Jungle Love
Hotel Punta Islita is in a remote coastal region in Guanacaste's Nicoya Peninsula. Its owner opened it 14 years ago as a means of giving back to the community, and it now employs about a quarter of the 1,300 people in the area. I was so impressed by the social commitment—the recycling center, the employee-scholarship program—that I was prepared to cut it some slack. I didn't have to. It offers polished simplicity, brightened with cheery local color. The quirky spa has driftwood window decorations (think beaded curtains) made by a therapist and exuberant mosaic work by local artists. I expected feel-good treatments but was surprised by the therapeutic rigor. Spa director Dorela Muica, a former nurse from Romania, put her staff through some 600 hours of instruction with trainers from San José, the U.S., and Romania. It paid off: A four-hand massage was perfectly in sync.
November 6, 2008
