'You're not hostile elders," our guide, counselor, confidante, paramedic and a lot of other things said. "You're Elderhostelers."
Which was true, but at the time it didn't seem like it. We were standing in the middle of a Costa Rican cloud forest, as dense and as tropical as a rain forest except that it is on the top of a mountain. Cloud forests are formed by the constant presence of clouds. It's somewhat like being in a continual San Francisco fog on Twin Peaks.
We were standing on "cookies," rounds of wood set in the jungle path so we wouldn't get all muddy--well, not very muddy--and our guide was Gloriana Sanchez, who in her lifetime had been a friend to crocodiles (she fed the babies), a taxi driver in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose and a biology student.
She was shepherding 19 of us around Costa Rica as part of one of the many Elderhostels that traipse through Costa Rica each year. This particular one was concerned with the natural life of Costa Rica, which ranges from tree frogs to crocs and includes a host of birds we don't see in North America.
The Costa Rican Elderhostel is but one of hundreds offered by the Elderhostel organization. More than 100,000 Americans now annually take part in both domestic and foreign Elderhostels.
Their concept was first dreamed up by Marty Knowlton, who is still active in the movement and who runs several Elderhostels of his own in Southern California. Knowlton had been in Europe and was intrigued by the use of European university dorms as a low-cost place to lodge in the summer.
When he got home, he began signing up U.S. institutions of higher learning, and Elderhosteling was born. The qualifications are simple: either you or your companion has to be more than 55 years of age. (When we first began, it was 60.)
Domestic Elderhostels--those offered in the United States and Canada--typically last a week. Each has some affiliation with a nonprofit agency, although not necessarily a college or a university. For example, the Bahai faith offers several at its camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Most domestic Elderhostels offer three classes. These are usually held in the morning. The afternoon is devoted to field trips, excursions or visits to surrounding places of interest. For instance, last year we attended an Elderhostel at Killarney Mountain Lodge on the north shore of Lake Huron. Killarney Mountain Lodge is a resort originally built by the Fruehauf Trucking Company to entertain employes and business guests.
Now it is a privately owned resort which is the site for several Elderhostels in slack times in the fall and spring. Our Killarney classes were on Canadian immigration and Canadian jazz greats (including Oscar Peterson), both taught by a Canadian naturalization judge who also happens to be a jazz drummer of long standing. For trips we hiked over the granite of the Canadian shield, canoed and ate a lot. The food was, as it is in most Elderhostels, filling and fattening.
Most domestic Elderhostels these days are held at similar facilities. The days of dorm life and shared bathrooms are still there, if you want to experience them, particularly at places like Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, which also happens to be the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Not unnaturally, the chief attraction there is the theater, the plays and acting.
Ashland is, as a matter of fact, where we got started with Elderhosteling. Since then, though, we have been to others in Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Bermuda and, of course, Costa Rica. We've also journeyed to England, France and Italy.
Foreign Elderhostels cover the world from China to Turkey. There's almost no place where you can't find an Elderhostel program these days. There's even one that travels among the Cook Islands, Fiji and Samoa.
Foreign Elderhostels are similar to domestic ones, but usually longer. Typically, they last three weeks and are concerned with the country in which they are held. Thus, at the Elderhostel we attended in France at Chateau Meridon, 20 miles southwest of Paris, we learned about French municipal government, French village life, some French art and French food.
So adventures in travel and learning at an Elderhostel can vary widely, depending on choice and location. So can how you travel. The Costa Rican adventure was in a 20 passenger air-conditioned bus with stays at four different facilities: a finca, or farm, and three resorts--all with private baths, a big consideration for those of us of senior years. In Italy, we were in two small but pleasant hotels, both with exemplary food. In England, it was in dorms at three different universities. The great additional benefit of foreign Elderhostels is that their cost includes health insurance. (Seniors over 65 and on Medicare are not covered by Medicare overseas.)
If you wish, you also can take part in service Elderhostels. These aren't, strictly speaking, educational opportunties--and then again, they are. They include working for Habitat for Humanity in various places, teaching kids in Jamaica, counting dolphins in Belize and Monterey Bay, and similar activities.
Foreign Elderhostels usually include in their cost air fare from some "gateway" city, although not always.
How much do Elderhostels cost? In the United States and Canada, they're edging up toward $400 a week per person, but that includes what are always ample meals and, usually, all educational materials. It's harder to be specific about overseas Elderhostels. It depends on how far away they are and what the country of destination is like.
Roughly, however, they compare favorably with guided tours. Overseas Elderhostels also have guides--or "couriers," as they are called in some places--who, like Glorianna, travel with you, speak the language of the country, seem to know everything and are prepared for almost any emergency.
Finally, the greatest thing about Elderhostels is their membership. Almost universally, Elderhostelers are not hostile. They are friendly, usually a lot of fun, often adventurous and probably more traveled than you will be. Most have at least a bachelor's degree; many have more education. They're interested in learning as well as teaching one another.
We've made friends on all our trips, including several long-lasting friendships that have endured not only the years, but succeeding Elderhostels we've attended together.
To learn more about Elderhostels, write to Elderhostel, 75 Federal Street, Boston, Mass., for a catalog. Elderhostel issues four catalogs a year, including one for the U.S. and Canada, one for foreign trips and one for service trips.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 22, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.