Demian
Demian is the co-owner of the Prisamata Hostal and the manager of the Zeppelin Bar, in Salta. He has never been to a university, but has traveled through South and Central America. He came to Salta from Buenos Aires with no money. He took a job washing cars where he got paid five pesos a day. That is less than 2 US dollars. He stayed there two days then knew he had to find something else to do.
Then he got a job waiting tables in Zeppelin. He did that for about three years. Then the owners had conflicts and Demian started managing the hostal. More detail is below.
Demian at 7 pm in Zeppelin, the night of the reopening.
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Demian at 3 AM the night of the re-opening.
Demian at 5AM the night of the re-opening.
My first notes on Demian:.
He said his parents read the book by Hesse and liked that name. But he said he isn't like the Demian in the book. He has quite an interesting life story. He is 28 now and is managing three businesses. (Prisamata, Zeppelin and Cru). When he was 16 he started traveling. He told me he went on a graduation trip to the south of Argentina with his highschool class and everyone else was just drinking and partying. He and his friend Pablo decided to leave the group and go spend time in nature. Then later he and his friend took another trip by themselves.
Then when he got back home to Buenos Aires he didn't feel good about living there. He said while he was traveling he learned to live simply. He said in Buenos Aires you have to keep buying things, bigger televisions, more clothes etc. He said there is no nature there and the river is polluted and if you look out your window you see buildings and highways. So he only stayed there long enough to work and save up some money so he could start traveling again. He and his friend traveled to Bolivia Peru and Ecuador on one trip. Then on another trip they flew to Panama and from there travelled to Mexico. He has been to around 10 countries so far.
In Buenos Aires he worked with a friend who he calls one of the best cameramen in Argentina. The friend taught him about photography and film. He started studying the same thing in school but realized there was no point to studying it because he was learning more by doing it. So he left school and has never gone back. He is a good example of what a person can do without a degree. He wants to keep traveling and become a photojournalist, writing documentaries and taking pictures as he travels. Asia is in his plans.
Demian started out waiting on tables in Zeppelin. Then the owners were having disagreements and they let the business fall apart. It eventually closed because of the management conflicts. Demain made a proposal to the owners. He told them that if they would give him the keys to the building, put him in charge of the management, and give him a percentage of the profits, he would re-open it. They agreed. The business has been so successful that Demian has saved enough money to start the Prisamata Hostel and Cru Restaurant. He told me last night he is also planning to start a hostel in Cachi, another popular tourist spot near Salta.
Links
Demian's Brother, Nicholas
Demian's Friends
Martin
More notes
After they went to Mexico they went back to Argentina with the plan to sell a car they had and save up some more money and then go to the USA and work in a ski resort in Aspen. But when they got home the peso was devalued and they couldn't afford to go to the USA.
After that Ariel tried to find work in Buenos Aires but there wasn't any and he was without work for 3 years.
wanted to go to the United States and work in Aspen but when they got back to Argentina the peso had crashed. Went from 1 peso to 1 dollar to 3/1.
Playa de Carmen, near Cancun. They could earn about 1,500 and get room and board included. They said you could also take a massage course and give massages for around 20 dollars an hour. So you could earn 100 in a day.