A Very Merry Christmas in Puriscal, Costa Rica. By Melissa Jakobfi and Igor Senek.

A Very Merry Christmas in Puriscal, Costa Rica

VIP Members Melissa Jakobfi and Igor Senek

We had such a great time on our vacation at Casa Sapo in Puriscal during the 2011 Christmas holidays!

The house was beautiful, with an amazing view -- our absolute favourite part of the day was getting up in the morning and enjoying our coffee on the patio while listening to the birds (and the really loud bugs!).

The amenities in the Altos de Antigua residential community were fantastic; we spent a lot of time lounging beside and swimming in the pool, and we also enjoyed spending time with some of the other homeowners in the area -- everyone was so friendly. Since it gets dark so early, we spent most of our evenings on the patio playing cards and trying to identify all the bugs that came to visit.

"Our absolute favourite part of the day was getting up in the morning and enjoying our coffee on the patio."

In the area, we really liked going to La Palma restaurant for dinner -- in fact, it was one of the best dinners we had in Costa Rica. The pork fajitas were amazing. On our last night the owner brought us all a drink on the house -- his own special concoction that tasted almost like a light eggnog. It was delicious and of course made us feel very welcome... as if we weren't already devastated about leaving!

We also really liked going for hikes in the area; on our last day we hiked about two hours to the site of a plane crash in 2005. The road took us to the top of a mountain, and the view was unreal! We ran into some Ticos along the way, and we were delighted again and again with how friendly and accommodating they were, even in the face of our sadly nonexistent Spanish skills.

A typical Puriscal view.

We were driving wherever we needed to go, and, while for the first couple of days the drives were a bit harrowing, to say the least, the travel in between destinations was one of the most memorable and enjoyable parts of the trip. It was amazing to see the change in scenery as we descended the mountains and came closer to the coast.

The site of a plane crash in 2005

We spent one afternoon in Manuel Antonio, and if we have one regret from the trip it's not spending more time there -- one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.

We took a wildlife tour in the park, and were surprised to find that there were about ten other tours going on at the same time. If you have your own binoculars, you'd see just as much going on your own and just kind of listening in on what all the tour guides are saying.

Manuel Antonio was also the place where I got a tuna steak the size of my plate, which may not be big as far as tuna steaks go but when you come from Alberta it was gargantuan -- I couldn't finish it!

Melissa Jakobfi and Igor Senek. "We can't wait to come back to Costa Rica."

For New Year's Eve, we spent a couple of nights on the beach at Jaco, which was unforgettable. We stayed at Hotel Nine, which is a beachfront hotel that includes free surfboard rentals and quite the view. The hotel was pricier than many in Jaco due to the beachside nature of it, and a bit off the beaten path of the strip -- we had to walk quite a ways to see the rest of the beach. But the beach there was clean and free of rocks, and the area was peaceful so it was worth it.

On New Year's the locals and the hotels like to put on big fireworks shows, and we got to experience what it was like being in the middle of one. The fireworks went off intermittently all night, but they were constant and extravagant from midnight to about 12:30.

A family beside us was also letting off paper lanterns into the night sky. We furiously tried to capture all of this on camera, but the feeling of the night was lost in translation -- it has to be experienced!

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.

We spent New Year's day playing in the waves, and were unexpectedly joined by a school of stingrays that were swimming in the waves and darting between our legs. It was so exciting!

We can't wait to come back to Costa Rica. It was such an amazing time -- thank you for sharing your beautiful house with us!

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Written by VIP Members Melissa Jakobfi and Igor Senek.

If the idea of having your dream home built for you nestled in a Puriscal coffee plantation sounds interesting, whether it's a vacation home (which they can manage and rent out for if you want) or a full-time retirement home, I would encourage you to contact the Canadian owner/developer's representative Connie Dye on 1-888-835-0108 or use the simple form below:

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