While the price is right ($10 a night), Jose Luis is not a very nice place to stay. The reviews I read in travel books were very deceiving. First and foremost, it's not very clean at all. I would classify the towels as rags. The mismatched sheets looked like they were 30+ years old and picked up at the local Salvation Army. The bathrooms were fairly grimy. And I'm pretty sure I got bedbug or flea bites from this place.

The place is huge. I stayed in a room with enough bunk beds for 8 people in 1 room. I can't imagine staying here in the busy tourist season. It would be so noisy. And trying to sleep with all those people coming in and out of the room and sharing 1 tiny bathroom would be awful.

The location is okay. Miraflores is nicer than Lima itself, but I never felt truly safe. It's about a 15 minute walk from the downtown Miraflores area-- a walk along a congested, polluted multi-lane highway. The best thing I can say for the location is that it's a 5 minute walk from Wong's, a fantastic megamart with food, kitchen, and bath products.

They have free internet. Translation: there is 1 computer with a mouse that doesn't work well and a frustratingly creeky keyboard. Again, I can't imagine being here in high season and trying to get any internet time when it takes 10 minutes to send a short email because of the slow equipment.

They serve breakfast. Translation: 2 rolls, some butter and jam, and tea. I think you can use their kitchen (other guests seemed to be doing that), but, again, it looked pretty dirty.

I was also expecting friendly, English-speaking hosts (according to several travel books I read). Frankly, I could never really figure out who worked at this place. There was a constant flow of characters, only 2 of whom admitted to speaking English, but neither of whom seemed to work there (they just hung out there a lot).

Travel guides will warn you about scheming taxi drivers at the Lima airport and I can assure you, heed their warnings. Just be sure you know in advance who is supposed to pick you up at the airport and ask for his ID. Trust me. If you decide to stay here, Carlos will transport you to and from the airport for $10. Make sure it really is Carlos though.

Overall, my opinion is that for $5 more per night, you can find a cleaner, nicer place to stay. I did.