Hotel Waya Guajira

Very secure. Comfortable beds, nice rooms - particularly the larger ones, good food, great views, wonderful pool and surrounds, very good internet included. Guest chef Peruvian food was delicious. Best hotel in the area with friendly and helpful staff. They only speak Spanish for the most part, but Google translate or similar helps.

I booked this hotel for a family holiday with my parents over 80 and my 2 daughters. The hotel looks really nice, lovely view of the Cerrejon and clean, fresh rooms and amazing pool. However the food service is terrible, not the waiters but the kitchen don't know what they are doing. We had to wait 0ver 1 hour for a lunch, none of the waiters realized that we were waiting over 1 hour to come and check why our food wasn't out. Also we bought an all inclusive package only to realize that not all the drinks were included and that the food managed a different menu which was far less average. Another day, we went to a trip to Cabo de la Vela which is an all day trip. We arrived at 5:15 and ordered the snacks that were included in our all inclusive package but we were told no because the snacks were only from 4 till 5. This hotel is in the middle of nowhere so it's not like I could go out and get some snacks for my daughters and my parents, so we had to go hungry until dinner time. Unbelievable, we weren't even given the option to order something, even if we had to pay. I have to say the staff in reception were super kind and we had the most amazing waitress that we thanked her for taking care of us, Merce and the was a young lad by the pool Mauricio that also looked after us and in the end helped us with all the other things that were going wrong.

Travel in La Guajira is still backpacker orientated. Most visitors travel in small groups with a jeep and driver and overnight in hammocks in basic thatched huts. If you are at the post back packer stage, It seems likely that you will need to brace yourself for some very bare bones travel. The exception is the Waya Guajira Hotel. This is a unique and odd place. It feels partly like a management training centre for the nearby mining complex. At breakfast time, the restaurant fills with men (and a few women) in hard hats and high vis jackets. Every one knows everyone else in that certain corporate way. Once they have been bused off to work, you are left with a comfortable hotel, that is La Guajira's only real claim to luxury, outside Palomino. Staff at the front desk were helpful and courteous and even brave enough to attempt some English. The pool is a great place to have a swim. It is large, with shade umbrellas and there is a great view of the surrounding hills. The restaurant in the evening has a more intimate feel than the corporate breakfast and the cooking is good. I had snapper in a Caribbean sauce and considering the remote location, it was a good diner. The hotel has an indigenous theme, with Wayuu weaving featuring in all of the rooms and a small handicrafts outlet in the foyer. The hotel website has plenty of ideas for local excursions. It was from here that I got the idea of visiting the last Wayuu potter in nearby Uribia. This was a heartwarming and fascinating visit, watching the matriarch of the family at work and seeing some of the large urns used for second burials. The link with Wayuu people and organisations is probably an ambiguous one. I don't think the mine is doing much for Wayuu prosperity, yet I think the hotel depends on the mine for custom. I used the hotel as the base for a day trip up to Cabo de Vela. It takes about 2 hours to drive up there, a very doable and worthwhile, if tiring day trip. Overall I was delighted with my stay and pleased that the hotel maintained high standards in the absence if any real local competition