Costa Rica

[Mr Cancun]

We were picked up at the Occidental Grand Papagayo on Sunday at 12 noon by Gustavo for our journey to the Paridisus Playa Conchal. The ride should be right at an hour and he asked if we were in any hurry and said no. For the next 2.5 hours Gustavo gave us a scenic ride through the countryside and showing us some pretty cool places.



This next pic at the top of the hill you can see some condos being built that were for sale.



It was amazing driving through these small towns. I did notice one thing in common with all of them, they all had "parks" with green benches everywhere. He said at night and on weekends, people would come out to visit. He said there were 3 other things that also were common, that a school, park, church and a CANTINA were all in the same area. As we passed each town we were picking out all four items that were exactly as he stated.

This small town (forgot the name) reminded me of PdC @ 15 years ago.



Here are some of the beaches that we started seeing, the beaches got nicer the farther away we were from the Papagaya beaches.





This next picture (not of the Port-a-potties) I was trying to capture the house in the background. The house you see way back on the hill is owned by Linda Carter. Gustavo was driving out as we snapped the pic.We ended up driving towards there and I snapped a few more pics.



This might be a better shot !!!



This pic was taken close to Linda's house (or at least in her neighborhood). The street going up the hill was walled on both sides and only one car at a time could go by.





Our last stop before getting to the Paridisus was at the infamous Camaron Dorado (Golden Shrimp). We were introduced to the owner of the restaurant, Jaime. From what Gustavo said, this same land had been in the family for almost 300 years. After talking to Jaime, he invited us to come back for a romantic dinner served on the beach at night and to watch the beautiful sunset which we readily agreed to do after we got settled in.

[Mr Cancun]

Finally Gustavo takes us to our new home for the next few days, the Paridisu Playa Conchal. We were ready to get there, find our room, and hit the pool for a drink.Here is the first look pulling into the Paridisus Complex after just passing the guard station. And a few more shots pulling in.









The Paradisus sits on an 18 hole golf course which is surrounded by little villas (each villa had 8 rooms). They were scattered all over this huge property, but everything is really easy to get to and find. There are always golf cart trucks and golf carts to pick you up and give you rides.

The Main Lobby where you check in.



After walking up to the front lobby we were quite surprised, we had been upgraded to the Royal Service which required us to go to another lobby just for these guests. The reception area was a separate building about midway of the property. They greeted us with the usual welcome drink and I was checking out the interior. Richly done with a big LCD Screen TV, bar area, seats , computers, etc....

More to come...

[Mr Cancun]

I can see the interest I am drawing with this report

Few more then I am done.

here is a few shots in the main lobby with those still peeking..







Here was our courtyard view



Bathtub



The rooms were really comfy, especially the bed. I think they had the memory foam addition on top. Never slept so good in all my life. The fridge had Pepsi products, Imperial Beer, and little airplane bottle sizes of scotch along with bottled water. Each room had LCD TV's and a crap load of channels. Room Service was included !!! The sinks in the bathroom were Kohler and they had just got done upgrading all the furniture in each room. There were Butlers assigned to each building all though we really didn't feel the need for their services. The Royal Service section had two buildings for guests with a pool separating them with a private dining area for guests with the gold bracelets.

Here is a picture of the restaurant where we ate breakfast and lunch at





For lunch, I got the shrimp ceviche and fried calamari...it was all good !!!!

[Rissask]

I can't view the pictures here but I will check them out later.

There was a Paradisus five star where we stayed in Cuba; it sounds very similar, amazing service we heard.