Monday, July 28, 2008

Puerto Viejo Banana Azul Style

When I was planning this trip, my Costa Rican travel agent had suggested we´d like Puerto Viejo, a laid-back Caribbean beach town. In exploring lodging options, she´d sent me a link for Banana Azul. Don´t ask me how she knew about it, but damn, it was such a fabulous choice.

Banana Azul is hidden down a road that few people who visit Puerto Viejo ever frequent. (Our driver had no idea where in town it was.) After many missed turns we arrived and were met by Colin, a gay man from Canada. The hotel was designed him and his partner about four years ago. The reception staff seemed to all be gay men, hailing from all over Latin America. Their attention to details was phenomenal. Clearly they were the most traveller-friendly hosts we´d yet encountered. The hotel grounds are adjacent to a pristine stretch of Playa Negra. The dining area includes a ground level aquarium with fish and sea turtles...and the seating areas feature some wonderfully gawdy benches and tables.

We stayed at the Magic Moon Beach House which is down the road from (and managed by Banana Azul). The beach house is absolutely gorgeous. It includes two sleeping rooms, a kitchen, a deck with a hammock, a garden with fruit trees and two cats and one dog. We were immediately at home with hunger-struck cats, a dog whose eyes match Bacchus´ (my dog who sports a brown eye and a blue eye) and a beach front that is literally footsteps away. Despite that it was hardly ¨authentic¨ Costa Rica, for our last few days we felt very blessed.

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