Trip Report- Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
 

Hi Everyone,
I just got back from Costa Rica and thought that I would try to write a trip report. Everyone on this board has been amazingly helpful and I hope that I can help someone else that is planning their trip.

I flew from Portland, Ore. with my daughter (age 7) and my husband to Dallas leaving at midnight. We spent a long, cold four and half hours waiting for our flight to San Jose (last time we do one those!). Flew Dallas to San Jose with no problems. We went through customs and carried our luggage to the Sansa terminal around the corner. We were very impressed by the San Jose airport. Great architecture and very clean. Much more modern then we were expecting. The Sansa office was just what we were expecting. Small, hot and smoky. Very atmospheric! We flew Sansa SJO to Tambor. Our reserved ride did not show but it was not a problem to find a taxi to take us to Milarepa in Santa Teresa for $30us.

Milarepa was very tropical with its use of bamboo and teak. The bungalows open onto a nice deck. Ours had an ocean view through a grove of palm trees. We also liked the pool which was simple but wonderfully shaded all afternoon. There was good surfing and boogie boarding a hundred feet down the beach and tide pools at low tide. We found tons (literally) of shells and agates on the beautiful beach directly in front of the hotel. We did enjoy our stay, but there were lots of ants and spiders. And one very sad day a turtle died on the beach and it stayed there for the rest of our trip with vultures eating it. We heard that the flood light that Milarepa shines on the beach confuses the turtles and that this was not the first time this has happened.

We ate most of our meals at FlorBlanca, which we loved. It has a beautiful restaurant and pool area. Fantastic food and beyond excellent service. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner there almost every day. The food was terrific and there was a nice variety so that we did not tire of it. I highly recommend the fruit drinks and the sushi. We attended the Monday night bar-b-q and it was fabulous. Very gourmet (we usually are not interested in buffets) with steaks, chicken and seafood bar-b-q'd to order, many salads, vegetables, imported cheeses and lots of fresh fruit. It also included a dessert but we eaten too much too have dessert. For a special evening dining in the dojo overlooking the pool is very romantic. We felt like royalty.

We went into Santa Theresa a couple of times by taxi. We tried to eat at Mary's Pizza in Malpais, but they were out of pizza ($10us cab ride each way). We ate at Tropico Latino for breakfast (ok) and dinner (my chicken and rice was very good; my husband's shrimp and rice was very bad). I met some friends to sightsee and shop in Santa Teresa and we had lunch in Charley's a very simple, local place with great food.

One of the highlights of our trip was the three hour horse tour that we arranged through FlorBlanca. Daniel, our guide for the trip, led us through private farm land where we saw (and heard) howler monkeys and saw a variety or birds and butterflies. It was beautiful! Then we headed down from the hills, crossed a few rivers and had a soda at a local cantina. The last part of the trip was on the beach where we witnessed the most amazing sunset of our trip.

Our other favorites were watching the sunset and looking at the stars. Every night we saw hundreds of hermit crabs on the beach. There is one place on the beach where there must be thousands of hermit crabs traveling from the ocean to the grass. It was very exciting to try to run up the hill to try to get trough the pack before it was solid crabs. We even saw a crab who had a plastic bottle cap for its home.

We traveled back to Tambor by taxi and flew Sansa to SJO. The small plane trips are wonderful. We could see so much and it is very beautiful. SJO had great shopping by the way and one gift shop had an outstanding book department. The flight back was much easier and we arrived home after 18 hours of travel.

Well, that's it. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. And we are now very tired. I would be happy to answer any questions.
Best Regards,
Gem

Great report, glad you had a good time!
Did you happen to see the new beach front rooms at Tropico Latino?

Gem, welcome back. Thanks for the trip report. It brought back many fond memories. Watching the sunset on the beach in Santa Teresa is definitely tops!

It sounds like you were not that happy with Milarepa and would have been probably thrilled if you stayed at Florblanca? Did Milarepa not include breakfast? What did you think of Tropico Latino (I remember you considered staying there for a while).

Gem -

Great trip report. I have been following your trip plans for a few months now as I am planning on going at the end of May. Milarepa was one of our choices but we decided to go with Suizo instead. We'll see.......

Glad you're back safe and sound. Now rest up!

Lynne

Thank you everyone for the nice feedback!! You have been so helpful holding my hand during all the planning and answering every step of the way. I really appreciate all your help!

Ally- I saw the new beach front rooms only from the outside. They were the same distance from the beach from the restaurant. They were very close to the restaurant and seemed to be made of cement blocks.

Iza- I would have been thrilled to stay at FlorBlanca but I did like Milarepa a lot. I just felt very badly about the turtle... Milarepa did not include breakfast. I liked Milarepa more then Tropico Latino. Milarepa was much more private and tropical. It had many beautiful palm trees and seemed almost south seas or Gilligan's Island (if you know what I mean).

Lynne,
Have a great time on your trip! I can't wait to hear about it when you get back.

Well, now that I am rested... I think that we may go to Nicaragua in April. Have any of you been there? I am would love to hear what you know or have heard. I have had a hard time finding information about it.

Thank you so much for your replies. It means so much to me to hear from you. I feel like we are now old friends.

Very Best Regards,
Gem

Hi there, I am about to go to Costa Rica (March 19-27) and we are spending a couple days in Santa Teresa. I have a reservation at Hotel Tropico Latino - or I guess I should say i THINK i have a reservation there because as of right now, they seem to think I'm coming in April although all my communication with them previously has been about March. I'm a little concerned because I have not heard back from them to confirm my correct dates and they required that I send a deposit of $100 (by money order). This hotel was recommended to me by someone so I felt it was safe. In any case, has anyone else stayed there and are they a reputable hotel? I was hoping this would be one of the nicer places we are staying because it's one of the more expensive but from reading the response here, it doesn't really sound like it's all that nice. Because of the confusion I've made another reservation at Vista de Olas which is more expensive but looks nicer, at least on the Internet. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it! Thanks! Jennifer.

Jenniferjen,
I stayed at Tropico Latino a couple years ago and it was fine, but Vista de Olas looks much nicer! I was looking for a simi-budget place, right on the beach, and that's what I got. I was able to watch my husband surf by sitting in the pool, as the pool/restaurant is right on the beach. The rooms were a little dark due to all the foilage around them, but were clean and comfortable with a king and twin beds. Lot's of staorage room too. I don't know about the two new 'ocean view' rooms.
I also liked being 'in town', close to other restaurants. If you don't mind having to take a car into town for other restaurants, and don't mind driving to the beach, Vista de Olas looks lovely....at least on the web site.
How long has it been since you heard from Tropico Latino? If you sent them an email, you may want to send another one, as the service does go down sometimes in that part of the world.

Jen, we are staying at Tropico Latino the week before you. .14th-18th. They were very prompt to answer all of my e-mails. I think I will touch base with them one day this week just to reconfirm! I sent them $200 by wire transfer. I don't expect there to be a problem, however. Don't worry.

Thanks for the report sparkle gem! We've made honeymoon reservations for April staying 3nights at Arenal Pariaso, and 4 nights at Milarepa. We still need to reserve a place in San Jose for our last two nights if anyone has a suggestion (looking for medium budget). Any suggestions on what to pack that Milarepa didn't provide (I'm thinking they don't have beach towels or some sort of radio in the room). We're also trying to plan a budget, if you don't mind me asking on average how much did you spend on food per person/per day. We plan on leaving from Arenal Pariaso going back to San Jose to catch a plane for Tambor. Do we need to book that now or when we get there? We would also like to whitwater raft the Pacuare. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to book that trip?

Forgot one thing sparkle gem. Is there a particular room at Milarepa you would recommend we try and get?

we stayed next door at the flor blanca, but had dinner a couple of times at milarepa. from what i can tell, i think you definitely want the room closest to the ocean...better view, breezes.

Hi Jenniferjen,
Tropico Latino was very nice about wiring our deposit back to us when we switched. Sometimes it took a couple of days to hear from them. When ever I was worried about not hearing from them I would call the hotel.


Hi Auprincess,
Milarepa did have beach towels but did not have radios, although it was wonderfully quiet with out one.

There are two bungalows that are oceanfront. We stayed in #3. It was a bit further back from the ocean but seemed more private. Both oceanfront bungalows seemed equally nice to me.

Have a great trip!

Gem

Thanks to everyone who responded to my questions about Tropico Latino - I did hear back from them finally and the confusion about my reservation turned out to be a typo, much to my relief! I'm really excited about our trip - one last question to anyone who has been to Santa Theresa - has anyone taken buses there from where the Puntarenas Ferry lands in Pacquera? If so, any advice?

Topping for 'mat629'

Hi,
I am looking for information on FLORBLANCA - we are considering spending a week there at the end of Feb. Do you know about the facilities of this place (or anyone else reading this post?) Thanks so much.

We stayed at Florblanca for a few days in August 2003 and loved it. What kind of information are your looking for?

Great Report. Sounds like a wonderful place to stay. Do you have any extra agates from there for my sons agate collection ?I will be glad to pay a good price for them and pay all shipping costs. Do any of the agates have banding?Thanks,Chuck and Pam