Retreat is found in an area of towering mountains
Northern Peru’s Cordillera Blanca Lodge is in an area that’s light on light pollution but has plenty of what can truly be considered high-lights for those visiting a part of Peru that isn’t among the Andean nation’s most frequent tourist circuits.
The lodge – found in the rugged Cordillera Blanca, home to Huascaran, at 6,768 metres Peru’s loftiest mountain – was opened by expatriate Briton Charlie Good, who says guests will find themselves in a particularly scenic part of the word.
“The Cordillera Blanca is one of the most spectacular mountain spots on the planet,” Good flatly states, noting his lodge has towering Andean peaks as a backdrop. “I love our planet. I think I’ve found my place on it.”
The Cordillera Blanca Lodge says it is where “eco-retreat meets mountain chic,” enabling guests to maximize “comfort without sacrificing the view. Each of our thoughtfully designed rooms are equipped with amenities that ensure you are rested and recharged for tomorrow’s adventure. In addition to their unique amenities, each room is equipped with double glazing, 24/7 hot water, drinking water from every tap and toilets equipped to flush toilet paper.”
The resort relies entirely on solar power and doesn’t have single-use plastic.
The lodge has a rustic look but guests won’t find TVs in their rooms, with the absence of room television making perfect sense to Good: “Why would you come all the way here to watch TV?”
Instead, Good continues, his guests can easily experience the Great Outdoors, with “105%” of those guests hiking at some point during their stays. “Even people who come to chill out hike.”
However, the number of birdwatchers – of which Peru tends to see many – is “currently about zero, which is really strange,” says Good, whose hotel is in a part of the world home to many exotic bird species, including condors, often seen as iconic of Peru.
Some birds are endemic to the area, he adds.
Good has adapted well to his adopted homeland, easily at home in Spanish and having completed the 100-kilometer Andes Race, an annual race that has participants run up and down lofty trails in part of Peru steeped in Inca culture.
Among attributes that prompted him to build his lodge in northern Peru were the ability to see “billions of stars” in a setting free of light pollution, and its limited following among travellers from abroad.
“We are in the highest tropical cordillera in the world,” Good continues of the area his hotel is in.
“You don’t see a lot of foreign tourists. Isn’t that lovely? You can come here before it gets busy,” he says of northern Peru, a part of the country Peruvian tourism authorities are focusing more attention on.
Good is a big booster of Peru, among other things noting its diverse topography that includes part of the world’s second-highest mountain range and Amazon jungle.
Indigenous cultures are also easy to encounter in Peru, he adds.
The colourful and sociable Good – who always sports a flat-brimmed hat and wears a watch on each wrist (“If one goes wrong I can check on the other”) – likes to mingle with his guests.
Meanwhile, Good, who clearly has a sense of wanderlust and whose personal hero is polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, says he’s confident that he’ll be spending the rest of his years in Peru.
“I’ve already chosen my burial spot,” he reports.
More information about the Cordillera Blanca Lodge can be found at cblodge.com.
