“ A home away from home ”

Reviewed May 7, 2013

by pcandjd (1 review) , Australia

We spent nearly two weeks in Huaraz and stayed at La Casa de Maruja for the entire time other than when trekking. Maruja and Gilf were fantastic as hosts and made us feel at home. The rooms were clean, internet and wifi a good speed and the full functioning kitchen was great. The breakfast was amazing and changed between pancakes or eggs with tea, home made juice as well as jam and toast.

The location is a little out of town (0.80 soles collectivo to the plaza) which allows for a relaxing stay and Maruja provides cards with the address as well as a small map to allow you to direct a taxi driver on your return.

Gilf is an experienced mountain guide and helped us organise a trek to Laguna 69 as well as the Santa Cruz trek. He helped us tailor the trip to our available time, our preference for independent trekking (Laguna 69) as well the Santa Cruz trek which was in an organised group. We also borrowed some gear (sleeping bags and mats) from the B&B which were great quality.

Maruja helped us with our Spanish and would always go out of her way to make sure that we enjoyed our stay. Nothing was too much to ask.

Recommend this place for a relaxing stay in Huaraz.

This review is the subjective opinion of a TravelPod member and not of TravelPod.com.

“ Gem in the Mountains ”

Reviewed Jun 9, 2011

by jaydagardaya (1 review) Newcastle , Australia

I've never felt more welcome in my life. My friend and I arrived at 6am from the overnight bus from Lima - we were tired and cold, but upon arrival to la casa de Maruja we have never felt warmer. They invited us in, made us a pot of hot Made de Coca (coca leaf tea), cooked us a beautiful breakfast with fresh juice, eggs, and toast and gave us warm jackets to put on as we didn't have any. The rooms were clean with en suits. The first few days we had some hot water issues, but no problem was too much and they went above and beyond to fix the problem. We were served a lovely breakfast each morning in the sunshine on the rofftop terrace, our laundry was done for us, and when we arrived after dark Maruja would make us some Made de coca to have in our room.
The free internet works in the rooms which is great. For 2 days they didn't have a spare key to our room so couldn't make our beds(this was not even an issue to us as we were only going to sleep in them again!!) but Maruja felt bad so she cooked us papas fritas and made us tea. On our last day they told us that because there was no one checking into our room we were free to use it until we had to leave - they are travellers and understand that when leaving on a night bus we may want to shower and rest before hand. I have never experienced this kind of hospitality and generosity before in any accommodation and could not recommend them enough. People might feel that their location on the outskirts of town is a problem, but we enjoyed being away from the hustle and bustle of the town centre. They can also organise various treks and adventures ranging from 1 day to 28days - it's a shame we didn't utilise this service as we were here mostly to relax and stock up on Peruvian knitted goodies. Loved Huaraz, loved la casa de Maruja. 10/10!!

This review is the subjective opinion of a TravelPod member and not of TravelPod.com.