The backpackers world is small. I remember that from travelling in Southeast Asia. I would see people that I met in my first week at a random bus stop in another country weeks later. That the backpacker world is small makes sense. Everyone does a similar loop, or at least everyone goes to the same backpacker places. On top of that many people are travelling for months at a time, so there is a lot of time to run into each other again. I am currently travelling in South America