We were so excited to stay in this place and wanted so badly to love being there, but sadly that was not the case.
The photos seem to represent the place in the past, and don't reflect the current state of care or cleanliness. It was not dirty, so much as dingy and showing a state of decay one might expect from a space that is constantly exposed to the elements. Drawers were falling apart/wouldn't open, or filled with mouse droppings. The linens were clean and fresh. There were thankfully mosquito nets around the beds and some nights they were needed. Table runners or cloths were filthy. We were so excited to find a bin of snorkel gear available for use, until we opened it and found 6" of rotting water and slime inside. No amount of cleaning would make the inaccessible snorkels safe or desirable. They weren't mentioned or offered in the listing, so there were no expectations. Just disappointment at finding them, with a note to use and return, and see the state they were in.
The noise was a surprise - from the generator going at all hours across the lava street, to the Coqui frogs that were on some nights deafening, to incessantly barking dogs kept by neighbors. On our last night, we could hear an intense dispute between neighbors over these dogs and it got heated - so much so that we didn't feel safe in the exposed rooms on the ground level.
What the photos don't show are the piles of garbage/discarded items that litter the perimeter. Or the presence of/proximity to the other buildings in this cluster, like those of the caretaker. With open sides, there was no way to escape the cannabis smoke that wafted in regularly.
Overall, it felt like the place was being managed minimally, and on auto-pilot. While we respected having privacy, there were no signs of contact from host or her crew until I reached out with some questions on day 2 or 3. As other reviewers have noted, she was super-speedy with communicating. She also went above and beyond to provide a small grill for us to use, which was neither offered nor promised in the listing. We really appreciated this.
We recognize that there were a lot of things about our stay that were out of the control of the host, and we took great pause before writing this review. Overall, it was not a good value for the money. I suspect it would have been at some point in the past, when the place was in prime form and managed more actively. We found it dark, dank, dingy, and entirely exposed to an onslaught of noise. Our 5 night stay was regrettable and we wish we could have escaped it as soon as the illusion of magic wore off the first night.