Casa Mono Loco is perched above Los Suenos Resort, Herradura Bay and the Pacific Ocean

Designed by Ronald Zurcher, Costa Rica’s most esteemed architect, Casa Mono Loco is a distinctive rental villa within the Los Sueños Resort & Marina, yet it offers secluded splendor. With dramatic, spectacular vistas of Bahia Herradura, the resort and the surrounding rain forest and nature preserve, Casa Mono Loco also affords maximum privacy. Recently upgraded, redecorated and refurbished by the new owners who pay homage to the architectural integrity and beauty of the original. 

 The open and clever design of Casa Mono Loco allows one to experience the monkeys, toucans, scarlet macaws, other sights and the sounds of the surrounding lush, tropical rain forest from the comfort of your private Shangri La. Satellite TV and VOIP with free telephone calls to the U.S. and Canada.Three air-conditioned bedrooms with private en suite bathrooms. The master with king-sized bed is a detached pavilion, providing maxium privacy. The Dome Room bedroom has two full beds and a domed ceiling. The Coral Room bedroom also has two full beds. Every room has a spectacular ocean view. The living area is an open air rancho beyond which is the pool with an infinity edge that melds into the blues of Herradura Bay.

Casa Mono Loco is the only house on the very quiet road; you’ll have no human neighbors! If you seek tranquility and to be at one with nature but desire comforts that are more than civilized, this is the home for you. Yet you’ll have access to all the amenities of the Los Suenos Resort, including the spa, marina, shops, restaurants, golf course, room service from the Marriott Hotel, casino and more just two minutes away by car. The blossoming beach town of Jaco is 10 minutes away and Manuel Antonio National Park is about 75 minutes away.

Love nature, food and art? Monte Azul is perfect for you.

This past weekend I re-charged at Monte Azul Boutique Hotel + Center for Art & Design near Chirripo, the tallest mountain in Costa Rica at 12,228 feet (as a frame of reference, Mt. Rainier in Washington state is 14,441 feet). Fishing and swimming in the really cold and beautiful river, hiking and seeing many species of birds, the community dance on Saturday night, amazing meals in the organic Cafe Blue, a really comfortable and thoughtfully designed casita decorated with world-class art, and goat cheese from the resident herd were all highlights. 

Casita Amarilla was my comfortable home for the weekend

All of the casitas have first-class original art, really comfortable beds and bed linens, a spa-like bath with watery Italian tile and hand-made soap, a kitchenette perfect for brewing a cup of the organic coffee grown on the preserve, plush robes and lots of light.  Each casita is situated for maximum privacy.  I left my windows and doors open for most of my stay for the full effect of being in nature.  No worries about creepy crawlies here!

The staff at Cafe Blue–led by Sherry Lee West–lovingly, artfully and professionally prepared and served some of the best food I’ve had the pleasure of tasting in Costa Rica.  Much of it was grown, raised or made on site.  Randy, the many-talented visionary-host-owner (there are 3) of Monte Azul, made the goat cheese served with fruit and a glass of wine in my casita just after arrival.  Randy also made a pumpkin pie that rivals any made by my grandmothers!  The bar in Cafe Blue is a “must see”; much of it is a beautiful work of art created by Alvaro Gomez.  Cheese-making in the Swiss style with a local family is one of many offered activities.  This is on the list of “to experience” for my next visit!   

The light, trees, orchids and bromeliads all combine for maximum lushness

Carlos Rojas Jara is another of Monte Azul’s visionary owners with many talents.  He’s an artist and host with something interesting to say about many topics.  His Monte Azul creation delights one’s senses of smell, taste and sight.

Cafe Blue at Monte Azul features locally-produced, organic food perfectly prepared and attentively served

The climate at Monte Azul is perfect for me (I’m from the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.); it’s considerably cooler than Jaco, Los Suenos Resort, Manuel Antonio, Dominical, Tamarindo and other popular beaches along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.  The topography, scenery, flora and fauna are all quite different, too.  A perfect vacation for someone visiting Costa Rica for a week or more would be to stay at one of the beaches mentioned and then at Monte Azul.  It’s about 2 to 2.5 hours from Manuel Antonio, 1 to 1.5 from Dominical and 3 from San Jose. 

Activities in the immediate area of Monte Azul include whitewater rafting, horseback riding, cooking lessons, cheese-making lessons, yoga and massage, hiking, birding, trekking, swimming and fishing in the river (I did both and found the really cold water invigorating; the current is swift and the fish are impossible to catch, but what a way to spend an afternoon!).

For families or small groups, the newly completed Villa Palo Alto is a really special place to spend a week.  The contemporary design fits perfectly into the land; the 1,100 square foot great room opens to a magnificent view of the valley with the rain forests and cloud forests above and beyond.  The home is filled with art from some of the most talented artists active today.  (The owners have art galleries in New York City and San Francisco and Monte Azul has a an artist in residence program.) 

I could go on and on.  The bottom line is that Monte Azul provides all the comfort in a stunningly beautiful setting that anyone who loves art, food, nature and life needs to create memorable experiences they’ll remember for a lifetime.  I hope to make this my home away from home, with a retreat to the mountains every couple of months.  It’s that special and that restorative.

On April 7, 2009,  Ocean Home published the following article in their print and online editions of the magazine:

Expats turn your Costa Rican siesta from lame to lavish.

Casa Mono Loco in Los Suenos Resort & Marina, Costa Rica

If you’re planning an escape to Costa Rica this year, be sure to check in with Mark Mead and Michael Brown of the eponymous Mead Brown, a full-service, vacation rental marketing and property management company specializing in the country’s Central Pacific Coast. The company is widely regarded as one of—if not the—best for travel to Costa Rica, a hard-earned distinction for its two founders. After all, Mead and Brown gave up fast-paced careers in the United States to set up shop in Costa Rica, where they drew on their own experience as tourists to create one-of-a-kind vacations for a market that had, in their eyes, gone uncatered to, or at least insufficiently so.

“After rewarding careers in the US, we knew we wanted adventure and to live abroad,” says Brown. “Several visits as tourists to Costa Rica illustrated the need—and business opportunity—for a professionally managed vacation rental company that could deliver to the expectations of North Americans. After a year of research and planning and the investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars into the best systems, we opened for business.”

The result was Mead Brown, which now boasts a diverse collection of privately owned beachfront villas, houses, condos, and fincas in the Jaco, Playa Hermosa, Herradura, and Los Sueños areas. Mead Brown has also become the preferred vacation rental provider for the Los Sueños Resort & Marina, where clients enjoy lavish condominium accommodations and leisure, sporting, and spa privileges.

Mead Brown also offers complete concierge services, meaning clients can craft the ultimate vacation package. Spa services, championship golf, world-class sport fishing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, and flora-and fauna tours are among the wishes and whims the outfit’s dedicated guest services staff can fulfill. There’s also the placement of private chefs, as well as air- and watercraft charters, housekeeping, and transportation.

“Service is what sets us apart from most of the vacation rental companies in Central America,” Brown says. Even when the most hedonistic at heart come calling, Brown, like a seasoned hotelier, has the answer: “We will do virtually anything to meet our guests’ needs, expectations, and wishes,” he says. “This is a promise not easily fulfilled in a developing country, but we give it our very best and we typically deliver.”

So how are these American expats adjusting to life in this business? “It’s been really gratifying and rewarding for us,” Brown says. “When [guests] leave, they tell us that they’ve never been so well taken care of. It seems a bit odd to us . . . it’s not as though we are peeling their grapes.” Maybe so, but we have a feeling that this hospitable pair would be happily willing to do just that.—Lindsay Lambert

Mead Brown’s accommodations range from fully equipped three-bedroom condos from $300 per night to seven-bedroom villas at $7,500 per night; all properties include daily housekeeping. For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.meadbrown.com or call 866-567-1516.
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