We stayed with a group of friends in one of Emilio's lodges for christmas and new years (about 2 weeks) and it was amazing. The setting is beautiful in the jungle but still close (2min walk) to the beach and supermarket. A taxi into town is about 3000col or you can rent really cheap bikes and it takes you about 10min to get into Puerto Viejo or the paradise beach of Punta Uva. The house contains everything you need for a comfortable stay and it is all kept very clean.
We would highly recommend this to anyone visiting the area.The houses are just dreamy, we did not want to leave! thank you so much Emilio and family!

We stayed at Casa Lagarto for about a week and it was an amazing place. First, Emilio was a fantastic host and took care of us from getting us fresh towels to calling a cab. The house itself felt like it was in the middle of the jungle - we heard monkeys each night and didn't see lights from any of the other houses on the property. We felt like we had a lot of privacy and comfort throughout our trip. We would return to Casa Lagarto again and again.

Stayed here about a month and changed houses midway through (as scheduled). Photos are accurate.

Pros/Cons list is most expedient, so here you go:

Pros:
The location is convenient being near a grocery store.

WIFI Internet is available throughout the complex and fairly reliable, albeit slow ~100k/s.

Jungle location means there isn't any road noise.

Owners are quick to respond to any issues raised, and keep to themselves otherwise.

Kitchens are functional.

Cleaners do a great job, and this is very important in this climate!

No detected theft, which apparently in CR is a big thing.

House #4 is on raised posts which reduces the number of insects.

Cons:

Beds are terrible. This is what you will use the most, right? They are super uncomfortable!

House #2 has zero privacy because the owners house is about 4 meters away.

Did I mention how noisy the beds are?

Huge smelly dogs (Mastiffs, etc.). Some friendly, some not.

Water service was interrupted routinely in house #2, probably to accommodate a thriving laundry business the owners operate 4 meters away. $10/garbage bag of clothes.

"Suicide" shower heads (electric heater in the head), gets warm but not hot.

Kitchen's gas burner is very weak, not suitable except for very basic cooking.

No room safe, but I guess the dogs help with that.

Toilets do not accept tissue paper.

Very little lighting in the rooms.

Mosquito nets are not large enough in house #4.


I suggest to anyone looking to stay here, never stay in house #2.
House #4 is ok but nothing special.

We had a great time in this unusual home. It was a really cool place to stay. I felt that we had our own little retreat away from it all. Our host was great, another family who we were travelling with could not get in touch with agent they had rented with. Our host had them stay in a vacant house for the night while we sorted things out. No charge, he felt bad that they had to deal with the stress.