Los Altos de Eros

* Off the beaten path relaxation *
Following Ken K’s lead with Unilocal Taiwan (
), this will be my first entry for Unilocal Costa Rica.
This is a fabulous off the beaten path getaway spot. It is a little boutique hotel with only 5 rooms, that actually feels more like a private house with 5 bedrooms (4 poolside, and 1 suite upstairs). It is on top of a mountain that is about 1 ½ hours south of Liberia (about 1 hour on a paved road, followed by about 30 minutes unpaved).
The wooden doors open into an outdoor kitchen, dining room and living room that are right by the infinity edge pool. Everything is designed to have the perfect view of the distant ocean with the sun setting framed by palm trees. The 30 or so acres are beautiful, with the main house, an open air gym, an open air yoga ashram, and an open air spa. Stretching on a yoga mat on a hardwood floor in the open air ashram, while howler monkeys are climbing the papaya trees and making their sounds while small lizards dart around the birds and butterflies is amazingly relaxing.
The poolside rooms have an outdoor shower (yet it feels very private in the trees). The owner was nice enough to upgrade us for the bulk of our stay to the suite upstairs — which had a huge soaker tub, as well as a private balcony which had an amazing view of the sunsets each night.
The housedog, Oso, loves to walk with you. Anytime you get near the entrance he is ready to go for a hike. We took a few hikes with Oso (on a circular hilly path of about 6 km). On the hikes we saw everything from monkeys to lizards to snakes, and even a herd of cattle (including an angry bull blocking the path!).
They include a lovely breakfast and lunch each day, and dinner twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays). The meals are served communally with the other guests. We were lucky, during the bulk of our stay there was only 1 other couple there, so it felt very private.
The highlights of the food included the rice and beans with salsa lizano, the sopa negra (which had an amazing blend of culantro and spices), a homemade empanada de queso (which had a lovely corn flavour combined with fresh local cheese inside), the local farm cheese, the grilled shrimp (in a lovely garlic and spice rub), the locally grown beef tenderloin (incredibly tender and cooked perfectly), and a phenomenal grilled tuna which is easily among the best tuna I have tasted (including in Japan). The freshly baked chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies and the galleta de coco (coconut cookies) which were baked by Antonio (one of the drivers who also used to conveniently work at a bakery) were a special treat too!
Wine, beer, fresh fruit smoothies, etc. are always offered throughout the day, and a bottle of sparkling Chilean wine was in the room waiting for us upon arrival. Nice touch.
Each day fresh flowers are spread on your bed, and fresh flower arrangements are placed in the room which are picked from the surrounding area. Lovely.
But the highlight of this spot is the staff. Although there are only 5 rooms, there are close to 30 staff that really take care of you. From the moment one of the drivers picked us up to drive us to the hotel, until the final tearful farewell on the last day, everything is focused on relaxing you and making you feel at home. The owner really takes good care of the staff (including having built 3 houses nearby for staff to live in for free).
They truly made us feel like part of the family. There is always a driver available to take you wherever you need to go (to the beach, to a restaurant for dinner, to get to an outdoor adventure, etc.), someone is always offering up a drink, the women in the kitchen are happy to show you how they make the delicious treats, and someone even does your laundry each day.
One of the highlights was when Wilfredo (one of the drivers) took us to a fiesta in his town of Lagarita. We met his friends and neighbours, enjoying the carnival atmosphere which included music, games, and even bull riding (there are some seriously crazy drunk people that jump into the ring with the bulls!)! An amazing evening.
Another highlight was a sunset couples massage in the open air spa. After the relaxing massage (where we heard the monkeys in the trees right in front of us), they set up some lounge chairs by the private hot tub with fresh strawberries, brown sugar, and fresh cream along with a bottle of Chilean sparkling wine. A lovely way to watch the sunset. This was followed by a private dinner which was truly lovely in our own open air dining room next to a little pond that had a huge frog that just stumbled in to see what was going on. What a nice way to spend the last evening here.
It was a sad departure (let’s just say it included some tears) as we said goodbye to everyone.
A wonderfully relaxing getaway overall!