RAW friendly vacation spot

[sbaker]

I figured i would share this information with everyone....

I went to Montezuma, Costa Rica last year, and stayed at the Ylang Ylang resort. AMAZING. Its a very low cost trip, we had our own private cabin on the beach for about $100 a night. The food at the resort was amazing! The only way to get to the place is either by land rover(the resort taxi) or a 15 minute walk down the beach.

They had an all vegan (accept for the fish caught locally) menu and a seperate menu that was all raw. They even had raw sushi with soaked rice rather than cooked. The raw food there was so much different than our menu in America. They did a lot with heart of palm and other local items that you would never think to use. My junk food/meat eating boyfriend was even satisfied and LOVED it!
I'm not into yoga at all, but they have that there too. If you are planning a trip in the near future, this place was such a great find!

http://www.elbanano.com/

[Vegan Princess]

That looks awesome. My friend and I are considering Costa Rica for our next trip. The site doesn't mention anything about raw though?

[sbaker]

I noticed that, and the prices look like they have gone up a bit since i was there. But i would write to them if you'd like to know more. They were VERY careful to use as much organic/fresh/local produce as possible and had a huge raw menu. I'm wondering if they don't want to scare the regular tourists away by promoting it too much! Before i went i had emails back in forth with them every day, and the were very helpful and nice about answering any questions i had. There is a lot to do in the area as well, a zip line, 2 waterfalls, horseback riding, snorkling, all right from the town. Its a transient place and most of the people are younger and speak english because they tend to end up there from somewhere else.
The restaurant was open air, and critters randomly walked by while you ate, it was really neat.

[luna99]

I'm going on my honeymoon soon and we haven't decided yet where to.. I'll keep this in mind! thanks for posting it!

[sbaker]

im trying to find their email so i can find out if the raw food menu is still available. It looks like the rates went up because they include breakfast and dinner..not a bad deal AT ALL!
Also if you do look into it further there are 2 different places, it gets a little confusing. one is the hotel in town, that has a restaurant, and the other is the "resort" up the beach that has the cabins and is WAY nicer, and has the restauraunt with the raw food menu. I think both places are vegan aside from the fish, but the resort is much nicer.

[sbaker]

im trying to convince my boyfriend to go back here for our honeymoon. he wants to try some place different, and i agree, but the place was so nice and the food was so good...and the travel was so cheap compared to most tropical places i want to be lame and go back to the same place again:)

[mbf]

I love Costa Rica! I really want to but a winter condo there but my husband does not love it as mich as I do :confused: It is very easy to eat raw in Costa Rica and very easy for SAD eaters to stay away from meat. Most of the menus say "red meat" on the menu.....and not where that red meat came from!

If you are planning to go, go soon! The Americans are coming and we are going to ruin it. We went twice in within 3 years and on our most recent trip there was an outback steak house near the airport! I couldn't believe it!

Mara

[codajess]

Is it a good place for relaxing with your honey? or is it a good place to take mom?

I'm looking for places for my mom and I to go on vacation this summer.

[sbaker]

MYSTIC MAKI
Avocado strips, julienned cucumber, bell pepper and guacamole nori roll - $5
WONDER WAKAME MISO SOUP
Miso infused wakame soup, topped with green onion rings - $6
SHINING SPANISH GAZPACHO
Traditional savoury tomato, bell pepper and herb chilled soup - $6
ELF’S DELICACY
Sliced half moon tomatos and avocado fan served with basil dressing - $5
SUN DRIED TOMATO TAPENADE
Rich melange of sun dried tomatos, bell peppers, olive medley and capers accented by fresh lemon juice served with lettuce slices - $6

MAIN COURSES
GARDEN SALAD
Melange of fresh vegetables on a bed of lettuce with your choice of dressing - $6
LATINO LETTUCE NACHOS
Fresh lettuce strips served with costarican cilantro-lime guacamole,
cucumber cubes and pico de gallo salsa - $7
TERIYAKI VEGETABLE PLATTER
Julienne vegetables and ****ake mushrooms drizzled with a thai teriyaki sauce,
served on a bed of lettuce - $9
BUDDHA’S ENLIGHTEMENT CREAM SOUP
Smooth melange of mango, papaya and cucumber
enhanced by minced parsley, green onion and fresh lime - $7

DESSERTS
TWILIGHT TRUFFLE TRIO - $4
DECADENT CHOCOLATE BANANA MOUSSE – $5

[sbaker]

it depends how young/active your mom is. Its a fairly eventful place, like she said above, we are invading, but we havent yet..so some things are not exactly luxury, a little "roughing it" if you must.
i went down there on a friends advice, he had backpacked and went down there on a limited budget...believe me the 30$ cab ride or 100$ plane flight from the airport to montezuma is WELL worth the $. to get there we took the bus/ferry/cab due to his advice and it was a long day and a really scary bus station in san jose, and the town we took the ferry from, punterenas...not so nice either, hookers on the streets in the middle of the day. It was cool..but, but maybe not for mom!
on the way home we took a speed boat to jaco and a taxi from there to the airport, much better! i know there is a puddle jumper flight as well.
Once in motezuma, there is lots to do and its clean and safe. The activities are mostly outdoorsy though, no shopping malls or Pradas:) More like getting loaded on a boat a 6 am to go swim with turtles.

[Vegan Princess]

Thanks for posting the menu! Sounds so cool! Just what I am looking for in a trip down there. And nice to know it's near Jaco b/c I have a friend who bought a house there (but I wouldn't want to stay with him).

[shine72]

sbaker - I tried to do a price check for flights, but I didn't know which airport to check. Which airport do you fly into? TIA!

Sunshine :D

[sbaker]

you have to fly into San Jose, Costa Rica. My flight was only about $600 a ticket from denver on united airline...and thats not bad since i looked into tahiti and they wanted almost 2000$ a ticket!!

[shine72]

sbaker - Thanks so much! I was telling my dh and it definitely peaked his interest!

Sunshine :D

[sbaker]

tell him there will be monkeys outside his window in the morning, that got my boyfriend;)

[mbf]

For mom check out the Los Suenos Marriot resort. We have stayed there twice and love it! It is close to Jaco beach which is a small surf town with some good restaurants and fun shopping but a little rough around the edges at night. This is a lovely resort that is very reasonabley priced and you would not have to leave the resort if you didn't want too. Yet, it is close to rain forest and canopy tours and about an hour form san Jose. Ross Perot anchors his yacht there, its a nice place. Again I stress...watch what you eat. Fruit is plentiful but the veggies are all shipped in and only ok. This resort does have a juicer and blenders and are very accomodating to special dietary needs.

Iguanas, parrots and monkeys are everywhere! Very cool!

Just got back from Tucson. If anyone needs raw food suggestions for Tucson let me know!

Mara