I stayed at the Vista Linda apartments in Calle Blancos on this trip and thought I would share the pros and cons with everyone. I wanted to try something different this trip and since hotels were in short supply due to the US holiday an apartment seemed like a good alternative. Some board members had recommended Vista Linda and after looking at their website I decided to make a reservation.
http://www.vistalindaapartments.com/main.html
Carlos the owner responded to me within a day and we talked back and forth via email and worked out the details. I was to rent an apartment for a week and the rate was $145. (I was only staying 6 days but they rent by the week or month only, no daily rates) I asked Carlos if he wanted a CC number to hold the reservation and he said no, just let him know a week or so ahead of time to confirm I was still staying there. (I don't think they even take CC's btw) A week before I left I emailed and confirmed and we were all set. Being totally unfamiliar with where the place was I asked for and received directions in Spanish via email as well as a telephone number. Since my flight was supposed to arrive around 9 PM and I had never been there before I was a little worried about finding the place in the dark.
As it turned out my concerns were unwarranted. My plane was late getting into CR, the immigration line was longer than I've ever seen it, and it took forever to get out of the airport. I grabbed a cab and told him where I wanted to go and saw by the blank look on his face I may be in for a long ride. Thank god my Spanish is now good enough to communicate a little or we would have never have found the place. After telling him 20 times it's in Calle Blancos he finally said ahhhh, Calle Blancos. The nearest landmark is a pipe factory called Dorman Esquival and most of the cab drivers in San Jose know where it is. After a while I just told cab drivers to take me there and then just directed them the rest of the way. At any rate, once we found the pipe plant he followed Carlos' directions and we found the apartments without any problems.
I arrived at the apartment complex at around 10:30 PM and told the cabbie to wait for me since I needed to go to town for a little leche relief after "checking in" plus I was a little nervous about standing around alone at the location that late at night. (again unwarranted) The apartments are at the end of a dead end street and it's VERY dark at night so it's a little scary on your first visit. Had it been daytime it would have been a different story. The security gaurd came to the gate and asked who I was and what I wanted and I told him I had a reservation. He was a young K*D (packing a pistol) and very hard to understand. He went and woke up Carlos (he goes to bed early) and he took me to my room.
Carlos opened the door and said we have too many guests so I have to put you in here tonight but we'll take care of it tomorrow and talk about the price. The room was nice, but small with a single bed and a small bathroom. At first I was a bit annoyed by this apparent "bait and switch" but I had a cab waiting and chicas on my mind so I was like screw it, I'll deal with this manana. I went to Idem, hooked up with my favorita and all was right with the world.
The next day I got up and went down to what I'll call the "lobby" for lack of a better term. The lobby area is sort of like a giant veranda with giant sliding glass doors. They have 2 computers for guests to use, a sitting area with copies of the local newspapers, and a common kitchen for the people staying in the rooms without kitchens. It's a really nice place to hang out and enjoy a cup of coffee and read the paper. The lobby area is surrounded by gardens with different kinds of plants and trees. Quite nice. The apartment complex is surrounded by a high wall topped with razor wire and has what I would describe as a gun tower where the guard hangs out at night. The door to the front gate is always locked and you can use your key to get it or someone can "buzz" you in. You feel pretty secure in there.
The room I was in, although small, was adequate for my needs. I didn't bring any chicas back with me so the single bed wasn't an issue. Carlos offered to move in a bigger bed if I wanted one though and was very apologetic about me not getting the type of room I had requested. The room had a safe, cable TV, a phone, and wireless internet access. I came to find out after spending a few days there that the guy that was in the apartment I was supposed to be in was too ill to travel and had to stay in CR. Most of the people that stay there are repeat visitors so that should tell you a bit about the place. It quickly became apparent that Carlos wasn't pulling a fast one on me but merely trying to take care of all his guests the best he could.
It's an interesting group of guests consisting of mongers, eco-tourists, families, couples, etc. All seem to coexist in an odd sort of mutual tolerance of one another. There was a husband and wife with 2 small Ch*ldren so those of us mongers that were there tried to be careful when discussing our activities when they were around. I noticed the family tended not to be around much when guys started rolling in with chicas as well. The place is definately chica friendly though. No hassles, guest fees, etc. You can pretty much do what you want, when you want as long as you aren't bothering anyone.
There's no air conditioning but I've never used AC in CR anyway. My room was warm but not unbearable during the day but I didn't spend much time there in the daytime anyway. If I wanted to take a nap I certainly could have although a ceiling fan would be perfect in that room.
The rooms have maid service but not every day. I don't really know what the schedule is but I was there from Friday to Wednesday and my room was cleaned on Monday. The cleaning lady was there every day but she only cleaned my room once. Personally I've always thought that daily maid service was a wasted anyway. I don't clean my own house every day.
There are several bars, restaurants, and stores within walking distance of the apartment. There is a chinese restaurant that is excellent. I forget the name but it's across the street from the bus stop. There is a bar up the street that I'm told is packed with local non-pros on Friday night. I didn't go there but one of the guys that was staying there was telling me about it. He had been there for 4 months and said he had met a lot of girls there.
During the day I used the bus to get back and forth into town but at night I used cabs. Mainly I would ride into town on the bus around 5:30 or 6 and then take a cab back at whatever time I returned. My second night, however, I tried to call a cab to come pick me up at the apartment and the communication between me and the person on the phone was non-existant. I asked Carlos if he could translate for me and he just hung up the phone. He said come with me and him and his wife gave me a ride to Idem. We had a nice talk on the way in to town. Carlos was an economist and is from Venezuela. His wife is from Columbia (very attractive) and owns a beauty shop that is right next to Morazon park. (I got an excellent haircut there for 1000 colones) The more you get to know Carlos the more you like him. Super nice guy and he really treats his guests well.
My last day I realized that Carlos and I had never talked about the cost of the room and that I had yet to pay him a dime for my stay there. I went and found him and he said just pay me $15/day for the room whenever you leave. I told him I'm leaving in a few hours so we better do it now. So my 5 nights ended up costing $75. (I don't know if this is the standard rate for that room or I got a special rate because I didn't get what I requested so YMMV) It's hard to complain about that. I went in to town and had a going away party with Suzy at NF, rode the bus back (picked up a chicas phone number on the bus), and grabbed my stuff to leave. Another guy was also leaving so we were able to split the cab to the airport. Carlos negotiated 3500 colones for each of us which was a good lesson for me since I got soaked for $20 for a ride to the airport on my last trip. ALWAYS negotiate cab fares up front.
There were only a few negatives that I can report. First, the neighborhood is generally pretty quiet but on occassion they decide to have motorcycle races at midnight up and down the street. This went on for several hours and was EXTREMELY loud. Second, no AC means your windows will be open and people will hear what you are doing in your room if you know what I mean. Wasn't an issue because I didn't bring anyone to the room this time but I would feel a little odd banging a chica with K*ds playing outside the window. Third, and this was a big one for me, the wireless internet is not very good. It was very difficult for me to get a consistant connection in the room. Using their computers isn't an option for me because I need the software on my computer in order to do my job. (yes, I do work on these trips) The good news is that they do have rooms with hard-wired connections if you need it. None of them were available when I was there though. Finally, I never could get the hot water to work in my shower. It had one of those heater units and I'm not sure if it was broken or I wasn't using it right. I get so many showers at MP's I never even bothered asking about it though. I just did a quick splash and dash each morning and it worked out fine. If I was staying there long term a lack of hot water would have been an issue for me. But then again I never asked anyone about it so it may have been I just didn't know how to use the thing.
For me I would stay there again in a heartbeat as long as I had a room with an internet connection. I have to pay for all these trips somehow! There were a lot of seasoned mongers staying there and I picked up some good info from them.
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