fades

My boyfriend and I are going to Costa Rica in Feb. and are in a bit of a quandary. (Shillmac, we'd love your take on this, having just read your great reply to Fezzer!) We have the opportunity to spend a few days at either Selva Bananito Lodge or Shawhanda Lodge (on the Caribbean coast). We can't decide which way to go. From there we are off to Samasati Nature Retreat for a week. Thanks for any insite - Fades

Jessie_

Selva Bananito was voted one of the top 50 eco loges in the world in 2003 by Outdoor magazine. We had reservations but had to cancel for this year because we were staying there before heading down to Panama. Roads are too bad to go that way right now.

shillmac

fades,
I was just there in October and road my bike past Shawanda a few times. We stopped in a few places to look, but didn't at Shawanda. I will tell you, though, that people I talked to in the area spoke very highly of it and it has gotten some good reviews in the guidebooks. It looked very nice. Also, I am anxious to hear your take on Samasati. They sent me some info a couple of years ago by mail and my husband and I drove by there (it's a little ways inland if I remember correctly) I think when we were going to BriBri. Are you doing a yoga program? Sounds like a great place, a little pricey, so that is why I'm wondering how you would rate the quality of the "experience".

Hopefully, by the time you travel down there, there will have been some bridge repair following this month's heavy flooding. The road (in places) between Cahuita and Manzanillo was badly in need of repair, also. Lots of potholes--get a four wheel drive for the clearance. We were in a car and managed okay--but a 4X4 would have been better. Buen Viaje!

cuchi

Hello:

I have visited the 3 hotels, Samasati, a relaxing retreat with ocean view from the restaurant, the food, speciallly dinner is just great. I loved it. They have regular transportation to and from Puerto Viejo. Shawanda lodge is in PuertoViejo, also a beautiful hotel, however if you will stay one week in Samasati, from where you can visit Puerto Viejo everyday, I would highly suggest to choose Selva Bananito Lodge instead of Shawanda. Selva Bananito is another natural retreat to relax and for adventure. It is immerse on a private reserve bordering the "La Amistad" National park. They normally offer transportation from the Bananito village to the lodge, as you need a 4WD and you can leave the car in a safe place where they take care of it.

I highly recommend the combination of the 2 hotels (Selva Bananito and then Samasati)
Enjoy your vacation!

fades

Thank you jessie, shillmac and cuchi for your prompt and thoughtful replies.

We're leaning towards Shawandha because: a) we only have two nights before Samasati, and suspect that's not enough time to make Selva Bananito worth the trip; and b) We thought Shawandha would give us some beach time before heading up the hill to Samasati -- we're not sure how often we'll want to trek back to town, especially if we're off on some of the nature excursions.

Any other input or insights you (or anybody else) have are of course a tremendous help and extremely generous.

-fades