Friday, July 1, 2016 / by Kristin And Mark Stampini
What Everyone Ought to Know About Vacationing in Costa Rica
Vacation, Friends, Family, Food, Birthday Celebrations, FUN & Real Estate!!!!!
I currently work in the real estate industry and previously to real estate, I worked in the restaurant business. From my previous and past experiences, I truly know how to appreciate a good vacation, great service, food, real estate and tourism.
Thirty-two of us, most of which grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan just
stayed the entire week in Costa Rica at Barefoot Vacation Villa’s – vacationing and celebrating two special birthdays. There’s nothing better than going on a vacation with childhood friends that we’ve known for 45 years.
We stayed in a 16 bedroom All-Inclusive Costa Rican Villa located in the North Pacific province of Guanacaste, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The views were breathtaking and the sunsets were stunning! Villa Cascada at Barefoot Villas provided us with 5 STAR personal customer services. Guillermo, the property manager took very good care of us, organizing all of our outings, excursions and making sure we had absolutely everything we could have possibly wanted or needed. The Villa was immaculate and provided daily laundry service.
Gabriel & Rolando served us breakfast, lunch and dinner that were varied over the week. Our meals were served overlooking the beautiful views of the ocean and infinity pool. Every dinner we all told stories about our childhood memories, the stories created many tears of nightly joy. Endless cocktails were served day and night. We relaxed by the pool while soaking up the sun, playing volleyball, enjoying daily spa services, and drinking frozen Pina Colada and ice-cold beers. At night, we would dance and enjoy the music, drinks and one another.
Many “Chili Guaro’s Shots” being made by Gabriel and Rolando. You would be able to find this spicy shot just about anywhere, it’s very well known in Costa Rica. Tourists and locals like to drink the shots both at night and in the morning. The local Costa Rican Shots consisted of Guaro Cacique, tomato juice, mandarin lime, tobacco, and salt.
25% of Costa Rica is now protected within wildlife nature refuges, reserves, and national parks. The Costa Rican pineapples were so sweet and very juicy. The Costa Rican coffee is the BEST! Fortunately, the pineapple plantations do not encroach upon the protected lands. Currently, 75% of the pineapples sold in the United States are Costa Rican pineapples. There are a lot of things to love about Costa Rica. The landscape is gorgeous. The beaches are clean, and the weather is warm year round. What I loved most was the coffee. Costa Rica and gourmet coffee were made for each other. The weather was beautiful during the day with relaxing showers in the late afternoon and evening.
The beach had black sand; the black sand could shock some people who have only seen brown or white sand beaches. The beach wasn’t exactly built for normal beach activities and could be difficult to walk on as well as it is very hot because it absorbs heat. Regardless, the black sand beach was beautiful.
We all participated in so many fun activities from; ATV’s, to Whitewater Rafting, Daily Spa Treatments, Zip lining, Jet ski’s, Casino Night, DJ/Band, Fishing, Catamaran – Snorkeling, Golf, Fireworks, & Cigar Rolling at the Villa.
We saw monkeys during several excursions; this was my husband and my very favorite thing to see in Costa Rica, we love monkeys! There are four kinds of monkeys in Costa Rica.
1. Howler Monkeys sound terrifying to a first-time tourist in Costa Rica. Howler Monkeys are 100%, peaceful vegetarians. Do not stand beneath a howler monkey family, they use an effective strategy to keep people away who bother them: they pee with the most innocent face imaginable and they think it’s so funny.
2. White-Faced Monkeys tend to live in groups of 5 to 24. These Monkeys are extremely curious and aggressive. They defend their territory by showing their sharp teeth, threatening and shaking on all the trees.
3. Spider Monkeys are the most intelligent monkeys in Costa Rica. They have long slender arms and prehensile tail, these monkeys move gracefully through the canopy looking for fruits, seeds, and leaves. Spider monkeys are severely endangered in Costa Rica.
4. Squirrel Monkey species are endangered; they are the most beautiful, inquisitive and friendly monkeys of the four species of the Costa Rica monkeys.
Sadly, there has been a decrease of the monkey population in Costa Rica. Deforestation is the main reason for the decrease. Many of the monkeys also end up being electrocuted on insulated power lines where their usual travel routes through the canopy have been cut, you can sign the petition to prevent Monkey Electrocution in Costa Rica Here.
We also had access to 3 Golf Carts during our stay at Villa Cascada. We took the golf carts to the beach and into the city for nightlife and shopping. The city of Playas del Coco is one of the better-known beach cities in Costa Rica for both the locals and the tourists. It is one of the smaller beaches in the Guanacaste region but is it is full of nightlife, restaurants, bars and shopping. Coco beach is a great place for all kinds of people looking to kick back and have a fun time.
Most of the locals in this area of Costa Rica work in the tourism industry. There are many hotels, boats, and fishing which makes it easy for the locals to work in this industry and the tourists love the fishing and vacation spots.
This is one of the very best vacations we have ever been on. Not only because of the people we were with but also because of the beautiful country and people of Costa Rica. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Costa Rica I highly recommend it.
My husband and I currently live in South Florida and own a real estate company. We love the real estate business, investing in real estate as well as selling residential real estate. We like to learn more about real estate industry around the world. Costa Rica doesn’t only have beautiful scenery but also has warm and friendly people. Life is simpler in Costa Rica,
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