Review of Casa Brian in Playa Samara - 5-12-2012

You should stay here. Really.

In 2009, I was going to stay here for four days and stayed for 19. That's how amazing the atmosphere here is. This time, I stayed for a full three weeks before moving to my other friend's hostel (post is forthcoming) to support her business. Casa Brian's owner, Brian, is a late 50-something Canadian ex-commercial fisherman, brewer, wild mushroom picker, logging camp cook, and God knows what else. He's almost deaf in one ear, so don't freak out if he's yelling at you. He's not angry; he's hard of hearing.

Brian himself is an amazing man with too many funny, tragic, adventuresome, and interesting stories to count. You may ask, “are his stories real?” The answer is yes...he's lived a more full and interesting life than damn near anyone you've met. Even better, he tells his stories with such detail and aplomb you'll think you were right there with him traveling Morocco, on a fishing boat off the Queen Charlotte islands, or going door to door in Southern California.

Never in my life have I stayed someplace where so many cool, open, interesting, relaxed people congregated, only to leave and then be replaced by people equally as cool, open, interesting, and relaxed as them. When it's full, Casa Brian's residents barbecue and party together like every night is Saturday night. When the Casa is slow, it feels easy and relaxed like a Sunday morning.



Dinner with friends at Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The other thing awesome about this place is that I have always met people here who were somehow directly related to the purpose of my trip. It happened last time and it happened again this time. Three years ago, I was desperate to feel free and I wanted people who could help me get there. Brian himself is one of the most freedom loving people I've met and I don't know how many hours he and I would talk about where I've been and where I wanted to head in my life. On that trip, I also met someone who strongly encouraged me to pursue my ideal life, words that carried me through the subsequent three years, and helped bring me to where I am today. This trip, I met several Brits and Canadians involved in non-traditional medicine and healing, Costa Ricans who taught me about unconditional love through their stories about missionary work in Africa, and seven awesome people from Vancouver (seriously, half of that city must be traveling in Costa Rica right now) with whom I took surfing lessons, barbequed and visited an animal sanctuary. And of course, I spent many afternoons philosophizing with Brian himself on the nature of love and freedom on this trip.

Yeah, you should stay here.



Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Now, logistical details...Brian has three private rooms that sleep two. These go for $35 per night for one person and $45 per night total for two people. He has two dorm rooms, one sleeps five and the other sleeps six. Dorm beds go for $17 per night. Included in your stay is an all you can eat breakfast of the freshest and sweetest fruit you've ever eaten, toast and jam, and beans and rice. On Sundays, Brian makes banana pancakes. Yum! Four hammocks, one couch and a communal dining table make it easy to make new friends.



Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The property is about one mile outside of downtown Samara. The easiest way to get here is to walk to the end of Samara's main street, turn left at the beach, walk along the beach for about one mile, walk past the last hotel this far out of town (Las Brisas Del Pacifico) and follow the path that runs past Las Brisas Del Pacifico until it turns into a dirt road. Casa Brian will be on the left side of the dirt road. It has a white metal gate and a small sign that says “Casa Brian.” Contact Brian at casabrian@hotmail.com. You won't be sorry. He's also in the current Lonely Planet guide to Costa Rica.

Just don't stay too long in the private rooms. I'll be back soon and I do enjoy the private room Brian puts me in.

Karmic Backlash Fixed - Sunday 3-29-2009

About 3:45PM, I leave to rectify a small injustice. I did not pay the $8 entrance fee when I visited Monteverde waterfall yesterday. When my camera switch broke off at the falls, I immediately thought “karmic backlash.” I walk back to Monteverde Waterfall and find Simon sitting in the information shack. He recognizes me from two nights ago. I say hello and explain to him that I came yesterday and didn’t pay because there wasn’t anyone to pay but now I’m here to pay. Simon grins and thanks me for coming back as he happily accepts my money. We talk and I learn that the Monteverde waterfall is on his parent’s property. His dad is a local expert on bats and bought the property around the waterfall to preserve it from development. Their house is down the dirt road a bit. I tell him that it must be nice to live amid such beauty. “For sure,” he says with a smile. Simon asks where I am from. “Los Angleles, California, which is not as beautiful, not as green, not as peaceful, and not as quiet as Monteverde,” I say. I tell him how my camera switch broke off yesterday at the falls and how it was karmic backlash for not paying. Simon laughs. I take his picture for my blog. “Pura Vida!” Simon shouts as I wave and head up the dirt road back to the gravel road. Pura Vida, Simon.

I walk east toward the Monteverde Preserve. I pass a woman walking to dogs and say hello. Half a mile east of Monteverde’s center, I pass the Quaker cheese factory and marvel at how modern it looks. I go as far as Rio Shanti, a yoga, massage and day spa past a half mile past the Quaker cheese factory and turn back. Not far along, I pass the woman and dogs again. This time, she asks if I am looking for something in particular. After I tell how I wanted to walk to the Monteverde Preserve but decided against it because it was too far, she asks if I want to at least look into the preserve. I say yes. She quickly walks us back to Rio Shanti, and then into the forest behind it. She finds a barely marked trail and she leads me through the forest.

I introduce myself and she does the same. Her name is Annie and she teaches at the Quaker school. School enrollment is 50 percent Costa Rican children and 50 percent expatriate children. This year’s high season has been so disappointing that Costa Rican families are openly concerned about paying for next year’s tuition, she tells me. I ask about the expatriate families in Monteverde and she says that they do nothing to support themselves because they are so rich, which is noteworthy because she also tells me that living in Monteverde is not much cheaper than living in the US. I ask Annie if she is Quaker. She describes herself as “kind of Quaker and kind of Universalist” in that she likes some tenants of the Quaker religion but hangs on to some things she learned as a Universalist while in college. When I tell her how modern the Quaker cheese factory looks, she laughs and says Quakers embrace modern technology and that I’m thinking of the Amish. After a fast-paced ten minute walk through thick forest, the trees open up to a deep valley and countless trees. “Here we are,” she says. I snap some pictures. Annie leads me back to the gravel road connecting Santa Elena with the Monteverde Preserve. I thank her and walk back to Manakin Lodge.

Upon my arrival at Manakin Lodge, the owner's daughter tells me that they need my Family Room for some guests and asks if I could move into the Superior Room I was unable to move into during my week here because it was always booked. I immediately agree. I move my gear and spend the evening sitting on my balcony, gazing into the darkening rainforest, listening to the crickets, cicadas, and monkeys call in the night. Karmic backlashed fixed.