I will be posting a trip report next week sometime - but as promised - I wanted to let LAFadeaway know right away about Peace Lodge, rafting & Hacienda Pozo Azul since your trip is coming up. I think it is the end of next week so I can email more details Sunday or Monday.

First - although other people have other opinions, we LOVED Peace Lodge & felt so rested there. We only spent 1 night and wished we had had more time or had finished our trip there too. Met the owners & they were VERY helpful with recommending Pozo Azul.

Pozo Azul is one of the best companies (from what I've heard) to go with & we could not have been more pleased. We did the 2 1/2 hour rafting & the canopy tour including lunch. The rafting was not scary at all & was probably the least scary thing I did the entire trip!! You will be fine! Pozo Azul is very concerned with safety & will give you lots of instructions. No one in our raft fell out & it was lots of fun!

Also - I highly recommned their canopy tour - it was soooo worth it. This, I was very scared & shaky - but it was awesome!! They had a 2nd line as a safety backup & after having done the zip line with the safety line (essentially 2 lines) I can not imagine doing a canopy tour any other way. I saw the single lines elsewhere & just can't ever imagine choosing that. Of course, people do them all the time - but I liked knowing I was connected to 2 lines in case MY line or the actual zipline had a problem, there was a "plan b"! We spent a full day there & it was a very easy drive from Peace Lodge. We drove to Arenal after our time at Pozo Azul which was also fine, but it would have been nice to go back to the quiet & hot showers/tubs at Peace Lodge as we were all somewhat sore after the day of action - and we are all pretty fit people!

Like I said, I will be glad to answer any questions and I will be posting a full report later on - but wanted to get this to you in case it effects your planning at all. Count them in & you have LOTS to look forward to at Peace Lodge in my opinion!

Sclubb,
Thank you sooo much for the quick report!! I'm getting really excited about our trip next week. We are spending two nights at Peace Lodge and then one night in Alajuela before we fly home. If we decided to do the same tour you did (rafting and canopy), would you recommend doing it on our full day at Peace Lodge or on the day we check out before heading down to Alajuela? What time was it over, would we have enough time to get to Alajuela before dark? Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed your trip!!

One more question... were you impacted by the air traffic controllers' strike at all? Have you heard anything about whether or not it will be over soon?

Hi again - we left Peace Lodge at about 1030am and left Pozo Azul around 430pm/5pm I think. We hit night driving on the way to Arenal but it wasn't as bad as I expected. We drove during the night a few different places - you'll be ok - the drive from Pozo Azul to Alajuela is easy so you'll be fine. I'd probably say to do the tour on that last day so you can maximize your time at Peace Lodge. You could even leave there earlier so you could get an earlier start on the tour at Pozo Azul. Ask the staff at Peace Lodge to call & tell Pozo Azul you are coming & approx what time & what you want to do. If the owners of Peace Lodge are there - ask them for suggestions - they are very helpful - Lee & Cindy (I think).

Also - get the breakfast for room service at Peace Lodge rather than eating at the buffet. Plus, I've read some of the bad recommendations about the dining there but they have recently expanded their menu & we had a nice dinner - although it was pricey at $60 or so for 2.

You will have a GREAT time!! I wish we had ended our trip at Peace Lodge or with some fun activities like Pozo Azul. Feel free to ask me any other questions! Where else are you staying??? Oh - and no - we didn't hear anything about the air traffic strike until we got home - we were on US Air & there were no problems!

Thanks again for all the info. I wish we had a lot more time to spend, since I keep hearing about more and more wonderful places to visit!! Anyway, here is where we are planning to go:

1 nt. Vida Tropical, Alajuela
3 nts. El Sano Banano, Montezuma
3 nts. Vilas Nicolas, Manuel Antonio
3 nts. Arenal Paraiso, La Fortuna
1 nt. Puerto Viejo B&B, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
2 nts. Punta Caracol, Bocas del Toro, Panama
1 nt. Hotel Bocas del Toro, Panama
1 nt. ?, Carribean Coast somewhere
2 nts. Peace Lodge, La Paz Gardens
1 nt. Vida Tropical, Alajuela

Thanks for posting about your trip. I am staying at the Peace Lodge for 3 nights in Nov. Is room service breakfast included or was it extra? I believe that breakfast is included but I thought it was the buffet only. What was the breakfast like? Did you have room service for every breakfast?

Also, what was the menu like? And what did you get for the $60 dinner- just so I have an idea.

Thanks for all your help.

Keep an eye out for my full trip report sometime this week - but here are some answers to your questions...

You can get dinner & breakfast served as room service for no extra charge.

We ate dinner in the restaurant - they have different seatings you can choose from (6, 730, 8, etc)....and there were about 10 things on the menu to select from as a main entree. I had filet wrapped in bacon & others had the tilapia. Comes with a choice of 2 salads, soup, bread, veggies, and dessert. The $60 included the tip too I believe which we added on.

Breakfast has a lot of things to choose from & the biggest thing to keep in mind is that they are really great about customer service, so if you need something different, just let them know & I am certain they will do everything they can to get it for you. I had pancakes, fruit, oj & coffee for breakfast & my husband had an omelet & bacon & oj. We only had 1 night there so we only had the room service the one morning. Have a great time!