The Peace Lodge

​After our last breakfast buffet overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Manuel Antonio, we were picked up by our ultra-spacious van for our last destination on this remarkable Costa Rican journey. 


The scenery outside the window never got boring as we passed through small coastal towns and lush green villages. The unplanned shopping stop at the huge souvenir store, …. in …. was a full of delightful Costa Rican artifacts, colorful gift articles, delicious chocolates and other local treats. We did go overboard and could have taken even more stuff home if only we could fit it in our suitcases. After some refreshing ice cream 🍦there we continued on the longish drive. The rainy check-in at the Peace Lodge lobby around 2.30pm gave us a sneak peak about the expanse and uniqueness of the property and all that it had to offer. We all agreed we could have used an extra day at this paradise, but were content with our time especially with the heavy downpour for the most part of our super short stay here. 


Our Villa for the night across from a small lake and the aviary was nothing short of a dream house with cozy and rustic interiors, yet very luxurious. We ordered in a light lunch from the restaurant which we enjoyed on the porch together. With our umbrellas ☂ and rain jackets most of us were ready to explore the beautiful grounds- the aviary with its colorful chirpy inmates, the monkey neighbors and the exquisite flora and fauna of the place. We learnt that all the birds and animals there including the jaguars and tigers were rescued and brought here for a safer habitat. 


It wasn’t until several hours into our stay here, Chinmay realized we had visited the La Paz Waterfall gardens on our last trip to San Jose in Dec 2012. Thank God for the pictures at the same places which serve way better than our evasive memories! 


The boys loved soaking and playing the hot pool which we got to enjoy for sometime as well. The lavish hot shower 🚿 back in the Villa felt invigorating after the cold rainy day. Anu, I and the kids went on the guided tour to meet the various little nocturnal friends, the tree frogs and the sloths 🦥. Dinner service at the restaurant on site was way too relaxed for our taste- literally and figuratively- overpriced and underwhelming with the veg options and flavors. 


We were determined to wake up a bit early on our morning of check out to explore the La Paz waterfalls, so we let the kids sleep in while the 4 of us went on the rainy pretty and fairly easy hike. Our good bye breakfast at Peace Lodge was hearty and enjoyable. Parishi and Kahan had almost patched up after some silly sibling squabble, a very rare occurrence in this otherwise tight duo as they r growing up thankfully! We had already started discussing ways and logistics on how we can bring our parents to this paradise destination soon. We even looked at air tickets, lodging availability etc for May ‘22. The limiting factors would be the long travel time/distance for a 4 day trip and lack of food options acceptable to the parents at Peace Lodge. But hey, given a chance we’d love for them to spend a week in this friendly little beautiful part of Central America. 

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