Supposedly you can book through the internet, but I never got a confirmation back. So I called them directly. Turns out that the person answering the phone doesn't speak a single bit of Spanish. I muddled through and made the reservation but wish I hadn't.

When we got there, we were greeted by a very nice woman and her equally nice son. That was about the best thing about this place (oh, and the breakfast).

We only stayed here because it was reasonably near Tarcoles, where we intended to do a crocodile cruise. Well, the cruise got cancelled because of the rain, so in retrospect, we should have continued on to Manuel Antonio (or stayed an extra night in Arenal) but we didn't know.

In the daytime, things didn't look all that bad. Not great, but it sort of had an interesting charm. Character, at least. Then it started raining. And raining. And raining. Not surprising for a rainforest, I know. But it brought out all the bugs.

And we're talking BUGS! Ants, roaches, termites...thousands of them in each of the three cabins we rented. There was an entire colony of probably 200 termites feasting on the closet door in my parents' cabin.

The cabins are drywall construction, which isn't good for a humid, wet environment. And the cabins weren't clean either. And they smelled so musty!

The mango trees surrounding the property seem like a nice touch, but the fruit fall and nobody bothers to pick them up. So they rot on the ground and smell. There was a mango tree over my aunt and uncle's cabin and the mangoes kept falling down at night, pounding down onto the tin roof. My uncle, a Vietnam vet and POW, said it reminded him of mortar shells (and the bugs and jungle sounds gave him flasbacks).

But the worst was the shower. We mentioned it to the owner of the beach house we rented in Manuel Antonio and he called it a "suicide shower." Basically, they stick electric cords into a heating element on the shower head. It's not even a PVC pipe either...it's cauterized steel. Metal, electric wires, and water...you do the math. Yeah, we didn't bother showering.

Run as fast as you can if you even bother to consider booking this house of horrors!

Located about 5km from Orotina, in the tiny ghost town of San Mateo. Whoever answers the phone speaks Spanish only. Extremely friendly owner Alvaro has pretty much let the place go. While we were greeted with a refreshing glass of juice, we were left alone after that to wonder whether and where dinner or breakfast would be served.
Guests stay in private cabins nestled between ripe mango and avocado trees and creeks that flow through the surrounding forest area. A-frame cabins have tile floors and cold-water bathrooms. As rooms go unoccupied for long periods they are dusty. Still, it’s a great place to wind down after a vacation and only an hour from the airport. The hotel grounds have a trail, a boche ball court, a foosball table, and a large filtered outdoor pool. Continental breakfast included.