Thursday, January 21, 2010

Hats Off to Harry

by Shelley

We've mentioned in previous posts that in Lima we stayed at Villa Ponciana, owned by a man named Harry. (Click on the link to see some photos of it.) It's in a quiet residential area close to Miraflores (where many of the tourist hotels and shops are).

The "hotel" (actually more like a bed and breakfast) was designed and built by Harry himself. Although born in Peru his grandparents were European and he studied and trained in Switzerland as an architect. After a 30 year career he has "retired" to be a hotelier (and concierge).

Harry himself is a talker and definitely likes to socialize and share stories. He was extremely helpful in suggesting things to do and places to eat in Lima, to the point of printing off maps and dinner menus to help us out. He also suggested some side trips out of Cusco which we did and were some of our favorite excursions.  He arranged taxis for us whenever we came and went from Lima (we used his place as a base to stay and to leave things we didn't need for each part of our travels). He made phone calls to arrange bus travel and got his "researcher" (aka the kid who runs his computer system) to also check into some things for us. He also got his housekeeping staff to do some laundry for us.  And to top it off breakfasts were huge!  Although simple (bread, eggs and corn on the cob) it was often more than we could possibly eat.

In short, Harry went way above and beyond!  Without a doubt, more personal service than you would ever get at a regular hotel or any other place.

We would highly recommend Villa Ponciana!

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