This was our first full day on our own (no part of the development stay) and also the first full day without Nate (he went back to San Jose yesterday when we headed to Cristal Ballena).
Morning at the Hotel
Today we certainly did more activities than any other day in Costa Rica. We got up early to start a walk around the hotel's rainforest path (about 1.25 mi) at 6 am. Although they had guided tours available, Rebecca doesn't really like guides (goes along with her general aversion to people she doesn't know), so we just did it on our own.
We did not see any wildlife (except for the huge spider and web outside of the rainforest), but really enjoyed just walking around in the rainforest. In retrospect, I think it may have been good to have a guide because they know where to look for animals, but there just may not have been many out because of the rainy season.
We got back to the hotel about 6:45a, and since breakfast did not start until 7a, we decided to hop in the pool to refresh ourselves before showering and heading down for breakfast.
The complimentary breakfast was awesome - I especially enjoyed the fresh fruit. That has to be one of my favorite things about Costa Rica - that fact that (almost) all of the food is extremely fresh. They use a few packaged things (like flour, sugar, etc) but not nearly as much as we do in the states.
Design Meeting
After breakfast we had a meeting with the Ventana del Pacifico house designer. (As you can tell, we really planned on buying property as we already had a meeting set up with the house designer.) We had been told by someone else that had bought property (but not yet started the design process) that you had to have one meeting with the designer on site and the rest could be handled remotely.
The meeting took less than an hour (Patrick had told us this yesterday, and the short time surprised us), and the purpose was to 1) know which lot they were designing for, and 2) understand what we (the owner) wanted in a house.
We gave him some details, but mainly general ideas of what we wanted in a house - mainly a lot of outdoor (still under roof) space with a very open feel. I don't want to bore you with details, so we will leave it at that.
He did say this was going to be fun - he really hates ones where the people already have an exact floorplan picked out that does not really take advantage of the lot. Especially as most floorplans are designed for flat lots, and very few Costa Rican lots are flat.
We realized that we could have done this meeting remotely, but I feel that there is real benefit in a face-to-face meeting so that the designer understands the owner as much as possible (and vice versa). We look forward to getting the first draft of the design in about a month!
Hacienda Baru
After another light lunch (and a small nap), we prepared to go on a canopy tour at Hacienda Baru. We had scheduled a time the day before - the tour cost $35 per person (I thought that was fair for 2 hours hiking through the rainforest and sliding around on zip lines), but the taxi cost $50 there and back.
A very worthwhile trip - because it was the beginning of October (a month when then tourist industry is almost shut-down in southern Costa Rica), we were the only 2 on the tour. We saw bats, a couple of 2-toed sloths, a 3-toed sloth, a poison dart frog, a couple of toucans, and lots of leaf-cutter ants.
While we weren't way up in the trees usually (the exception being on one platform 120 ft above the ground) the zip lines across a valley were really an incredible experience. For some it wouldn't have been that exciting, but we really enjoyed it.
And the weather was beautiful - usually it rains in the afternoon in the rainy season, but it was actually cloudy all morning (with a little rain) and the sun came out for a beautiful afternoon.
Morning at the Hotel
Today we certainly did more activities than any other day in Costa Rica. We got up early to start a walk around the hotel's rainforest path (about 1.25 mi) at 6 am. Although they had guided tours available, Rebecca doesn't really like guides (goes along with her general aversion to people she doesn't know), so we just did it on our own.We did not see any wildlife (except for the huge spider and web outside of the rainforest), but really enjoyed just walking around in the rainforest. In retrospect, I think it may have been good to have a guide because they know where to look for animals, but there just may not have been many out because of the rainy season.
We got back to the hotel about 6:45a, and since breakfast did not start until 7a, we decided to hop in the pool to refresh ourselves before showering and heading down for breakfast.
The complimentary breakfast was awesome - I especially enjoyed the fresh fruit. That has to be one of my favorite things about Costa Rica - that fact that (almost) all of the food is extremely fresh. They use a few packaged things (like flour, sugar, etc) but not nearly as much as we do in the states.
Design Meeting
After breakfast we had a meeting with the Ventana del Pacifico house designer. (As you can tell, we really planned on buying property as we already had a meeting set up with the house designer.) We had been told by someone else that had bought property (but not yet started the design process) that you had to have one meeting with the designer on site and the rest could be handled remotely.
The meeting took less than an hour (Patrick had told us this yesterday, and the short time surprised us), and the purpose was to 1) know which lot they were designing for, and 2) understand what we (the owner) wanted in a house.
We gave him some details, but mainly general ideas of what we wanted in a house - mainly a lot of outdoor (still under roof) space with a very open feel. I don't want to bore you with details, so we will leave it at that.
He did say this was going to be fun - he really hates ones where the people already have an exact floorplan picked out that does not really take advantage of the lot. Especially as most floorplans are designed for flat lots, and very few Costa Rican lots are flat.
We realized that we could have done this meeting remotely, but I feel that there is real benefit in a face-to-face meeting so that the designer understands the owner as much as possible (and vice versa). We look forward to getting the first draft of the design in about a month!
Hacienda Baru
After another light lunch (and a small nap), we prepared to go on a canopy tour at Hacienda Baru. We had scheduled a time the day before - the tour cost $35 per person (I thought that was fair for 2 hours hiking through the rainforest and sliding around on zip lines), but the taxi cost $50 there and back.
A very worthwhile trip - because it was the beginning of October (a month when then tourist industry is almost shut-down in southern Costa Rica), we were the only 2 on the tour. We saw bats, a couple of 2-toed sloths, a 3-toed sloth, a poison dart frog, a couple of toucans, and lots of leaf-cutter ants.While we weren't way up in the trees usually (the exception being on one platform 120 ft above the ground) the zip lines across a valley were really an incredible experience. For some it wouldn't have been that exciting, but we really enjoyed it.
And the weather was beautiful - usually it rains in the afternoon in the rainy season, but it was actually cloudy all morning (with a little rain) and the sun came out for a beautiful afternoon.
On our way back, we chatted with our young taxi driver a bit. We had mentioned that we had bought some property while we were there, and he mentioned that he was thinking about getting into real estate (as a realtor, we gathered). He asked if we knew people in the states that were interested in buying property. We said we certainly knew people who would be interested in taking a look (ourselves included). I gave him my contact information (he did not have an email at the time), so we will see if I get an email (I sure hope we do!)
He also asked if we had a ride to the airport. We did not - he said he could take us and show us a place with hundreds of crocodiles and turtles if we were interested. It was behind the house of people he knew.
We came back to the hotel after that, hopped in the pool for a bit, then showered and relaxed before dinner. Mmmm....dinner...
Again great dinner with great food, and we avoided the mistake of having coffee before bed...
