other accommodation we´ve stayed in. There have been dogs of every breed, size and character; lots of cats; a few rabbits; and occasionally pigs and chickens.

In the bathroom of one of our beach shacks in Thailand, there were unnervingly over-sized Gekkos which would watch you through one eye when you took a shower.

In another, there was a large frog that croaked night and day and lived under the toilet seat. When we mentioned this to the owner he responded (a bit incredulously) that "... well, frogs like the damp, don´t they?!".

Anyway, we recently encountered the best hostel pets so far: a beautiful pair of clipped toucans in the lovely verdant courtyard of our hostel in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

They are a fantastic pair - very inquisitive, totally fearless and rather cheeky. They took a particular shine to Laura and liked to follow her flip-flopped feet to the shower (left).

Joe