Villa Lumina is a beautiful, clean, open air home right off the beach/ocean. We arrived in the early evening, and were greeted by the very friendly caretaker, Lupe, and the cook, Gloria. We had hired Gloria to cook our arrival meal for us, which proved to be delicious.
Our first impression of the house was wonderful. We are a family of ten....my husband and myself, our four grown children, and three grandchildren, and the accommodations were perfect. There was plenty of sleeping room and also, open space for us to be together as family. Lucia, the daily housekeeper, kept everything nicely cleaned. The pool was cleaned daily by Lupe, and always so inviting to just jump into.
The beach is a quiet one. You can walk for hours, and not run into anyone. It is so lovely.
The staff is Spanish speaking only, so it was good that we had our Spanish speaking daughter with us. She was able to communicate with them easily, and was given the house phone when we went into town, so that we had the ability to call a cab when we needed one. We ended up with a favorite, who was "on call" with us when we were traveling back and forth to the Villa Lumina. Town is about 9 miles away. The cost of a van cab ride for ten of us was $30 USD. each way.
I think it would be helpful to have a house book, that gives information about the area and about the house. We had no difficulty when we arrived, getting into the locked gates, but the following nights when our driver beeped his horn, there was no one on the other side of the gate to the "secure" area. We ended up climbing out of the van, walked around the gate, and walked down the dark road back to our residence. We found out later from Lupe that there is a code to get into the gates if no one is there to greet you. It would have been beneficial to know this upon arrival, or to be able to read about it in a house book.
All in all, we had a lovely family vacation....
