| Central American Hotels |
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Bob Florsheim and Rick HughesLatitude 10 Jungle Beach Resort Santa Teresa, Costa Rica Rooms 6 casitas Price $245–$595/night Luxury 5 stars Specialties Surfing, jungle trekking Contact latitude10-resort.com When best friends Rick Hughes, a 53-year-old land-acquisition specialist from Modesto, California, and Bob Florsheim, 55, a housing developer from Stockton, California, began planning Latitude 10 Jungle Beach Resort in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, they talked a lot about their childhoods. “When I was growing up, there was always a clubhouse in the neighborhood, someplace where us kids could get away. We based our resort on the same concept,” Hughes says. “We wanted a clubhouse complete with a secret handshake. But we also wanted something upscale that would get us as close to nature as possible without being in a tent.” The result is a secluded five-and-a-half-acre Pacific beachfront retreat, located some 75 miles west of Costa Rica’s capital, San José, that the Peter Pan in every guy would love. With no signage for the property anywhere to be seen, finding Latitude 10 feels like stumbling on a secret treasure buried in the jungle. The men created Latitude 10 that way deliberately, in part by keeping the landscape intact. The architect, William Hezmalhalch, spent days poring over maps and standing atop ladders above the canopy in search of clearings large enough for casitas. In one case, they built a roof around a tree instead of cutting it down. And the kitchen and bar were shrunk to save a stand of almond trees. “I think we cut down three trees,” says Hughes, “and none of them were bigger than my wrist.” 
The dense jungle helps keep each of the six casitas private. The open-air buildings have neither windowpanes (save for a little stained glass) nor air-conditioning. And in some cases the walls of the private outdoor bathrooms are nothing more than a thicket of jungle green—guests can shower while watching monkeys and iguanas climb the trees above. It’s all according to plan, says Florsheim: “This place forces people to interact with nature.”RESORT REPORT The beach breaks of Santa Teresa crash right outside the back door, and the Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve sits three and a half miles north. The three-mile Sueco Trail climbs through the park—home to 140 species of flora and fauna like ocelots and anteaters—before ending on Cabo Blanco beach. After a long day of jungle hiking, you can return for dinner from the resort’s French chef, who pairs entrées with the perfect wine from the 500-bottle cellar. |
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