Costa Rica

View from hotel

Private plunge pool in room 

 This was our first visit to Costa Rica, was a last minute trip so we didn't spend much time researching before we left.  I found a great deal on Gilt Travel.com on a hotel in Las Catalinas, gorgeous hotel on a mountain called Casa Chameleon, the room had a plunge pool with a beautiful view of the ocean.  Beautiful grounds and very friendly and attentive staff, totally 5-star hotel.  The only downfall I would say would be the location.  It took almost a 45 minute trip to the hotel from the Liberia airport and this was the shortcut. Las Catalinas is a new development area in Costa Rica so the road to that area is not all paved.  We took the short cut which is called "Monkey Rd" oh my goodness it was like almost getting whiplash with all the bumps but once you got there it was beautiful.  One quick tip was getting to our destination, when our driver arrived, he was late and then once we got to the van he said we would have to change vehicles halfway there to an SUV, my husband and I looked at each other and were uncomfortable, mind you, my husband booked the transportation thru a third party, not the hotel.  So our driver kept getting text and phone calls on the way there, then he pulls over on the side of the road and there was an unmarked SUV sitting there with a young girl on her cell phone waiting outside.  So as cars are driving by we would have to remove all our luggage to this next vehicle, well my husband said no and we stayed in the van, then our driver stopped again and kept pointing up and my husband saw nothing so the driver got out and pointed up, my husband opened the door and he said a piece of fruit from the tree, meanwhile I'm looking behind us because the roads are narrow and I see motorcycles and a white truck coming up behind us on this deserted road. All that's going thru my mind is oh my god, we're going to be abducted, but no they kept driving.  So after that, I told my, husband, to ask if we could use our driver's phone to call the hotel to let them know we arrive an should be there soon, in case we wound up missing.  I admit I was very scared but once we got to the hotel all was good.  The concierge said it's normal for them to change out cars because they don't want to pay 2 different fees to the airport for their stickers on their vehicles but suggested to arranged transportation thru them next time.  After that, I did not have any fear of anything, felt very safe and we had no issues.

View from shower in room

Infinity pool at hotel

View of Dante beach from hotel

Once we checked in We had beaches around us on either side of the hotel which were Sugar Beach and Dante Beach, their dark sand beaches and we're practically empty, a few people were in the ocean paddleboarding.  Their are only 21 rooms at the hotel and a couple hotels on the same road so not a very populated area.  The restuarant at the hotel was wonderful but very expensive.  So one day we decided to go to Limonada just down the road at Sugar Beach and had a couple of burgers, they were good, lots of flies and iguanas around but wasnt but less than what we paid at the hotel restauraunt.  We stopped by a grocery store while in Las Catalinas and paid $40 for a 6 pack of beer, a bag of chips and a candy bar.  So after that, we knew food was going to be expensive for the rest of the trip, the second day we had a pool day in our private plunge pool which was so nice, the room doesn't have a Television but we were there to relax right? Hubby still missed it. That day we made arrangements with the concierge for our excursions, we wanted to go to Diamante Eco Park, where they had activities like zip lining and animals but she informed us its very commercialized and she recommended another excursion where we saw the animals in their natural habitat at a rain forest and then a jungle cruise.  We decided to go with her recommendations, the driver was very informative and friendly and we stopped by a grocery store for snacks and a restroom break half way to our rainforest tour to see the animals.  Well, the grocery store was very organized, clean and prices were very normal, wish we would have known that before we went to our hotel.  So if you stay in the area go to a grocery store first to stock up on snacks and drinks it will save you lots of money.  Also, every public restroom I encountered was extremely clean, I'm not comfortable going to public restrooms but when you have to go you have to go so was so happy that all restrooms were very clean, at the parks, restaurants, even the airport.

 

Gorgeous grounds at hotel

Our room 

Hotel Restaurant

Lobby

We took a tour at the rainforest where we saw Sloths, Howler Monkeys, birds, frogs and butterflies, our tour guide was very informative, once that was done we went to lunch at the Aventuras Arenal riverboat tour.  The tour is done by a family that prepares lunch for you, which was amazing and then the husband captains the boat for the tour.  It was a private tour so it was just us, our tour guide and the captain, it as very quiet, riding down the river was like a scene from Anaconda, but we didn't see any snakes, thank goodness.  We did see lots of crocodiles, birds, and monkeys, a whole family of them showing off swinging from tree to tree hanging by their tails.  We were able to get some great photos of them with our tour guides help using his scope, the monkeys were in trees over 20ft high.  

When we were coming back he stopped by a souvenir shop and we were able to purchase lots of items at affordable prices.  It was a quick trip so we were not able to do everything but we would want to come back, but next time somewhere closer to everything and not so far out of the way.  I would definitely recommend the hotel, but next time we're going to stay at the JW Marriott or Westin.  This was a good time to go, the high was in the '90s but no rain and I felt it wasn't very crowded with tourist.  Even though we had a scare in the beginning, we would definitely go again. 

Most poisonous from, Blue Jeans frog

One of many Crocs on jungle cruise

View from hotel, Sugar beach