Vacation! There is something about the sound that lifts the spirit. This year, my vacation was to be even more memorable. I was going to Jaco beach Costa Rica. Just imagine a Costa Rica Vacation. We were all looking forward to a warm Christmas vacation with sun, sand, and surf. Needless to say we all looked forward to this trip for quite some time. The first part of our trip we stayed at the Monte Carlo condominiums and the accommodations were fantastic ( www.jacomontecarlo.com). We then moved to Villa Cuca, which we had booked back in August through Beach Home Costa Rica ( www.beachhomecostarica.com).

Villa Cuca which has a main house with two separate villas, which was to accommodate the whole family through the Christmas season. Upon our arrival to Villa Cuca we met the manager, Gabrial Rocha of Rock Property Management ( www.rockpm.com) , who at first seemed to be a nice, accommodating fellow. Little did we know that we were entering what was to prove to be a nightmare, with workers cutting gates, welding and replacing locks. The pool looked like a glass of water with milk in it - completely disgusting and unfit for swimming. We then inspected the rest of the property and saw that it was completely filthy. When we tried to decline the accommodations, Gabrial assured us that all problems would be taken care of within hours. We then left the property for a few hours and upon our return we began to discover numerous other problems with the property. The pool was still completely disgusting and the pump wasn’t working. The air conditioner was so noisy we couldn’t even keep it running. The bathrooms were completely filthy. The showers and the toilets were not even cleaned and there was urine all over the toilet seats and the surrounding wall. We then walked into the master and started to unpack the suit cases. On the shelf there, we discovered a cocaine straw and considerable coke residue. The sheets had clearly not been changed, so we proceeded to wash the lines ourselves. As we were doing this, in one of the villas we found another cocaine straw between the sheets and a used condom beside the bed. The washing machine was filled with wet musky laundry that had obviously been sitting for quite some time.

The next morning we contacted Gabrial with all our complaints and he assured us that everything would be fixed and we would be taken care of. Our accommodation included a fulltime maid who didn’t show up for 3 days work - most importantly Christmas day, as we had a big Christmas dinner planned. The days she was there we often caught her sleeping in the garage. As the holiday day went on things never got corrected and Gabrial became unreasonable. We later learned that the tenants before us where partying fulltime and had rotating shifts of prostitutes on the property at all times. In fact, two prostitutes came to the gate stating that they had left their passports with the previous tenants. This gave us an unsettled, sickening feeling, sleeping in the beds where this had occurred.

Nearing the end of our vacation, we were able to reach Gabrial. We requested that we be partially compensated, suggesting one night rental, which we felt was minimal compensation for what had occurred. We did this out of pure principle - not out of dollar value. As the manager of Beach Home Costa Rica and Rock Property Management, he was completely unwilling to compensate us. I own several properties and I can’t imagine having a company managing my property like this. After all this was said and done, we returned home from our vacation only to find our credit cards being billed with charges that should never have been applied. We never received a check-in checklist or a check-out checklist. We were clearly paying for the last tenants misdeeds.

We feel that our story needs to be told so that no other unsuspecting people get a surprise like this from beach home Costa Rica. In saying this, Costa Rica in general, and Jaco in particular, are beautiful places and we would suggest their fantastic vacation destinations. The majority of the local people and businesses are great. It is a shame that one company or person could scar the memory of such a beautiful place as Costa Rica. However this will not keep us from going back as we loved the place and people in general.