Hotel Playa Hermosa, Bosque del Mar

Our final destination in Costa Rica was Playa Hermosa along the Golfo de Papagayo.  We stayed in the Hotel Bosque del Mar and I loved it!  One of my favorite things about the hotel was the open-air main building that housed the reception, restaurant and bar.  The best part about the building was the amazing architecture with trees "growing" through the building.   

The other thing I loved about this hotel was the paper lanterns everywhere.  It is such a small thing, but I am absolutely crazy about them!  They give such a festive feeling and we totally lucked out because the day we arrived there was a party on the beach with a marimba band.  We ate dinner in the open-air restaurant listening to incredible music and watched as the lanterns began to glow in the fading light of the sunset.

Below is the view from our room.  The day we arrived there were howler monkeys in the tree above the pool and you could just look up at them from our deck.  There were also a couple giant iguanas that lived in that tree and it was fun to watch them (below).

The last day of our trip we had planned on taking a snorkeling trip with Capitán Adolfo.  He came recommended by several other guests at the hotel.  Unfortunately my dad was not feeling well that day and we had to cancel.  But if you get a chance to visit Playa Hermosa his rates were quite good.  His telephone number is 8830-8489 and his email is elpar64@yahoo.es.  I told him since we cancelled the least I could do would be to mention him on the blog.  If anyone out there has gone on a trip with him please feel free to leave comments.  Someone also said he came recommended on tripadvisor.com.

If I ever go back to Playa Hermosa I would definitely stay here again.  The hotel is right on the beach and the beach was clean, not-rocky and beautiful.  My dad and I spent one whole day just lounging in chairs on the beach while George went to la Reserva Biológica Lomas de Barbudal. He not only saw their famous capuchin monkeys but also long-tailed manakins.  He had a great time but I wouldn't have traded places with him for the world.  That night we saw a white-throated magpie jay while sitting in the restaurant.  Awesome bird and delicious ceviche at the same time... now that is my kind of birding!