2/10 Terrible
Sean C.
5 July 2021
Spring Break at Daytona Beach
You’re heard this story before. You search for a place in a small, quiet beach community removed from the tourist scene in Costa Rica. Once you rent the place, the first few days are idyllic. Your kids walk on the beach and start collecting shells. You enjoy a nap or two in the hammocks in the outdoor living space. The gardener comes over and prepares fresh clams in linguine and everything is great until Thursday. That’s when the Costa Rican rich kids show up next door. A dozen of them. They set up an outdoor disco tech and start drinking at noon. They assure you that they will not get carried away and brag to you about their trips skiing in Colorado. But the music never stops. You’re so close to their party that you could drop your fork on their speaker. At dinner, you endure the pathetic attempt of them trying to sing American songs at the top of their lungs on the karaoke machine and all the while the drinking never stops. You think to yourself they will calm down after midnight. But they don’t. The thump, thump, thump of the music drones into the early hours of the morning. You go over at 2 a.m. and ask them to turn it down, then at 3 a.m. and then finally they pass out drunk at 4 a.m. and someone manages to turn off the music. You email your host who is incredibly gracious and kind and who knows the owners and the kids staying there. He’s embarrassed. Tells us this has never happened before. He emails the owners and assure us it will be better. This goes on for three nights and finally, after you’ve had enough, you leave early and ask for a refund for the nights you didn’t stay there. For the next two days you end up in a hotel by the airport catching up on your sleep and thinking about the review you’re going to write. It’s a shame really. Costa Rica is beautiful. They live and die by their tourism and to see these young people embarrass themselves, disrespect us and dishonor their country in this way… well, instead of telling a story of wonder and discovery about Costa Rica to all of our friends back home, I will end up telling this story. It’s one that you’ve probably heard before and I’m sure you will hear again.
Sean C.
Stayed 8 nights in Jun 2021




































