The third pool at Xandari
Waking up in the Xandari Lodge looking out over Costa Rica’s central valley is never going to be a bad thing. After a particularly gruelling and long series of flights (36 hours or more, don’t ask), it was truly a wonderful place to wake up yesterday.
The dawn chorus was of a type and volume that I have never really heard before, wonderfully full and varied and mostly emanating from little brown jobs in the trees beneath my patio.
At 6am I set off for a walk in the grounds. I know this will conjure up images of manicured lawns and ‘taking a turn’ whilst wearing Edwardian clothing for most people. Xandari’s a bit different though.
Set high on a ridge, Xandari’s rooms and pools are all perched high on the ridge. The extensive grounds drop away very steeply down into basically cloudforest. Within minutes you are surrounded by dense vegetation and the sound of flowing water.
I spent half an hour exploring waterfalls, strange flowers and unexpected viewpoints, all in the company of a cacophony of chirruping birds and insects.
By the time I clambered back up to the ridge, it was 7am and baking hot. Time for a swim. Xandari’s 23 rooms share no fewer than three pools. This is the middle one, about 20m long so ideal for some refreshing pre-breakfast laps.
I find it hard to imagine a more varied or lovely introduction to Costa Rica.
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