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The XT10 Men-Only GuestHouse in Costa Rica
TheXT10 Men-Only GuestHouse
By Steven Skelley and Thomas Routzong
Costa Rica is a wonder of nature which extends majestically from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. It is an international travel destination with lovely tropical beaches, amazing rainforest adventures and unique culture.Costa Rica is also the home of TheX10 Men-Only Guesthouse.
We asked Chris Mazonakis to tell us about TheX10 Men-Only Guesthouse in Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
How would you describe TheX10 in one sentence?
TheXT10 is a NEW private and discreet gay luxury hide-away, providing highest comfort, privacy and a relaxed clothing-optional, friendly atmosphere for Adult Men Only: A true paradise for nature and naturist lovers!
What is special about TheX10 and your guests?
Main goal of TheXT10 is for guests to fully relax and feel genuinely free. To achieve this, the guesthouse has gone against the stream in several ways:
The location, away from the buzz, in the middle of a hillside nature paradise, has one of the most impressive views available in Costa Rica, (possibly the most impressive of any gay clothing-optional resort worldwide!? We are certainly up for the challenge!). That combined with the modern architecture and interiors, two infinity pools and a high level of quality and service promises that guests will have a true luxury experience in a gay, clothing-optional environment NOT secluded by high walls or fences, but rather including the view of a lifetime. Naked or not, NOBODY should have to downgrade to a lousy view when on vacation. Therefore, ALL rooms of TheXT10 have an ocean view!
Secondly, while some gay hotspot establishments have turned "gay-friendly" over time, TheXT10 caters strictly to the adult male clientele in order to ensure that guests do not feel inhibited in any possible way. If guests feel like being naked, we strongly encourage that! (By the way, we also believe that an erection is absolutely natural, be it by sexual arousal or not...) All men who embrace an open, friendly, clothing-optional lifestyle are welcome in The XT10: gay, straight and bisexual.
A surprise for many guests: we love to discreetly compete with the best local restaurants around and serve fresh and tasty food only for our guests, taking special pride in producing many ingredients for the kitchen on our own premises (we are no fans of heat-broken lettuce or tasteless cucumbers). We love to get the best local ingredients available and create something Costa Rica has never seen before. We also love to ignore the white spongy bread in the supermarkets and bake our own bread once or twice a week and produce our home-made Bulgarian natural yoghurt! One recent guest claimed he had the best breakfast of his life at TheXT10. We are flattered, naturally.
What accommodations are available at TheX10?
When we started to design the buildings, there were a few must-haves, which in the end determined much of the entire architecture:
A. Every guest room and the large lobby should have a straight view out over the surrounding landscape, over the many miles of Pacific coast and all the way out to the Corcovado peninsula.
B. The large roofed lobby/breakfast/hangout lounge should be completely open towards the Ocean.
C. Despite the fact that tourists in Costa Rica don’t come to hang out in their hotel rooms, all rooms and bathrooms had to be sufficiently spacious and feature an “outdoor” shower (a novelty for constructors in this region) as well as their own balcony or terrace.
D. There should be several hangout areas for the choice of guests, some more public, others more private. We didn’t compromise on any of those points and then decided to go crazy about tiles to give the bathrooms and showers a particular luxurious touch! Our “outdoor” rain showers have an open window to the outside, providing that refreshing feeling of freedom and being half out in the nature, yet in your own safe space, while you cool off. It is not unusual to have a hummingbird take a peek on you showering!
As a result, TheXT10 offers 7 guestrooms, all of them with the mentioned features, all light and modern and just a few steps away from one of two infinity pools. They do differ slightly in style, size and decoration.
Slightly unusual for Costa Rica is the furnituring with our own three completely different designs of beds as well as the fact that 5 of our rooms feature full king sized beds. One of these is a suite with a living room and two bathrooms/showers.
Two rooms we consider “singles” out of modesty, since they feature queen size beds, but they are in fact very comfortable for two persons.
Almost needless to mention, all rooms have a glass front to the balconies/terraces, allowing for guests to wake up viewing the Pacific and the surrounding green hills. The location makes it possible to feel you have seen a lot even during a lazy day around the pool and sometimes guests end up “breakfast-dwelling” over whether they need to venture out at all during the day.
For enthusiasts, a unique slightly secluded yoga platform stands ready for guests to further recharge from the endless pure nature and its energies!
What activities and special events are available at TheX10?
At TheXT10, we aim at providing a relaxed and friendly, international atmosphere, giving guests a feeling of being exactly where they want to be, away yet home. We do spell privacy and discretion with capital letters and therefore do not allow day visitors, nor do we invite party-only guests.
TheXT10 is not located in a party hotspot (we leave that to Manuel Antonio close by), so rather than organizing parties, we focus on making sure that a very descent Christmas dinner is served at Christmas, that the turkey turns out more than perfect for Thanksgiving and that the atmosphere is on the top when it should be. We listen to our guests and will turn up the music when the crowd is in a party-mood and will keep the bar open as long as nobody is tired. We are looking forward to the preparations for every holiday when we can make guests feel... "away, yet home".
Why is gay nudism / naturism an important and healthy choice?
A main pillar of Costa Rican tourism is its overwhelming lush and diverse nature, thus few visitors travel here only for the city or the nightlife and certainly not for shopping. You venture out to experience the country and the nature!, to see the different kinds of monkeys and look down into a volcano! This is hardly any different for a gay and/or naturist traveler. The slightly remote location of The XT10, in one of the most unexploited regions of Costa Rica, is our conscious choice precisely to make the combination of the truly Costa Rican nature experience and the gay/male nudism possible.
At TheXT10 nudism is optional and encouraged, but by no means mandatory. Nudism is an excellent way to feel genuinely free, relieve stress and relax au nature, but we also believe that naturism can be as simple as a chosen lifestyle (with no explanation needed) and for some it may be an adventure into something unknown. We simply expect that all guests have a fully accepting and positive attitude towards nudism and those who practice it.
While many naturist organizations and groups will be keen to point out that sex is not equated with naturism (and they are of course correct), there is no doubt that for many gay men, nudism also contains a certain sexual component, be it in the direction of exhibitionism, voyeurism, sexual arousal or acts in public…, you name it. As a private guesthouse where we want everybody to feel genuinely free, we do not intend to confine guests' behavior when they should live out their dreams, instead we do count on common sense in this respect. Regardless of the origin of the naturism preference and what the purpose of a nudist vacation may be, at TheXT10 we expect guests to fully respect other guests for their individuality and to respect individual sensibilities as is appropriate. Nudity is also not permitted in certain spots visible to the public.
We have already received many impressed guests and now hope to be able to attract more vacationers who really embrace and share this lifestyle. Flights to the capital (San Jose, SJO) have increased dramatically over the last two years, with both traditional and low-fare airlines now offering direct flights from dozens of cities in both the US and Canada, as well as direct flights from European cities such as Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt and Madrid. This is a substantial game-changer resulting in reasonable prices as well as attractive connections from most of the world.
For more information, visit http://www.thext10.com
Twitter: @thext10
By Steven Skelley and Thomas Routzong
Costa Rica is a wonder of nature which extends majestically from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. It is an international travel destination with lovely tropical beaches, amazing rainforest adventures and unique culture.Costa Rica is also the home of TheX10 Men-Only Guesthouse.
We asked Chris Mazonakis to tell us about TheX10 Men-Only Guesthouse in Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
How would you describe TheX10 in one sentence?
TheXT10 is a NEW private and discreet gay luxury hide-away, providing highest comfort, privacy and a relaxed clothing-optional, friendly atmosphere for Adult Men Only: A true paradise for nature and naturist lovers!
What is special about TheX10 and your guests?
Main goal of TheXT10 is for guests to fully relax and feel genuinely free. To achieve this, the guesthouse has gone against the stream in several ways:
The location, away from the buzz, in the middle of a hillside nature paradise, has one of the most impressive views available in Costa Rica, (possibly the most impressive of any gay clothing-optional resort worldwide!? We are certainly up for the challenge!). That combined with the modern architecture and interiors, two infinity pools and a high level of quality and service promises that guests will have a true luxury experience in a gay, clothing-optional environment NOT secluded by high walls or fences, but rather including the view of a lifetime. Naked or not, NOBODY should have to downgrade to a lousy view when on vacation. Therefore, ALL rooms of TheXT10 have an ocean view!
Secondly, while some gay hotspot establishments have turned "gay-friendly" over time, TheXT10 caters strictly to the adult male clientele in order to ensure that guests do not feel inhibited in any possible way. If guests feel like being naked, we strongly encourage that! (By the way, we also believe that an erection is absolutely natural, be it by sexual arousal or not...) All men who embrace an open, friendly, clothing-optional lifestyle are welcome in The XT10: gay, straight and bisexual.
A surprise for many guests: we love to discreetly compete with the best local restaurants around and serve fresh and tasty food only for our guests, taking special pride in producing many ingredients for the kitchen on our own premises (we are no fans of heat-broken lettuce or tasteless cucumbers). We love to get the best local ingredients available and create something Costa Rica has never seen before. We also love to ignore the white spongy bread in the supermarkets and bake our own bread once or twice a week and produce our home-made Bulgarian natural yoghurt! One recent guest claimed he had the best breakfast of his life at TheXT10. We are flattered, naturally.
What accommodations are available at TheX10?
When we started to design the buildings, there were a few must-haves, which in the end determined much of the entire architecture:
A. Every guest room and the large lobby should have a straight view out over the surrounding landscape, over the many miles of Pacific coast and all the way out to the Corcovado peninsula.
B. The large roofed lobby/breakfast/hangout lounge should be completely open towards the Ocean.
C. Despite the fact that tourists in Costa Rica don’t come to hang out in their hotel rooms, all rooms and bathrooms had to be sufficiently spacious and feature an “outdoor” shower (a novelty for constructors in this region) as well as their own balcony or terrace.
D. There should be several hangout areas for the choice of guests, some more public, others more private. We didn’t compromise on any of those points and then decided to go crazy about tiles to give the bathrooms and showers a particular luxurious touch! Our “outdoor” rain showers have an open window to the outside, providing that refreshing feeling of freedom and being half out in the nature, yet in your own safe space, while you cool off. It is not unusual to have a hummingbird take a peek on you showering!
As a result, TheXT10 offers 7 guestrooms, all of them with the mentioned features, all light and modern and just a few steps away from one of two infinity pools. They do differ slightly in style, size and decoration.
Slightly unusual for Costa Rica is the furnituring with our own three completely different designs of beds as well as the fact that 5 of our rooms feature full king sized beds. One of these is a suite with a living room and two bathrooms/showers.
Two rooms we consider “singles” out of modesty, since they feature queen size beds, but they are in fact very comfortable for two persons.
Almost needless to mention, all rooms have a glass front to the balconies/terraces, allowing for guests to wake up viewing the Pacific and the surrounding green hills. The location makes it possible to feel you have seen a lot even during a lazy day around the pool and sometimes guests end up “breakfast-dwelling” over whether they need to venture out at all during the day.
For enthusiasts, a unique slightly secluded yoga platform stands ready for guests to further recharge from the endless pure nature and its energies!
What activities and special events are available at TheX10?
At TheXT10, we aim at providing a relaxed and friendly, international atmosphere, giving guests a feeling of being exactly where they want to be, away yet home. We do spell privacy and discretion with capital letters and therefore do not allow day visitors, nor do we invite party-only guests.
TheXT10 is not located in a party hotspot (we leave that to Manuel Antonio close by), so rather than organizing parties, we focus on making sure that a very descent Christmas dinner is served at Christmas, that the turkey turns out more than perfect for Thanksgiving and that the atmosphere is on the top when it should be. We listen to our guests and will turn up the music when the crowd is in a party-mood and will keep the bar open as long as nobody is tired. We are looking forward to the preparations for every holiday when we can make guests feel... "away, yet home".
Why is gay nudism / naturism an important and healthy choice?
A main pillar of Costa Rican tourism is its overwhelming lush and diverse nature, thus few visitors travel here only for the city or the nightlife and certainly not for shopping. You venture out to experience the country and the nature!, to see the different kinds of monkeys and look down into a volcano! This is hardly any different for a gay and/or naturist traveler. The slightly remote location of The XT10, in one of the most unexploited regions of Costa Rica, is our conscious choice precisely to make the combination of the truly Costa Rican nature experience and the gay/male nudism possible.
At TheXT10 nudism is optional and encouraged, but by no means mandatory. Nudism is an excellent way to feel genuinely free, relieve stress and relax au nature, but we also believe that naturism can be as simple as a chosen lifestyle (with no explanation needed) and for some it may be an adventure into something unknown. We simply expect that all guests have a fully accepting and positive attitude towards nudism and those who practice it.
While many naturist organizations and groups will be keen to point out that sex is not equated with naturism (and they are of course correct), there is no doubt that for many gay men, nudism also contains a certain sexual component, be it in the direction of exhibitionism, voyeurism, sexual arousal or acts in public…, you name it. As a private guesthouse where we want everybody to feel genuinely free, we do not intend to confine guests' behavior when they should live out their dreams, instead we do count on common sense in this respect. Regardless of the origin of the naturism preference and what the purpose of a nudist vacation may be, at TheXT10 we expect guests to fully respect other guests for their individuality and to respect individual sensibilities as is appropriate. Nudity is also not permitted in certain spots visible to the public.
We have already received many impressed guests and now hope to be able to attract more vacationers who really embrace and share this lifestyle. Flights to the capital (San Jose, SJO) have increased dramatically over the last two years, with both traditional and low-fare airlines now offering direct flights from dozens of cities in both the US and Canada, as well as direct flights from European cities such as Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt and Madrid. This is a substantial game-changer resulting in reasonable prices as well as attractive connections from most of the world.
For more information, visit http://www.thext10.com
Twitter: @thext10
Article by Steven Skelley and Thomas Routzong
Copyright 2019 Sunny Harbor Publishing Sunny Harbor Publishing, PO Box 560318, Rockledge, FL 32956 Phone: 321-252-9874 Email: [email protected] Website: www.SunnyHarborPublishing.org |
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Gay Travelers Magazine
the best cruise & travel news, tips & reviews for the sensible gay traveler
the best cruise & travel news, tips & reviews for the sensible gay traveler