www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I'm having problems booking a room for the week of November 15th. What's going on in Los Suenos?

Gringo & Tourist Hotel located north end of Jaco HIGH END, Expensive but Very Nice..

If your going on a mongering run you can get them in for a chica fee, but well it can be frowned upon...

_________________
The Boss of All Bosses!!! Hey I'm a drunk alcoholics go to meetings!

It's not the one in San Jose. I can book that one. The one near Jaco. I'm planning to do some fishing between Ticas.

Los Suenos is a very stuffy "American style" resort. It will be frowned upon bring chicas to the Marriott, if you don't mind disapproving looks go for it. Many gringas around there. Be discreet. Personally I would recommend renting a townhouse over staying at the Marriot or better yet, just stay in Jaco, ten minutes away.
Sparky

_________________
Sparky
Get in line to ride the lightning!!!


Almost legally single again! Voy a Colombia otra vece!!

When you tell the chicas that you are staying at Los Suenos, be prepared for their first offer of P4P to be $2-300.

I've stayed there 3 times and had no problems.

with all due respect bomber if you have stayed there 3 times why would you ask that question????????????

_________________
The Boss of All Bosses!!! Hey I'm a drunk alcoholics go to meetings!

I was talking about having trouble making reservations. It's booked, I asked if anything was going on in CR that I was not aware of. My friends and I like to stay in the best place, even if it's not near the action. We take cabs to the DR and Jaco. Thanks for the reply.

had a great gfe there in aug but got a bad look from the old ladies and a lot of smiles from their husbands..will go back but rented a house with 4 friends in feb and also staying at the presidente hope to see crts then on the rail :

One time we just took the girls directly to the room w/out going to the front desk. In Los Suenos, the desk is off to the right, so you can go directly to the elevators. I've stayed at all 3 Marriotts and never had a problem w/ the staff.

At the risk of sounding like a flakey left-wing ecotourist, I have to say this here.

What has made CR such a desirable eco-destination is its commitment to preserving its environment. One way it does that is by making saving trees more economically rewarding than cutting them down. Since the locals make more money from eco-tourism everybody wins by preserving the environment - the locals, the tourists and the environmentalists. Right? Yes, in theory.

The problem is that with that ecotourism development often comes overdevelopment and misuse of the local environment. For example, hordes of tourists at MA has put huge strains on the local environment. Its gotten to the point that the local squirrel monkey, one of the very things those tourists come to see, are down to less than 1000 from over 5 times that number just 30 years ago. My point is that sometimes our mere presence destroys the very thing we've come to appreciate. What does any of this have to do with Los Suenos? I'm getting to that. Be patient.

The problem then becomes how to create Sustainable Ecotourism. The solution is small-scale locally owned development. The theory is small scale enterprises do not put as much strain on the local environment or at least spread the effect more evenly between those enterprises. Locally owned means that more of the proceeds end up in the pockets of the local people rather than in the profit ledgers of huge US mulitnational corporations. ICT, CR's tourism agency, has created a groundbreaking model program to identify environmentally responsible tourism businesses with its "Green" rating system. Tourists such as ourselves when travelling through the country are encouraged to frequent those business with the highest ratings thereby providing incentives for other businesses to become more environmentally sensitive.

Unfortunately, many tourists prefer the comfort and familiarity of US corporate chains, thinking nothing of the impact on the environment they've come to enjoy. Los Suenos is a prime example of this (the Papagayo project in the NW is another). They hack down natural habitat to make room for their condos and golf courses and such with little regard for minimizing the impact on the environment. One can only imagine the effect of massive amounts of people in one location in terms of fresh water demands, sewage runoff, etc. And the effect of pesticide and herbicide runoff from the golfcourses to keep its greens pest and weedfree. All of that runs into the Gulf of Nicoya where Bomber wants to do his fishing. It all seems so thoughtless to me.

I think its a crying shame Los Suenos is full, but not for the reasons that Bomber does. If he can't find a room at Los Suenos, there are scores of smaller locally owned establishments where he can and where he probably should be sending his business anyway.

"Take Nothing but Pictures, Leave Nothing but Footprints and Waste Nothing but Time"

Some good points in your post here Prolijo. AT the same time I think you give Costa Ricans too much credit for being eco minded. The polution and runoff at the beaches are horrible. I will not swim in Jaco...the runoff is obviously polluted and the beach is always full of TRASH. Yes, Los Suenos is full of tourists and had little regard for the sanctity of the land...but on the drive over the mountains to the resort you will see trash thrown over the side of the road in MANY places. Garbage and litter sit in the streets of San Jose and its neighborhoods for WEEKS at a time. I have personally thrown beverage cans BACK through the window of a bus that just missed me when the Tico student threw it out without a second thought... I added a few Spanish explictives. You really have to go to the remote regions of the country to find truly clean rivers and streams. This in my opinion is the most overly sold ecotour country that doesnt really deserve the name. Sorry if I sound harsh...but thats almost 4 years of living with and observing the Ticos here. The culture seems to believe it is up to someone else to clean up their shit...

bomber, my guess would be that there's some company function or some other room-hogging event. Mid-November is the end of the low season. It's common for the hotel to book conventions or company functions, usually blocking out a large block of rooms.

Don't want to post and run, but the mom-and-pop model can only take you so far. While I certainly don't want another Cancun, CR has plenty of potential to seize upon and grow as a tourist destination. Personally, I'm happy that Mariott came to Costa Rica, though Los Suenos is expensive as heck.

Prolijo...I concur with you for the most part regarding Quepos/MA. It's rather sad to see/hear what's going on there. I really like that general area. The Si Como No hotel on the road to MA has won numerous awards for it's consideration of the eco-system. The Gringo owner (Jim Damalas (sp?)) has done an amazing job there. I've stayed there several times and highly recommend it. It's a shame many of the other hotels/developments in the area haven't followed his example.

Tman...I concur with your statement regarding the beach(es) at Jaco. I think perhaps you are being just a little bit harsh regarding CR and Ticos and the eco-system/environment, although the Quepos and other recent situations/developments would tend to support your argument.

_________________
"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

YO Enviro Dudes:

T-man, I agree with you a lot. The country is not the pristine eden they like to claim in advertisments. In fact, along with SJ, a number of other municipalities are filthy. The water, streams & lakes) were much cleaner back in the early 80's as I recall. You are right on the nose about swimming in Jaco (getting like Puntarenas) it is not clean. I blame "global warming " on CR...those evildoers.

_________________
Damn if I'm going to repeat this shit again. I need a drink.
I've been drinking vodka every day for 45 years and I have certainly never found it to be habit forming.