Have any of you taken ill from the food served by the ishinca valley refuge? How safe is it for foreigners, compared with hiring an independent cook?

The refugio menu looks good but haven't eaten there myself. Probably more risk with the river water, with animals roaming everywhere.

I've eaten there, and suffered no ill effects at all.

Anyone else have experiences eating at the refuge, or heard of anyone else's experiences?

markdp wrote:The refugio menu looks good but haven't eaten there myself. Probably more risk with the river water, with animals roaming everywhere.

Where did you see the menu? Just curious about hours and what they serve:)

The food there is amazing...I've eaten it many times

I ate several meals there last summer. The food is great, and definitely clean. The refuge caretaker last year was a very friendly Italian volunteer who took great pride in the quality of everything, including the food. Peru's refuges are amazing.

I agree with the general consensus above: that the refuge food is good and the volunteers are very kind and helpful. I'll provide a broader summary for those considering it, as some information was not clear to me when I first went.

RESERVATIONS
You don't need to reserve a bed but there is no guarantee one will be available when you arrive. In Mid-June the refuge was about 2/3 full when we arrived, but two days later when we left it was maybe only 1/5 full. Better to reserve.

Reservations are made at the Casa de Guias. They'll need your name and number in your party. You can pay at the Casa de Guias or at the refuge. I elected to pay at the refuge since I wasn't sure exactly how long I'd stay and didn't want to have to deal with getting a refund from the Casa if I left early.

PRICES AND OFFERINGS (as of 2016)
There are three tiers of pricing:
1) bed only (40 soles/night)
2) bed and breakfast (60 or 70 soles, I don't remember which)
3) bed and breakfast and dinner (95 soles)

BEDS
I don't know how many beds there were total, but there are four rooms and our room had six beds (three bunks), so that means at least 24 total, though I think one or two rooms maybe had some more bunks. Beds are small and come with a pillow and a wool blanket. Not enough to sleep comfortably unless you have the grit of a Soviet-era climber, but with your sleeping bag and a rolled up puffy on top of the pillow, it is comfortable and warm.

BATHROOM
Bathrooms have toilets, a sink and mirror, and (in the upstairs bathroom only) a shower. There is no hot water so prepare for a very cold shower if you want one.

WATER
They provide two options for water: boiled or cold (fria). Boiled is not necessarily hot, it just means they boiled it to purify it. It costs 3 soles/liter. Cold water is free. When asked, a volunteer told me that it comes from some glacial source above so it is drinkable. Understandably, we elected to pay for boiled because we didn't want to risk getting sick during our climb. However, on our way out I decided to try the unboiled water instead and drank the whole liter on our hike out. I did not get sick. Interpret that info as you wish.

CHECK-IN
There is no formal reception or check-in. Just go in and find someone in the kitchen tell them you are checking in You have to fill out a visitor registry which includes things like name, nationality, passport #, etc.

BOOTS
There are clear signs that say don't bring boots upstairs. This was confusing since there is a cubby hole filled with boots at the top of the steps and when we first went into our room there were two other climbers in there with boots stored next to their beds. It appears that the boots rule is in reference to WEARING boots, due to the loud sound on the wood floors, which could wake sleeping guests. So take your boots off when you arrive and carry them upstairs when you settle in.

MEALS
For those that get meal plans, the offering is a little complicated and the chalkboard menu only serves to further confuse the situation. Some things you pay for, some you don't.

Breakfast:
Consists of a bread roll with butter and jam, a package of cookies, orange drink (I'm not sure it's orange juice, but it is orange juice-like), and coffee/tea. We stayed two days and breakfast was the same each morning so I assume that it is the same every day.

Lunch:
Lunch is available for a fee. You can ask what is offered but most if not all the options on the chalkboard menu are available. These include a limited selection of pasta, sandwiches, soup, and cake, among others. If you order lunch, you pay for it---that is, it is not included in the any of the pension options. Likewise if you order a mid-day tea, espresso, or hot chocolate.

Dinner:
Normal dinner included in the full 95 soles pension option is a three-course offering: a soup, a main course, and a dessert. Our first night was: vegetable soup, croquettes w/ rice & beans, chocolate pudding. Our second night was: soup with rice in broth; fried chicken strips and french fries, a fruit cup dessert.

For dinner, you can opt to supplement pasta or something for the soup dish, but you will pay 15-20 soles to do so. An Austrian team did this our first night in the refuge because they were celebrating and especially hungry from that day's climb. The pasta looked good.

Alcohol:
They sell beer, wine, and, yes, pisco sours. So you can celebrate your summit in style when you get back to the refuge.

PAYMENT/CHECK-OUT/ARRIEROS
They keep a ledger of your meal add-ons and when you check out they sum everything up.

Also, if you want or need donkeys for your trek out, ask the volunteers to call one for you the day or night before so that one is there in the morning. If you wait until the day of your departure, you'll need to wait at least 3 hours but more likely 4-5 for an arriero to get organized and up to the refuge.

CLIMBING DAYS
When you climb you can leave you gear in your room. I was able to slide everything under my bed to keep it neat and discrete.

You also can tell the volunteers the night before that you are leaving at 3am or whenever, and they will leave your breakfast out on the table for you, along with a hot thermos to make tea/coffee (they provide tea bags and instant packets of coffee). You can leave your Nalgene bottle out on the table before you go to bed and they will fill it with water.

LIGHTING
The building is wired for electricity, but they don't use it (or at least not while I was there). The rooms have a single switch that controls a light bulb that is useful for prepping after sunset but before bedtime. But generally, the refuge is lit by candles at night and people wear their headlamps for additional light. Keep this in mind and bring an extra pair of headlamp batteries.

VOLUNTEERS
As noted, the employees are volunteers and don't get paid, according a conversation I had in my broken spanish with one of them. Proceeds from the refuge go to local communities for construction, home repair, youth groups, and so on. It's a good cause, so order that pasta and an extra helping of chocolate cake and know your money is helping the community.




That's all I have. I hope that helps.

We ate spaghetti and apple pie there and they tasted like spaghetti and apple pie. Haven't a clue if it messed with my stomach because our other meals consisted of Mountain House, so...