The Lazy Dog Inn - An Eco-Lodge Nestled in the Andean Mountains of Peru
by Rebecca Hollman
updated Jan 19, 2019
The Lazy Dog Inn - Huaraz, Peru
The Lazy Dog Inn is located on the border of Huascaran National Park, just outside the mountain town of Huaraz. With the Cordillera Blanca as it’s backdrop, the Lazy Dog Inn could be in a picture perfect postcard. With its lush green pastures, glacial backdrops, and herds of community cows and sheep, some people might mistake this scenery for the Swiss Alps. But it is actually the beautiful and stunningly high altitude mountain range of the Cordillera Blanca located in Central Peru. Besides being situated in an ideal landscape, The Lazy Dog Inn also is entirely eco-conscious and environmentally-friendly with every aspect of how they run their operation. Stay a night, or ten, in this beautiful mountain lodge and find your own little slice of pure bliss.
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The Lazy Dog Inn is an eco-lodge and grows almost all of their own fruits and vegetables in 16 greenhouses located around the property. Whatever they can’t grow directly on the lodge site, they buy from local farmers in the surrounding communities. The owners of the Lazy Dog also give greenhouses to families in the three local communities near the lodge to allow these families to grow fruits and vegetables all year long - regardless of outside temperature. They have brought in a “greenhouse expert” to make sure that all their greenhouses are efficient and to educate the local peoples on how to use the greenhouses in the most effective ways. Breakfast and dinner are served family-style around the large dining room table every day. All the guests who are staying at the lodge come and eat together around the table and share a meal prepared from food from the gardens.
You can learn more about the Greenhouse Food Security Project of the Andean Alliance HERE
Besides growing all their own food, the lodge composts all of their waste and uses it as fertilizer for their horse pastures. They also conserve all their grey water (used sink and shower water) and use it to water the yard and horse pastures. The lodge is located on a slope, with the main house being at the highest point, so all of the rain water runs down through all of the fields. Even the buildings of the lodge itself were handmade with bricks sourced from the surrounding mountains. The lodge was hand built by people from the local communities, providing employment opportunities for families living nearby.
The Lodge offers five different rooms for accommodation. There are three rooms located within the main lodge - a single bedroom on the top floor of the main lodge with its own balcony and bathroom, a single bedroom on the main floor with a shared bathroom, and a group bedroom with three beds and a fireplace on the main floor. There are also two separate cabins slightly down the hill from the main building, each with three beds. All of the rooms have access to the community kitchen and the living room area with big couches and a fireplace. Everyone is encouraged to use the communal area and breakfast and dinner are included in the price of the room for the night. Lunch can be prepared for you but at an additional price. Because there are only five rooms, there are never too many guests at one time and the whole lodge gets to know each other. It really is an intimate experience where you get to meet guests from all over the world, as well as Peruvians from the surrounding communities.
The owners of the Lazy Dog Inn are extremely involved in giving back to the local community and have created an organization called the Andean Alliance. The objectives of this alliance are “ 1) To strengthen the economic income base of Andean communities and foster their inclusion into the formal economy via skills training and small business development while conserving Andean cultural traditions 2) To strengthen the social capital of Andean communities by implementing educational, sports and youth development programs 3) To support improved natural resource management and conservation practices among the Andean people.” The Alliance has started many opportunities to give employment opportunities to everyone in the community - including starting the Yurac Yacu Café and the Yurac Yacu Women’s Club. The café promotes the use of locally grown and traditional foods. The Women’s Club promotes small business development for women in the communities. These women get together weekly to attend knitting and dying classes, and also economic and small business development classes. Getting together allows these women to form a co-op where they can sell their textiles and embroidery and allows them to make money to support their families and feel empowered within their community.
You can read more about the Andean Alliance and their work with the local communities HERE
Besides working with small business development, the Andean Alliance also works with education and has started a pre-school for the area, as well as a library and computer center for the community. There is one teacher who is trained to teach in both Spanish and Quechua, who provides classes five days a week for children from the ages of 3 to 5. The library and computer center are there for the whole community to use, including middle school and high school age children to do their assignments before going to school in the town of Huaraz. The library encourages a lending program where parents can bring books back to their homes to read to their children.
The Lazy Dog Inn honestly cares about the people in the surrounding communities and wants to promote their economic development and education while also emphasizing local Andean traditions and knowledge. They want to give a meaningful and impactful experience to travelers, while also leaving little to no trace on the environment. This is one of the nicest places I have stayed while traveling - especially in Peru - because of how much they care about you, the environment, and everyone in the area. It was awe-inspiring to see the work they put back into the community and also awe-inspiring to be located right at the base of some of the tallest mountain peaks in the world. It felt like I was a member of the Lazy Dog family, and that truly is a unique experience in this day and age. I would highly recommend for anyone traveling in Peru to make a stop in Huaraz just to stay at this lodge and appreciate an authentic experience of the Andean life.
Activities Nearby
Huaraz is known as a trekking town so most of the activities nearby including hiking throughout the many 6000 meter peaks of the Huascaran National Park. Besides hiking, there are many opportunities for rock climbing and chances to see glaciers and beautiful, blue glacier lakes. You can read about the best 21 things to do in Huaraz on my other post HERE.
Costs
All prices include breakfast and dinner and range from 180 – 270 soles (US$64 – 95) depending on the room. You can book directly at The Lazy Dog Inn.
