Honeymoon Recap Pt. 3 (Los Animales Locos!)

One of the most amazing things about Hotel Capitan Suizo was the natural scenery and wildlife. Even though El Capitan is the bustling little surfer town of Tamarindo, Costa Rica, it really feels set apart at the edge of the town and feels like it's own little jungle/ocean paradise!

We heard there would be lots of wildlife, and there WAS!! Raccoons, geckos, iguanas, lots of different birds, squirrels, monkeys, crabs EVERYWHERE, and skunks. Yes, skunks! We only saw one of those the last night, when a baby skunk walked RIGHT THROUGH the outdoor restaurant! Everyone got completely still for a moment, but it just waltzed right through one side and out the other on its merry way! Thank goodness!!

It seemed odd to travel so far to see some of the same animals we have here, like raccoons and squirrels, but they were actually quite different- especially the squirrels.

They put out food each morning for the birds and squirrels, so that they wouldn't come bother guests in the open-air restaurant, but there was still the occasional gutsy magpie bird that flew in begging for food!

This magpie wouldn't leave until I fed it!

I think the same one was begging food off of our waitress a few days before!

Birds eating fruit outside the restaurant

These squirrels were soooo funny trying to "sneak" up on the fruit with no one noticing...when in fact the whole restaurant was watching!

Ray was as bad as the kiddos trying to feed the squirrels!

The best thing was all the monkeys!! The hotel actually keeps and takes care of two baby monkeys, Sophie and Alice. They are adorable! The hotel staff watches them during the day, letting them play in the trees and entertain the guests.

The first night, Sophie jumped right up on my hubby's neck and made herself a new friend! Apparently she didn't want to share, because the moment I reached up to pet her, she BIT ME!!! It was just a little nip on the back of my hand, and although it hurt a bit, it didn't do any damage! It scared Ray for a moment, but then the rest of the week he was thoroughly amused that a monkey bit his wife!



Sophie would have nothing to do with me the rest of the week, but Alice was friendly enough to let me hold her some!

Alice was a cutie! She lost her tail at some point (I forget if she was born that way or something happened!) But she sure still knew how to swing in the trees!

Alice

Sophie- the little stinker!

Supposedly the BEST place in the area to see monkeys is at our hotel! We went on a jungle canopy tour and didn't see a single monkey! However we did have lots of fun, despite looking like TOTAL dorks!

When we came back to the hotel, there were monkeys all over!!! (none of these are Sophie or Alice!)

Um.....yes, those white things are their butts....it was pretty gross!!

I've seen plenty of these guys before!! This gecko was hangin out above our heads on the post at the restaurant!

Pretty butterflies were all around

This blue crab was soooo big that you could see it out on the beach from the restaurant (notice what good care they take of the beach--it's raked every morning!!)

This little crabby was hangin out in our bungalow-- at least our bed was way up high!!

The raccoons searched for food at night, usually eating fallen coconuts and leftover food from the birds and squirrels. They were harmless to us, but we often heard them snarl at each other, so pretty much stayed out of their way!

Iguanas were always lounging by the pool when the sun was out in full force. Now, I've had these crawling on my outside walls and roofs in Honduras and they scared the daylights out of me...however, they didn't really move around much, unless someone brought some fruit by for them, and they sort of seemed like they were on vacation themselves! So I just left them alone (other than to take pics, and they left me alone too!)

This one was peeking out from the tree at us, laying in our hammock on the beach!

Ray's new friend!

That concludes my honeymoon recap! At least for now!! If you are at all interested in Costa Rica for a honeymoon, I highly recommend Tamarindo, and even MORE highly recommend Hotel Capitan Suizo. But don't just take my word for it! Look it up on TripAdvisor to see all of the RAVING reviews and pictures! It's the 3rd ranked hotel in the area, only because the first 2 are very small, exclusive resorts with very few rooms and they are both Yoga based, and one is vegetarian. We originally booked the non vegetarian one, but decided to go with El Capitan as a cheaper option. So happy with our choice since it was the only one right on the beach!

Happy Honeymooning!!

 

 

Honeymoon Recap- Pt. 2 (In love with El Capitan!)

Hotel Capitan Suizo

We discovered our hotel on tripadvisor.com, and it was a GREAT decision to research hotels on that site!! I realize that many user reviewed websites may be biased by mostly people treated poorly getting on and ranting about their bad experiences, but we could hardly find one negative thing about the hotel (except for a few years back when there was lots of construction!) Practically EVERY other review completely RAVED about it, and it definitely lived true to the reviews! We were not disappointed in any way!

It was a pretty rustic place, with no TV's, etc. but it was PARADISE!! It really provided an escape from reality, an escape from wedding madness and provided the PERFECT honeymoon experience!

We started off for the first 4 nights in a regular upstairs room with no AC. Your first thought might be, NO AC?? In a tropical climate??!! That was our first thought but the many reviews suggested that it would be ok. Plus it was cheaper, not to mention all that was available! It was actually perfect!! Our room had lots of windows with open screens to allow the jungle and ocean breezes and two ceiling fans. It was occasionally a bit humid feeling, but it truly allowed you to experience the sounds of the rain that came everyday and the lovely sounds of the jungle birds and other animals.

We forgot to take a pic of our room, so this is off tripadvisor,  but this is pretty much what it looked like! Ours was an end unit though, so it had more windows on the left wall. The bathroom is through the door in the back and it was pretty nice with a window breeze too!

Here is the view from our balcony! You can slightly see the pool right behind me and to the far left by the tree you can get a peek at the ocean. It was much easier to see in person!

It was even fun hanging out on the balcony in the rain!! It was so peaceful and calming!

Our second room was the honeymoon bungalow. Although it wasn't too expensive, it would've been too much to stay there the whole week! We decided to move there towards the end because we were afraid we'd be too disappointed in the smaller room second!! It was a great decision! Although the rooms are great, I highly recommend the bungalows if you can afford the higher price! They are each like their own little house! The honeymoon one is slightly different in that the bed is up a little flight of stairs, almost like a bunk bed! It was so cute!!

Isn't it adorable!!

My hubby testing out the bed!

Our huge bathroom!

Outdoor shower that I was too scared to use because if anyone went for a walk behind the buildings, they'd discover me!!

The food was also absolutely FANTASTIC!! We both packed on quite a few pounds eating here!!

The outdoor restaurant was so much fun! It was very romantic at night by candlelight, and cheerful during the day with animals running around and a GREAT view of the ocean! It was literally two steps away from the beach!

A few nights we even had musical entertainment at the restaurant! This was really nice to hear even from our room at night while falling asleep! No, they didn't play that late, we just went to bed that early some nights!! :o)

We loved the romantic candlelight that reminded us of our wedding centerpieces! And loved how they made our shiny new rings sparkle! At one point during the trip, a lady asked us if we were newlyweds, and said she could tell because our rings were still sparkly and shiny! Love it!! :o)

Breakfast was fantastic- included everyday- it was a huge smorgasbord of yummy fruit, pastries, and a few hot items. They also cooked food to order, but at a minimal charge.

I started everyday with a huge plate of mango, pineapple, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Best fruit ever! And because it's all locally grown, it didn't bother me like some fruit here in the states. It's weird but sometimes the pesticides, etc. in fruit makes my throat itch like crazy!

Mmmmmm....my plate of fruit was always followed by this one....apple bread, eggs, gallo pinto (rice and beans), and platanos (my FAVE!!)

For dinner, we ate......

Giant shrimp

Rollitos de tilapia (Tilapia rolls)- these were soooo YUMMY!!! They were strips of tilapia, rolled up and drowned in butter, cream and spices! Soooooo good, esp when they were gone and we dipped our bread in the leftover butter! We ate these pretty much every night!

Filet Mingon (this is actually just half a serving! We split it one night!)

Chocolate Mousse! YUM!!

Banana Split! Best I've ever had!

And Nachos with Guac and black beans for lunch!! (I didn't touch the guac tho! Yuck!!)

Can you see now why we packed on some pounds??!! They also had great burgers, pasta, chicken....mmmmm! Wish I was back there right now!

The pool and the beach were also amazing! Pretty much all we did was switch back and forth from laying hammocks on the beach, to lounging at the pool, to lounging on our balcony or porch! With visits to the restaurant in between! It was so relaxing, so amazing!!

Next up....a post on the amazing, funny wildlife at the hotel!!