Foder's Travel Guide: Costa Rica

Now, it's already 9 PM and I'm just now starting this post... It's not smart, but if I don't do it now, I'll be doing this all day tomorrow at work instead of working. So without further dudes (Family Guy), here's my guide to Costa Rica hotels!

First of all, almost, if not all of the hotels I am skimming over are villa- or bungalow-style hotels with individual buildings for ultimate romanticism and privacy. This is not because I'm some sort of snob, but I had no idea these types of places existed and I had no idea there was so many of them in Costa Rica AND I had no idea they were so affordable... for real.

Here's a very helpful map of Costa Rica with all the important regions outlined:

This map is from a website for one of the hotels... can you tell which one? But anyway, the main areas I'm going to touch on (aka the ones where I found the best hotels) are Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Alajuela, with a few outliers in a couple other regions.

First, in Guanacaste, is the Hilton Papagayo. I know, a Hilton, but it's a Hilton with separate little buildings. I don't have any pictures since it looks exactly like every other Hilton, but here's a map!

I know this is a ridiculous and difficult to read map, but it's just to show all the different bungalows!

Also, this is the first Costa Rican resort I'd found so far that's all-inclusive, I didn't even know Costa Rica had all-inclusive resorts!

Next up is Capitan Suizo, little bungalows that have built in hot tubs!

Not so fancy but still private and isolated. I don't remember at this point... because I've been looking at soooo many, but I think this one was also well-priced. Once we narrow this down some, I'll do a more thorough analysis of price, amenities, etc...

Anyway, moving on, next is Hotel Punta Islita:

Also not particularly captivating, but with hammocks, hot tubs, nice porch, great ocean view, and a good price tag!

Moving right along, next is Anamaya Resort and Retreat Center:

This one has a great selection of casitas and cabinas, I love all the windows, the great views, and the outdoor hot tub. This is another well-priced place, but still not as fancy and boutique-y as some of the ones coming up.

Next up is another all-inclusive resort, Recreo:

I love how it's round. I love the floor to ceiling windows, I love the jacuzzi outside, and I love the bathroom. This place is really well-priced for all the inclusions.

Well, it's hard to believe but we're already done with Guanacaste! These are all a bit easier to get to because the Libera Airport is in Guanacaste, where as the San Jose airport is in, you guessed it, San Jose, in the middle of the country.

I'm going to move next to Puntarenas because it's the other Pacific coast region of Costa Rica. Puntarenas is home to our current favorite; Oxygen Jungle Villas!

*Sigh* Compared to all the others, it's just so much more luxurious. I guess the appeal is that as much as we like the jungle scenery, we aren't crocodile dundees, I need to know we're not roughing it, because I'm no toughy, if I see a spider in the room, I'm gonna' freak out... I know what you're thinking, maybe she shouldn't go to Costa Rica. Shut up, I'll be fine. I'm just trying to justify why I want to stay in a fancy boutique villa :)

Puntarenas has lots of other great hotels to offer, like Flor Blanca:

With outdoor hot tub and living room!

Red Palm Villas:

I think though that I've already eliminated this one because it's too expensive for what it is; even though it's really nice, it's not nice enough for the price.

This place however, is more than nice enough for it's really really great price; Pranamar Villas and Yoga Retreat:

Wow, was what I said when I first saw it. You can say wow too. Well-priced, outdoor hot tub, open air living room. One of my new favorites! HOWEVER, it turns out it's even harder to get to than Oxygen, or at least it takes a lot longer... based on initial observations. Jury's still out.

Lapa Rios is another all-inclusive:

Not the best one so far, but still, all-inclusive is great, and I love the open air aspect. Worth considering for now.

Next is my personal, but most indulgent (expensive) favorite; Rancho Pacifico:

I could keep going and going, this search would be over if not for the price, which is much higher than Oxygen :-( HOWEVER it's still not as high as the hotels in other parts of the world, like Hawaii. This retreat has everything that I loved about Oxygen but also with everything I wish Oxygen had, like infinity hot tubs! Didn't even know I wanted that! Well, for now, let's move on.

Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge:

Open air, nestled in the jungle... well-priced.

Buena Vista Luxury Villas:

Another great luxurious option. Not as special as Oxygen or Rancho Pacifico, but definitely fancy and new. This is another kind of expensive option.

Latitude 10:

Yet another great open air villa. Didn't get much info though on the website but another great, well-priced option!

Next up, (almost there) another fantastic hidden gem; Casa Chameleon:

Complete with open air living area and bedroom, and your very own infinity pool! Check it out, I can roll right out of that hammock into my own pool!

Finally, the last great gem in Puntarenas is Moana Lodge:

Another really, really well-priced option with a great hot tub and a nice openness, and a cool safari feel.

Well, I can't stop now, we're more than half way! Next is a single option on the Caribbean coast, in the Limon region, called Shawandha Lodge:

This is another example of the more restic resorts that make you feel like you're in a hut in the jungle. It's also very cheap but the bathroom's a bit kitchy though. But the island of Tortuga is off the coast... Maybe I'll be able to visit Jack Sparrow :D

We're now moving inland, I was surprised at how many great resorts were inland, most are in the middle of great nature reserves or at the base of active volcanoes! In the San Jose area (that would be really easy to get to...) there's Monte Azul:

This one's more minimalist because it's some sort of art retreat center. It doesn't have a lot of luxuries, but it's clean and new and inexpensive, just a cool option to consider.

The last region we're going to look at is Alajuela, which sounds cool to say. There are volcanoes jungles, lots of great scenery, but no beaches, which isn't a huge deal, but worth mentioning. First up is El Silencio Lodge:

Even though it's in the mountains, and there's no ocean views, it's still a really luxurious option with a lot of amenities for a great price! If we decide to stay inland, I think this is a front runner.

Next up is Tenorio Lodge:

This one I had to put up here because it's like the inland equivalent of Oxygen Jungle Villas. The only problem is that everyone shares the two jacuzzis... Yeah, pretty sure Kyle's not going to go for that, but like I said, it looks a lot like Oxygen Jungle Villas but with a volcano in the background!

I already showed you Arenal Nayara Hotel and Gardens:

Spectacular bathrooms, open air spas, and a hot tub on each villa porch. Warm and inviting and again, with a great view of the volcano, and a good price tag to boot.

Next up, Hotel Mountain Paradise:

Very cool looking bedrooms, but on the whole, there aren't many windows, it's not as open as the other resorts. It feels more like a hotel.

Lastly (!!) I've saved the most stereotypical treehouse resort for last; Hidden Canopy Treehouses Boutique Hotel:

Not as "new" or modern, but still really nice and romantic, great-priced little treehouses and they still have hot tubs! There's also the great sun roof and the floor to ceiling windows.

So, that post only took 4 hours, it's time for me to go to bed! My computer is crawling with all these pictures. I hope that it's not too much info for anyone, I mean, if you never intend to go to Costa Rica, just ignore it! If you have any advice though, or if you are planning on visiting Costa Rica, and you've made it this far, well then Thanks! I found all these hotels on TripAdvisor. And now Kyle and I can finally go through and narrow it down. I'll be back next with more details, prices, inclusions, travel details, etc...

Next up...: We. make. a. decision!!!!! Hopefully...

Rings on our fingers!

I believe I mentioned that Kyle has been at home for three days this month because of an inordinate amount of business travel, well, he was home for a day and a half this weekend. Yay!

First of all, shameless restaurant plug:

This is Sonata Restaurant, a B.Y.O.B. in Northern Liberties (North East Philadelphia). It's the bee's knees! We love it. We went there this weekend, it was our second time, but I wasn't blogging at the time we went the first time. You should go!

It's small and intimate, quiet and romantic. Everyone's really nice, and the chef is young and really impressive!

This is probably the best little plate of food you'll ever hope to find anywhere: The crispy pork belly, smoked tomato marmalade, sweet crunchy little compressed apples, and some sort of molasses I've never heard of. But the point is, four ingredients, and that's about how many is in all his dishes, simple, classic, spectacularly executed Contemporary American cuisine!

The tenderest short ribs I've ever EVER had. This meat literally melted on my tongue. And the flavor? MMMmmMMmmmmMMMMMM. Again: meat, gravy, pureed celery root, and gnocchi (really really good gnocchi!). And that was just Kyle's dish... he got to eat most of it himself.

I had a spectacular lobster pot pie. Kyle doesn't like lobster and he tried a bite of mine and said that if lobster was cooked like that all the time he would eat lobster all the time. And this is coming from two people who grew up at Ocean City... MD/DE is just not known for its lobster though, I'm not made at our beach states. But I was so pleasantly surprised at the quality of lobster coming out of Philadelphia, a place not at all known for its lobster.

Anyway, I also recommend the duck ragout croquettes app and the potato-wrapped cod filets entree is fantastic, perfect fish, crispy potato. My favorite part about this restaurant too is the price. Because it's a BYOB, you're only paying for your food, and it is amazing how much cheaper your meal becomes when you're not paying $12 for a glass of wine (don't be shocked, come to Philadelphia, go to a non-BYOB, this is how much you will spend on a glass of wine). Philly has such an amazing BYOB scene, it would be a huge waste not to take advantage of it. We have vowed to go to a BYOB a month for the rest of our time here in Philly, before I get my Ph.D. and we move out of our hell-hole townhouse... that has baby roaches right now. Yay!

Next up, Fond. Look for my review next month!

Anyway, we also went wedding band shopping, which was really fun! I was surprised it was so much fun, but I think that since I knew exactly what I wanted and Kyle is so easy to please, it was just easy, and easy = stress free = FUN!

Kyle had originally professed his love for black tungsten carbide:

Well, Barsky Diamonds had one!

I had to laugh to myself because when we went in, he said we were shopping for my wedding band, but I insisted he try some on too, and it turns out he did not like the black tungsten carbide against his skin tone. We found one right next to it that was a chrome color and he really liked that one.

It's hard to tell if Kyle 'loves' something, he rarely gushes. But I loved it and he insisted he really did like it. It was also wider, and I like a wider band on his large fingers:

This is obviously not thee one, because this one is from some company called T Kay, but Barsky did not have this band on their website even though it was in their store. The one he tried on was a little darker, more chrome-colored. Macho man-looking.

So with that out of the way, we moved to me. Now I think I sensed both from Kyle and the guy behind the counter that this was going to be painful. Well poo poo on both of you, because I said "I want five small diamonds in a compression setting."

He said "... OK."

I said "There's one right there."

He said "... OK." and he pulled it out of the case. I tried it on. I said "Yeah, that's it."

He said "... OK." Kyle then spent the rest of the evening asking me over and over again if it was really what I wanted, and I spent the rest of the evening rolling my eyes and saying yes! yes I love it!

I've already posted it, but here it is again!

Love it love it love it!!! Thanks once again to Keri who photoshopped the ring onto my finger! It fit just right with the engagement ring, they set each other off beautifully! I was worried it would be too showy, but it's really sweet and modest and romantic. Just a quick side note, I am working on a Mac right now and you know how they automatically put the red line under any word you spell wrong? Well, I assumed 'photoshopped' would be a word that was underlined, but it is in fact a word now. How funny is it that we've made photoshop a verb?!

Anyway, lastly, I promised I would post some more pictures of possible honeymoon venues. Kyle and I both agree that this is something that needs to be addressed very soon, but I've been going through a lot of options and I don't have all of them picked over yet. As soon as I scour TripAdvisor for a few more hours, I'll post about honeymoon adventures. And as anal as I've been, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but you're going to be able to write a Foder's book chapter after this post. I'm just warning you, it's going to be huge!

[No] Progress

It's been a few days but I had a lot of things to do both with work and with the wedding and I have very little to report.

I went to the local floral distributor, Pennock Floral Distributors... I'm not even linking that up because the website is the most unhelpful thing every conceived. You go to the website and click on "Shop Online" and you get an error page. Whatever, they also said they were open to the public, and I was really excited to check them out because I want to see if wholesale flowers are a possibility. Yeah, I walked in and they asked me to leave before I even saw any flowers because I don't have an account with them. Turns out, you have to go to a florist who orders through Pennock... What's the point of cutting out the middle man if you still have to go through a middle man?!?!

I also set out to take my dress to a dry cleaners this weekend. Again, not sure if this is necessary, but Kyle, don't look, I'm putting up pictures of dress detail below!!

Anywho, as I told you, I was worried about the "grime" along the neckline of the dress, and the general state of the dress. Here's a detail shot of the neckline:

It's harder to see here because my camera flatters things impossibly, but that rim is a tad grimy. I wanted to get that taken care of. So I started calling every. single. drycleaner in Philadelphia and the surrounding area that claimed to do wedding gown tailoring, cleaning, and/or preservation. I got a range of prices and personalities and finally found a really nice drycleaners close by. I went there this evening and met the owner who was a very very nice guy named Jim. Unfortunately, he told me he wouldn't feel comfortable putting my dress through the drycleaning machine thingy because the edges are raw and the machine would fray them. However, he also said it didn't need much, just some spot treatment along the neckline. He also said he does not use an organic solvent, which this dress apparently needs.

After dragging her down and back up the stairs again, and stuffing her into the car another few times, I've taken to calling her the Fat Wh*#e. She's a ridiculous amount of dress.

So I have two options: there is a drycleaner in Alexandria, VA that was recommended by the salon where I got the dress that uses an organic solvent and also costs twice as much as every other place out there, OR I can try to sell it as is, or at least see if anyone's interested. I think I'm going to go ahead and post it on WeddingBee and see if I get any bites and then next time I'm in Baltimore visiting Mia and Dan I'll bring the dress and make the trek to Alexandria, which has to be closer to Baltimore than Philly.

On the other topic, I guess I'll have to do some more searching for floral wholesalers in Philly... somewhere that I'll actually be able to get into.

Lastly, Kyle asked me to do a little more research on honeymoon stuff because we are both still a little apprehensive about the trek that it's going to take to get to Oxygen Jungle Villas. I looked at a few other places, but the best prices are still in Costa Rica, and luckily, Costa Rica also seems to be the only place on earth where almost every hotel has private villas, bungalows, cabins, etc... I was amazed when I started looking all over Costa Rica how many places had separate villas just like Oxygen. I have yet to find any that are as sleek as Oxygen, but I am still looking. Here are a couple pictures for viewing pleasure!

Arenal Nayara Hotel, Spa and Gardens:

Spectacular, and voted one of the top five most romantic hotels in the world by someone or some list, but a tad on the expensive-er side.

I plan on showing some more tomorrow, but with the PC that I'm working on right now, I can't take screenshots... well, I can, but on a Mac, they turn into pictures that I can post. On a PC, they go to my clipboard... I love PCs, but they can be slightly user-unfriendly when it comes to media.

Point is, I will post more pictures of other potential honeymoon spots tomorrow (instead of working hard :)) and please, anyone who has any thoughts on the dress stuff, I'm all eyes. Let me know what you think, and if you want a Vera Wang Diana, hey, I got one!