Casa de la Gringa

Good
not sure what you're looking for in latin america on a budget but i had three eggs, toast jam, good coffee with everything a backpacker is looking for, hot water, nice beds, TV, DVD, two lounge areas, young free crowd and cool owners. on a scale of one to ten of latin american hotels on a budget i would give it an eight and i've been going for a year.

Worst hostel in fifteen countries
We were actually recommended this place by a friend who obviously had a much better experience than us. We stayed in November 2006 -- didn't see any free breakfast! The place is all done out in hippy trippy decor and the cats' dirt trays are just left overflowing in a corner, pervading the hostel with a disgusting odour. Firstly we had to change our room after one night as the bed was so uncomfortable in to one with no curtains! We were staying here around our Inca Trail trip and we had no hot water before we left to go camping for four days and to add insult to injury -- there was none when we returned all achy and smelly! The so called secure storage was a corner of the common room, open to all. When we finally complained, the owner Lesley told us that we were difficult and despite putting twenty-four-hour Hot Showers on her advert, she told us that this was impossible to do in Cusco! What an insult to the other hostels and hotels who do manage to do this. It's not like we were expecting the Ritz, we had stayed in cheap places from Laos to Indonesia to Australia to the Amazon but this was poor. I've seen other reviews who, like our friend, have had a good time staying here but my advice is don't.