The housing shuffle

Having run out our reservation at Costa Paraiso, we set out in search of
another house or cabina in the area. Checked out Balcon De Uvita, a
pleasant little villa way up on a hill overlooking Ballenas National
park.

Three very pretty little cabins, a small but very deep pool (not
a kids pool),

and about 300 vertical(!) feet up a semi improved trail, a
fine little restaurant. It would be perfect for honeymooners or perhaps
yoga aficionados (The owner is planning some yoga retreats.) But not
suitable for a couple car loads of kids looking for some beach to
bodysurf on. We actually didn't find anything anywhere near as good as
Coconut Grove or even Costa Paraiso.

Parque Nacional Marino Ballena protects one of the few coral reefs on the
Pacific side of Central America. There are all kinds of tourist
activities around it, whale watching, dolphin swimming, ultra light
flying, etc. We checked out the park and immediate environs, finding
primitive camping on the beach in the park ($3 a head for entrance,
although they let us in for a look see) We found no interesting B&B
type places. Perhaps we're too picky?

Along the way we saw another overturned truck (serves 'em right, the way
they drive), a pizote galumphing across the road, a Toucan in a tree,
and I almost stepped on a green lizard in the middle of the road in
Dominical (he was enroute to the other side - with more than usual
haste).

Pizote in Manuel Antonio Park

We eventually settled on Villas Rio Mar, up the river a km. from Dominical.
Fancy grounds, cute little cabinas, 4 to a group, big swimming pool, nice
restaurant - and real estate buyers service if you're interested. The
cabinas have a rather odd arrangement of what amounts to a living room
that's really a front porch with silly netting hung on it (I say silly
because it's just hanging there, not attached on the sides or bottoms, so
of course every matter of critter with legs or wings can and does get in.
We found a toad, a gecko, a couple centipedes, several unidentified flying
critters and moths inside the netting. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to
be any mosquitos. The cabin proper is a small bedroom and bath
separated from the porch by a screened lath door that doesn't have a
latch. Our room was adjacent a small creek. Interesting critters
chirped and twittered outside all night. Yep, it's a rain forest.