Hacienda La Isla has 12 exquisite superior rooms .
Staying in one of the historic hacienda rooms is a most romantic and extravagant unforgettable experience. The colonial ambience and the surrounding rainforest add to this feeling. El ambiente colonial y la selva tropical circundante enfatizan todavía este sentimiento.
There are no room numbers. Each room has been named after a substantial fact of the Hispanic Colonial and pre-Columbian era and are subtle furnished and decorated with antiques and historical artifacts. Each room tells a different story.
Colombus Room
Christopher Columbus (August/ October 1451 – May 20, 1506) was an Italian navigator, colonizer, and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to the discovery of the American continent. Columbus initiated the conquest and the process of Spanish colonization which preceded general European colonization of the “New World”. The term pre-Columbian is used to refer to the people and cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and his European successors.
Conquista Room
The Conquest of the Americas was not peaceful. The continuous confrontations between the local indigenous peoples and the Spanish have been recorded in many historic chronicles. Of course the Spanish left a powerful imprint on the history of the Americas.
Vespucci Room
The explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (1454 -1512) was the first person to demonstrate that the New World discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 was not “India”, but rather a previously-unknown “fourth” continent. The continent of the Americas derives its name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.
Hacienda Room
Hacienda is a Spanish word for an estate – usually, but not always, a vast ranch. Stock raising was central to the ranching haciendas. In South America, the hacienda remained after the collapse of the colonial system in the early nineteenth century. In some places, the end of colonialism meant the fragmentation of the large plantation holdings into smaller properties or fincas.
Votos Room
When the Spanish came ashore in Costa Rica in 1502, they encountered in the Sarapiqui area a fierce and matriarchal tribe that they called the Votos. The Votos disappeared completely in the beginning of the 17th century.
Indígena Room
The roots of Latin America society are in its indigenous pre-Columbian populations, out of which some highly developed civilizations as the Incas, Maya and Aztecs, among others, emerged.
Cacique Room
Cacique is a term applied to the pre-Columbian tribal chief or leader, predominantly in Latin America. Within indigenous communities, the cacique has, together with the medicine man or shaman, the highest social status with “untouchable” power.
Badianus Room
The pre-Columbian civilizations in Central America had well-developed botanical science. A striking evidence of this is the Badianus Manuscript, written by Martin de la Cruz and Juannes Badianus, two native Americans in 1552.
The book is written in Aztec and in Latin. In total, it contains 204 pictures of medicinal plants. This manuscript stands as a symbol of the wealth of botanical wisdom present in ancient American cultures long before European influence.
Alfaro - Zeledón Room
Anastasio Alfaro (1865 – 1951) was a native Costa Rican zoologist, geologist and explorer. Alfaro was the first director of the National Museum of Costa Rica in 1892. José Castulo Zeledón (1846 – 1923) was a famous Costa Rican ornithologist. He donated his entire scientific collection to the National Museum of Costa Rica in the early 20th century. He is considered the godfather of bird watching in Costa Rica.
Diquis Room
The name Diquis refers to the enduring mystery of the near perfect pre-Columbian stone spheres, discovered by workers of the United Fruit Company in 1943 in Costa Rica’s Diquis delta and Isla del Caño.
Coronado Room
Juan Vázquez de Coronado, Spanish conquistador (1523—1565). In 1562, he was nominated governor of Nuevo Cartago and Costa Rica. His leadership in Costa Rica was characterized by a highly humanitarian approach and his skills of negotiation with the indigenous chiefs (caciques).
Presbere Room
Pablo Presbere was a cacique (chieftain) of the Suinse tribe in the mountains of the Talamanca, south Costa Rica. He was the leader of the rebellion against the Spanish occupation in 1709 in which several Spanish priests and soldiers were killed. The reaction of the Spanish was fierce and pitiable. He was arrested and executed on the 4th July 1710..
In 1997, the Costa Rican government declared Pablo Presbere as National Defender of the Liberty of the Indigenous.