sparklegem

Hi,

We have our reservation confirmed at Bosque del Cabo and I was wondering a bit about our room and if we should request a certain cabina. We have reserved a deluxe cabina with a loft. I have been reading all the BdC posts and have not been able to figure out which one that will get. Also, I think that there was a post that said something about the loft being cramped-? Wondered if it would be o.k/fun for our soon to be ten year old daughter.

Thank You!!
Gem

tully

I'm sure if you ask the name of it, they will tell you. Often Leo or Kim will even send a picture. I didn't think any of the delxe's had lofts - but - when I was there, they were taking measurements from my cabina, Mariposa, as they had torn down one and were rebuilding it. I asked Kim about that later and she said that Mariposa had a layout that worked out really well, but they would also be combining parts of other cabinas. So maybe that is the one you have, they may have based it Mariposa but added a loft. I'm sure your daughter will love it but I bet if it rains hard at night (which is fantastic by the way) you may be 3 to a bed

sparklegem

Hi Tully!

I just heard from BdC. They have both Miraposa and Gecko available. Gecko has an extra sofa and they offered to put a cot in Miraposa. I think that will go with Miraposa. It sounds so nice!

I am so excited about our trip. It is very hard to wait until April.

Tully, do you a trip in the works?

Very Best,
Gem

tully

Oh you will love Maipopsa, it's beautiful! Huge round deck too and a bench - great for (trying to) drying clothes. Several times I would be out early am reading on the bench and a coati would wander by (they are very avid thiefs though when it comes to food, my neighbors had their lunch stolen, cooler and all). Make sure you have really good flashlights, as it is the last cabina along the ridge. In light it's nothing, at night, after diner, after a drink or three, it felt like I was walking forever and waiting for something to hop out at me. You should get a fair amount of monkey visits too, they like coming thru there at sunrise & sunset. I'm sure your daughter will love it as well.

After 3 years straight to CR, I've decided to go back to the place I was originally going to go to before I met CR - Croatia. I love to plan but whew is it a tough one! Trying to be strong and not say 'oh paris or CR or munich would be sooo much easier'. I'm planning for May so hopefully will hold out

sparklegem

Hi Tully,

Thank you for your description of Mariposa. It sounds terrific. I am especially excited to be so near to the monkeys' path. This is the trip that I have wanted to take for so very long. We just kept putting it off for one thing or another. I just booked us and figured we would figure out expenses later.

I have looked at some pictures of Croatia and read a wonderful trip report on these boards. It sounds incredible but very different from CR. How is your planning going? It is super that you are going to take your special trip, too.

Thank you for your help!!

Very Best,
Gem

Suzie2

Gem,

We stayed in Casa Teka once and felt pretty removed from everything. They have added a bridge and done a lot of work in the garden area since so it is much prettier now but I still like the ocean view.

Mariposa is plenty big enough for a cot. You will love it there. We have spent hours on that platform watching nature go by. I even had monkeys overhead while showering!

Don't hope the trip comes too quickly. I always get sad the closer I get because I know all the fun of planning (and dreaming) and the traveling will be over soon.

Tully, Croatia???? Wow! Don't know anybody that has been there. Be sure to give us a full report. Virtual Tourist web site will probably have lots of pics for you to look at. Stop in if you get a chance at my travel pages. Gem, I have a couple of pics of Bosque if you want a look. I just put a picture of Casa Teka in if you want to see it. Virtual Tourist.com (Suzie3)

I made our first reservation today for our return trip to Guatemala in Feb. We will be building a house soon on some property we have bought in CR so we figure it is okay to check out other places. We loved our trip to Guat so much last Feb. that we are retracing our steps to see the things we missed. My husband is heading down to CR right after Thanksgiving for his third trip since July so he is ready for a change of scenery. Thank goodness for FF miles. I am still researching Australia and would love to get back to Europe. We had a trip planned to walk across England but something came up and we had to cancel. So many places, so little time (and money). Tully, you are right about Europe being easy. A friend and I just threw our backpacks on, bought train passes and took off. Kiosks everywhere to help you find a place to stay. A little tough in Paris when we rolled in at 2am. We sat on the side walk on the Champs Elysse for awhile before hailing a taxi and asking them to take us someplace. All the kiosks were closed at that hour.

Happy travel dreams,
Suzie

Suzie2

Don't click on the blue link. It is not the full name of the web site. http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/4de70/#TL.

tully

Suzie, Gem - well Croatia is a little more complicated than CR I have found, lol! My planning right now is on hold, I've done as much as I can do right now til about mid-Dec. Problem is, wherever I fly to in Europe (really any of the capitals) I need to connect on Croatia Air to keep my airfare from being outrageous and they don't release any schedules til 6 months out. So until I get air I can't get the rest of the trip planned. I agree Suzie about Paris et al, I know I could go to Paris tomorrow and do it in a breeze but I guess the complicated ones make it all worthwhile in the end (or at least I keep telling myself that!). Your trip to Guatemala sounds great, another place on my long, long list!

Oh, and yes, the monkeys watching you shower/bathe at Mariposa are great fun (I convinced myself they were making all that noise just because that's their nature - not because they were seeing something incredibly funny).

sparklegem

Wow! Suzy and Tully!!
Hello you two!
So great to hear from you both.

Suzy, Thank you so much for the link to your review. I loved reading it and it was wonderful to see a picture of the tub. I had heard about it but was wondering what it was really like. Can't wait. I am going to forward the link to my husband and my mom and show my daughter when she gets home from school.

Where did you go on your first trip to Guatamala? I have only been from the Belizian border to Flores, twenty years ago when I lived down that way for a year. It was beautiful and I would love to go back. What places do you have planned for your next trip?

Tully, I had wanted to ask, what made you choose Croatia?

Also, while you two are the post, I am starting to plan a little summer Spanish language getaway for my daughter and myself. I am thinking of San Miguel de Allende because I have not been there and it looks very beautiful and there is school (Centro Bilingue de San Miguel) that has what looks to be a very fun children's camp. Have either of you been there? I am wondering if I would be disappointed because it sounds like there are lots of Americans there or if it is still very picturesque and would be an easy fun couple of weeks. Do you have any thoughts on this? I really value you opinions and advice!! Do you have any other suggestions? My priorities are safety, fun children's program and not too costly.

Thank you so much! It is so fun to hear from you!

Very Best,
Gem

tully

Gem can't help with San Miguel de Allende, never been there and don't have kids only 4 spoiled cats I would post a new thread, it seems like there is a lot of Mexico posters here & I'm sure someone would help.

I picked Croatia the same way I picked CR - a picture (it was a pic of Dubrovnik) I saw in a magazine just made me go ooooh I want to go there. And my favourite football (soccer) player is from Croatia, lol, so that was enough for me. The infrastructure is not what I'm used to traveling in Europe of course, most of their train journeys equal bus journeys times! Ferries run some days, not others, some months, not others. And while there are many cities that cater to travelers, there are many that are still devastated from the war. I showed my parents photos from the Croatian Tour Agency sent me and they could not believe how beautiful it was, they just had images of the war in mind and never realized how stunning it is. Ok, I've rambled enough...

When are you going to CR? So excited for you, I'm sure your family will enjoy it as much as many of us here have. I hope you take lots of pics and file a full report on return (I'm still getting around to mine, ha!)

sparklegem

Hi Tully,

Your trip sounds like a real adventure! Have things settled down there? Just wanted to make sure that you will be safe on your journey.

We are really excited about our trip, too. We are going in April. We visited Santa Theresa in Spring 2003 but I have been wanting to go to the Osa since 1987. It has been a long wait.

Very Best to You,
Gem

tully

Oh yes, things are very settled there, they are hoping to be a member of the EU in a couple of years and tourism there is booming.

Are you hitting other places or just the Osa? April will be here soon enough! It seems like just yesterday I was getting back from CR and thinking 'ok next!' and here it is already November. It's really good you have yourself set at BdC as they book up fast! Next year I will be able to take 16-17 days for Croatia and then I get another week (boss won't let me take it all at once ) and I may have to zip down there for 5 nights or so, it's such a short hop from here anyway, why not?!

shillmac

Why not indeed!

Are you still working on that trip report? LOL!

sparklegem

Wow, 16-17 days what a great trip! And yes, why not!!

We are only visiting the Osa this time. My family likes to stay in one place when we travel. It is so nice to relax and get to know the people and the area. Our live are so busy; we like to keep the driving/ flying/ packing to a minimum when on vacation. We are splitting our time between The Pearl of the Osa and BdC. We are spending five nights at The Pearl, three night at BdC and then one more night at The Pearl on our way out.

Hi Shillmac!

shillmac

Hi Gem--what a great plan you have! Too bad our time at BdC won't coincide. We'll be there Mar. 11-15. Perhaps another time! I'm like you--can hardly wait!

sparklegem

Hi Shillmac!

It would be so fun to meet up! Eventhough this is our first time to BdC, I am sure that we will be back and maybe our paths will cross... Have you found BdC a place that you keep wanting to return to? Is it your favorite place so far?

How was you trip to Puerto Rico and Tortola and you dughter's wedding?
Must have been a very exciting trip!!

Very Best,
Gem

sparklegem

argh-sorry about all the typos

shillmac

It would be fun to cross paths. Wouldn't surprise me at all. Yes, Bosque is a place we knew at once that we would return to--with family. We are taking 2 of our children with us this trip and plan to take our younger daughter and her family, well, whenever it is possible. They are busy finishing up college and raising our granddaughter. Of course, once they are out of school and have jobs, who knows! It becomes so difficult to schedule. . .

We do want to check out other parts of the Osa as well, but aren't in any hurry. It's always nice to have a few things left on the list to look forward to. I still want to get down to Zancudo and Pavones sometime--perhaps next summer.

I'm thinking to do 3-4 weeks of school again (working on a bilingual certification for teaching), and the plan right now is for my husband to bring our (by that time) 2.5 year old granddaughter down when I finish school--to vacation for another couple of weeks. This will be her 3rd summer in CR, but our first time to do it alone without her mom, who will be doing an internship for an oil and gas company in preparation for graduation and the work force! I've only just recently convinced my husband that he can fly down there by himself and manage a toddler just fine!

I had great fun in Puerto Rico. It's a nice place to go visit a child--just not a place I'd choose for much vacation time, although once you get away from San Juan and into the more "Puerto Rican" parts of the country, it is more enjoyable. Once one is used to the diversity of a place like CR, anything less doesn't quite measure up. The nearby islands of Vieques and Culebra are growing in popularity and I'm looking forward to spending more time there.

Tortola was beautiful--great for beach time and enjoying friends and family while celebrating a wedding. I'd like to go back when I didn't have anything on my mind but relaxing! Lots of fun with so many nearby islands to ferry to and explore. It's just such a sailing mecca, which makes it all the more interesting to us "landlocked" folks!

Suzie2

Gem,
This will actually be my third visit on Guatemalan soil. First time we only got in a few yards and decided we had seen enough for the time being. We did a little shopping on the border by San Ignacio and then headed back over to Belize where we stayed up in the Pine Ridge Forest area and Placencia. There were teenagers with sawed off shotguns in the border town in Guat. It was at the very end of the civil war and things were still a little shakey. We were in Antigua, Atitlan, Flores, Tikal, and Sayaxche this past trip. We will be revisiting everyplace but Sayaxche again. Just so much to see and learn about and the areas were so beautiful that we really want to learn more. Not our usual thing to do because there are so many other things to see in Guatemala and in the world but we just couldn't resist it. We had considered a rafting trip up by the Mexican border where we could cross over to Mexico to see some ruins but decided this was not the time. We are trying to book a place for 2012 near Tikal but having little luck. It is the end of the mayan calendar and people from all over the world will be there. I am hoping once we are there we will have better luck.

How lucky you were to have been able to live in that area for a year as a child. My husband spent a lot of time in South America as a child and it really means a lot to him to have experienced it. His father thought of Buenos Aires as a second home. His dad was an ornithologist and most of his work was done in SA.

Tully, all the wonderful history and architecture of Europe is magnified incredibly in Croatia! What amazing old buildings. I have been poking around on VT looking at pictures (and taking notes). So far the National Park of Plitvicka Jezera looks like a beautiful place to visit and I know I am going to like eating Kremshnita cake if I get there-anything that even remotely translates to a cream cake is going to be on my list LOL. It does seem like a more challenging place to plan a trip to. I wish you a wonderful time.

As much as we love CR and are comfortable there we also know there is a whole huge world out there to see and learn about and we have a long way to go to see it all. We will be living in CR soon enough for at least part of the year so we will still see plenty of it.

sparklegem

Tully and Suzie,
It is so fun to learn about what you both are up to. I hope that I get the chance to meet you both in person some day.
Very best to you!
Gem