Weekend Getaway in Ojochal at Casa Aventura
Our Weekend in Ojochal
Last week, Nick, the owner of Osa Property Management asked us to stay Friday and Saturday night at a new property they are going to be managing. In exchange for staying at the property, we had to do a little work. This included taking notes of what needed to be fixed or replaced; along with a blog post of our "Weekend Getaway in Ojochal" ....so here it goes...
Arrival at Casa Aventura
On Friday evening we headed over to the house, which is in Ojochal, only 10 min north of our place in San Buenaventura. About 25 meters off the highway, we turned onto the road that goes past this quaint little French bakery/coffee shop and the Ojochal spa (which is amazing and cheap compared to US standards). This strip mall is right across from the Ojochal police department. I never knew it was there before. We drove maybe 1/2 mile up the mountain to the house. However, when I say up the mountain, the road was nowhere near to the length and height of other mountain roads we've traveled. We really thought it was excellent placement for the house, as it supposedly has ocean views but it's really close to Ojochal town, the highway; and there wasn't this horrendous drive to get there.
We're following Abigail, who works for Osa Property Management, and she pulls through this gated entrance and go up a curved paved driveway. We pull up to this free standing two car garage... not something you typically see in Costa Rica--an actual garage with doors!
After we park, Abigail uses a remote control to open the sliding gate to get into the entrance of the house...not even the house itself, but the entrance, which is a covered staircase to lead you up to the house level (NOTE: The house was built on higher ground to get the amazing views). We walk through the door and immediately see the builder's vision for this house. Take a look at this first view as you walk in the front door...
Let's not forget the view if you look behind you as you're walking in the front door...yes, that is jungle mountain, which is the 2nd best view in Costa Rica!
As you walk into the house further, you see a comfortable seating area with the TV and these vaulted ceiling with a huge gourmet kitchen with one of the largest islands I've seen in a house (aside from the one I sold back in the US). And all the stainless steel appliances, which again you don't always get in Costa Rica houses. Most homes in Costa Rica may not have an oven, a dishwasher, or a microwave, so seeing all three was awesome, especially because I was cooking for the weekend! This weekend getaway in Ojochal is just what we needed.
Amazing modern kitchen and island. Not something one sees very often in Costa Rica homes.
So many bedrooms...
We start walking around the property to check it out and it's a HUGE house with 4 bedrooms: 1 master suite with a king bed, another, second suite, and then a room with two queen beds. The master had a shower where you could shower inside or outside, which was cool. But I didn't choose that room...not sure why, but that would have been cool to experience showering kind of like in a balcony with these gorgeous views...but I don't know...maybe I'd be kind of shy also...thinking who might be able to see me...of course they probably wouldn't want to!
So we (as in I) chose the room with the King bed that had an attached bathroom (Suite #2). We left the two queen bed room for Abigail and her three kids to share, seemed to make the most sense for them to stay in that room. Our room had a great big sliding door and little balcony with good views, but can't take a shower on this balcony! lol.
Our bedroom for our weekend getaway in Ojochal.
In going through the house further, there was a bathroom in the hallway, which would be shared by the general living area and the room with the queen beds (Abigail's). Plus there was an office with two desks, not sure why you'd need two desks and a sleeper-sofa. Then there was the laundry room, which is bigger than my spare bed room with a full washer and dryer with lots of cabinets and shelves for storage.
A guest house too? Wow!
Going out the laundry room there was a small stepping stone path that went to a separate guest house....who has a guest house?!?! and this is a guest house at someone's vacation house...I'm in the wrong business! The guest house had a queen bed and separate bathroom. Beside the guest house was the pool utility room with another bathroom...glad I don't have to clean all those bathrooms!
Coming back into the kitchen/living room looking outside was a huge covered veranda that had a couple couches for sitting and a huge table that would seat 12 for dinner!! I guess if you have a house that can sleep 12, you need to have a place to have dinner for 12! LOL.
Swimming Pool and Jacuzzi
Just past the veranda was the private pool and Jacuzzi with those amazing views. This is what we enjoyed most - spending time relaxing by the pool with friends and enjoying the moment.
On Friday night we were pretty tired as we got to the house around 8, so I quickly made lose meat hamburgers for my husband and Abigail and the kids. While we went to bed, Abigail stayed up to talk to some workers about the screens in the house.
Time to Work!
On Saturday morning, we started our work! We quickly went back to our house to check on our animals and grab our good camera to take these amazing photos you're seeing. Then once we were back at the house, my husband took the photos while I made an inventory of the kitchen items. This is so the property management company can recommend to the home owner what things they should buy to help the quests who stay in the future. Then we went on to make a list of the things that need to be fixed in the house before being rented to guests, which were mostly light bulbs, which is good! cheap and easy to fix! Also on Saturday morning there were people there looking at the size of the house in order to estimate the paint job that was going to be happening soon.
Saturday evening, Derrick, who is another Osa rental tenant; and a friend of his came to the house just for Saturday night. They stayed in the master suite, which worked out well as they went swimming after dinner when we all went to bed, so they could use the sliding doors to their room that are off the pool. On Saturday night, I enjoyed cooking for everyone; in that awesome kitchen.... I cooked marinated chicken, rice with beans, green beans and carrots, and asparagus---and we all had a few cocktails...so I splurged and bought some amaretto at the store, even if it was more expensive than the airport!
Sunday morning we got up and changed all the bedding, did laundry, and cleaned up the kitchen. We were tired, so we headed home around 10 and just lazed around the rest of day. The house didn't have internet yet and our house didn't have internet when we got home due to the over night storm (typical Costa Rica), so we were without internet from Friday to Monday am. OMG--how did we survive!?!
Overall, it was a great weekend getaway in Ojochal and fun to spend time with Abigail, the kids, and Derrick (and friend), but we did a lot of work also---so maybe a few weeks before we agree to do this again!! lol.
Amy & Jason McIntosh
