Isolated, secure & across the road from beach
Isolated, secure & across the road from beach
Submitted: October 31, 2012
Stayed: June 2012
Family of 4 (girl 10/boy 8) - 8 week period June 27 to Aug. 17/12. Property NOT directly on beach.- House large & well equipped & our kids had own rooms. Kids loved everything about this place & didn't miss TV & had fun in nearby river. Sometimes felt confined to the house being on 2nd story. Eventually got chairs to sit outside & had coffee there & hung out. - Can't see anything when you sit on balcony in master bedroom as it is a concrete half wall. You can barely see the beach from house or balcony as vegetation hides it. You can hear the surf - it is quite loud. The property is lovely with the exception of the mango juice production hut which is right beside the house. The caretakers Cinthya & Marvin (speak no English) work there early AM to mid PM. There's a wood workshop run by Peter (Canadian) and he works early AM until 4:30 PM. These 3 people were very helpful, generous and kind. They kept to themselves unless we needed help or had any questions. You are not alone here except for at night. That may be a good thing for some. We felt like we didn't really have our own place.- We didn't rent a car except for two extended trips.Taking the local bus was fun, inexpensive & pretty efficient. If you're up for walking, our 40 minute walk to Montezuma became one of our favourite things to do - beautiful & full of adventure. It was about 1 hour walk to Cabuya where the beaches are not swim worthy. We saw alot of howler monkey families while walking. Cinthya & Marvin found us 3 bikes to rent for $50 US a week. We got a smaller one for my son in Montezuma from one of the tour spots ($70 for 7 wks). - Rented a small 4x4 for 4 days & went to Arenal volcano & Monteverde. Beautiful mountain views on a very slow and bumpy ride in the Monteverde area - took 3 hrs to cover 38 kms.
The property is very secure with its fencing and 2 guard dogs. They quickly became a part of our family. Don't like bugs NOT the place for you. Huge spiders, cockroaches, snakes, cicada, preying mantis, cute gueckos & bats (NO mosquitoes!) Beach across the house not ideal for swimming: rocky & big surf. Swam in Montezuma & Santa Theresa beaches. Went for a weekly pool swim & drinks at Hotel Caleje near Cabuya. Cost of food: groceries/restaurants similar to home (Ottawa, Canada) not inexpensive. Loved Montezuma - full of character, colourful people, lots of dogs, restaurants & vendors and nice beach. 8 wks a bit long in this area but overall great experience!
Owner's Response: Thank you, Joanne, for your wonderful and accurate review. On your suggestion we will be setting up an outside area with table, chairs and hammocks under our gigantic strangler fig. Our mango juice production is once a year from May to June and was a little late this year. Women chatting while making great juice. And thanks for mentioning that Los Cedros Beach has only a small stretch (150m) where it is safe to swim at high tides. It has submerged rocks but no riptides and less tourists. Always check it out first at low tide. It´s great for fishing though. Hope to have you back.
Helpful votes: 2/2
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