I have never really wanted to be a hotel caretaker. I am some sort of writer and, thus, "The Shining" was a terrifyingly memorable movie. But then I ran into Vicki and Steve Church at the Saturday pizza buffet in the small town of Ojochal. Waddling back for my seventh and eighth slice of the night, I found the "everything" pie at the same time as Steve Church, owner of El Castillo. His wife Vicki and two kids had just arrived, too. Luckily, the pizza never runs out at Gringo Mike's on Saturday night.
I had met Steve and Vicki earlier in the week while scouting the lodging options in Ojochal. The little community's city-slicker restaurants grabbed my attention. Apparently, talented chefs had been deployed years ahead of the street paving companies, though the village's bouncy road just adds character to the menus at Exotica and Citron. But Ojochal didn't surpass day-trip status until I climbed the steep hill to the Church's inn, El Castillo.
The Italianate villa commands the best view for miles. The tiled, stuccoed, and wood-beamed interior feels a little castle-like with its high ceilings and broad doorways, but the sense of a comfortable home abated any sense of cold medievalness. And though I was, as usual, traveling alone to an amazing vacation destination, it felt romantic. This was confirmed upon seeing the airy bedrooms with dark wood beds covered tight in crisp, white sheets, and balconies overlooking what seemed like the entire Pacific Ocean.
That was simply a scouting visit, so I took my info and some photos and moved on down the road to the Osa Peninsula where hiking, kayaking, fishing, snorkeling, canopy tours, and everything else fun and adventurous live relatively unscathed by the furious tourist engine of northwestern Costa Rica.
But, eventually, a landslide blocked a road and after a few days south, I returned up the coast toward Ojochal, knowing full well that it was Saturday Pizza Buffet time and I would not be eating rice and chicken that night. I did not, however, have a place to stay, so when Steve and Vicky offered a room - they had just opened and no guests were staying that night - I took them up on it. With skills honed over years of solo travel writing, I ignored the access to the El Castillo bar, the suite's large jacuzzi bath, and the cool night breezes blowing in through the balcony's open french doors.
Luckily, a man can dream. And somehow I think care-taking this inn might not have left Jack such a dull boy.
