Hi there,
Since we weren’t so bad in Lima, and even more so when compared to Playa del Carmen or Colombia, we decided to spend another month in the city so we could take the opportunity to visit what we were missing from the country.
Initially we thought of extending the stay in Lince’s apartment and luckily, they did not have availability because in the end we were disgusted by such an excessive amount of noise. It was unbearable: firefighters, ambulances, construction work, car alarms going off all day and people honking horns at all hours. Even at night it was the same. We thought of extending our stay there because of that “better the devil you know”, but the truth is that any accommodation would be better than that.
It was better located (in Surquillo, right next to Miraflores) and the host put two work areas with office chairs. In addition, it was $810 per month, which was the cheapest we had paid for accommodations since November 2021.
When I contacted the host, the apartment was occupied so it was not possible to visit. Even so, we went to see the area above all to check if the street was as noisy as the one we had in Lince. It seemed less noisy, so we decided to book.
The accommodation was accessed by password.
The first thing I noticed was the poor cleanliness of the apartment. The kitchen was quite disgusting, so we had to clean it and leave in a separate space what we were going to use during our stay.
Like almost all Airbnb accommodations, the cushions and all the blankets were dirty, but to the extent that they smelled quite bad. So, I had to put everything to wash with the hot water to the maximum. In fact, I completely unmade the bed and washed everything.
The closet smelled musty so throughout the stay I couldn’t get my clothes out of the suitcases. It did not make sense because in Lima there is not much humidity, and we were not in front of the beach either.
The apartment had carpets and I removed them as soon as I arrived because they were full of dust.
We notified the host that he had not left a change of towels as requested and the next day the cleaning lady came to give us the towels. The apartment had two other rooms that were locked and the cleaning lady instead of handing us the towels and leave, she entered the apartment without asking and went into one of the rooms to get the towels.
We took the opportunity to tell her about the blankets and the bedspread and she went back into the room to talk to the host on the phone. She took the dirty blankets to wash and gave us another one that was supposed to be clean, but also smelled funny.
The next day we received a new blanket that the host had bought.
The absurd thing is that a day later the cleaning woman arrived with the washed blankets and instead of giving them to us, she asked permission to go in and leave them in the room that was locked. Why didn’t she leave them at home then? I don’t understand why bother us if she wasn’t going to give us the blankets for our use.
Although the apartment was less noisy than the previous one, it was also quite noisy: people hammering in the building, car alarms, and the garage door that beeped every time it opened. But at least we could open the windows and sleep without earplugs.
We had two office chairs, which was a considerable improvement over the previous accommodation.
Another positive thing is that the mattress and pillows were relatively good, so we slept better than in the previous accommodation.
In conclusion:
Pros
- The best work area we had had so far in our travelling history.
- Quality mattress.
- Large kitchen separated from the rest of the apartment.
- Water filter (important to avoid having to buy and carry drinking water).
- Giant television.
- Good location.
- 24h security in the building.
Cons
- Dirty: pillows, blankets, kitchen. Even the walls were in very poor condition. The apartment in general needed a thorough cleaning.
- Very noisy.
- Closet that smelled musty.
- Slow Internet.
- Pots and pans were of poor quality and burnt.
In the Airbnb evaluation I gave it a 4 in general and a 2 for cleanliness, which is a very good score if we consider the reality of the accommodation. Now I am a bit condescending, and I write the reviews considering the horrible experiences we have had. If I had been fair and objective, the accommodation would have received a much lower score.
Even so, the host wrote to us outraged by the review we had given him and complaining that we had removed the rugs and that we had moved a table in the living room. Obviously, we didn’t answer him, because there’s no point in arguing with that kind of people.
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