Our love affair with Costa Rica began with a shared dislike of Tim Krul.

It was the World Cup 2014 semi-finals and Costa Rica were the surprise contenders for a place in the final. The Brits love an underdog so were cheering for the Costa Ricans to make it through, but first they had to beat the Netherlands.

With neither side managing to score before the ninety minutes was up, it moved to penalties. Arguably Tim Krul, the Dutch goalkeeper, did too well to intimidate the Costa Rican players aiming to get the ball past him, with words and gestures that just weren’t sporting, in our opinion. A brief review of social media showed we weren’t the only ones.

With more and more expletives passing our mouths, my best friend and I decided to move our support from passive to active, and find ways that Costa Rica beats the Netherlands elsewhere. Where else to find such information than the bastion of knowledge that is Wikipedia. And we sure found ammunition. Costa Rica is:

• One of only a few sovereign natures without a standing army
• The only country to meet all five criteria established to measure environmental sustainability
• Only about 0.1% of the world’s landmass, but contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity.

What’s more, the literacy rate in Costa Rica is 96.3%, one of the highest in Latin America. Oh, and it has sloths! In terms of liberal-country-off, it was really leaving the Netherlands trailing in its wake.

So, on the back of that World Cup Semi-Final, we booked our flights for the following April. We spent the following few months vaguely planning what we wanted to do. We had some ideas, but the three that kept recurring were:

• See a sloth (naturally)
• Visit a cloud forest
• Stay in a treehouse

The last one wasn’t as crazy as you might think. In fact, in the last few years, since Costa Rica has become more and more of a top tourist destination, the treehouse options have really sprung up (excuse the pun). There are even whole Buzzfeed lists dedicated to them.

Bearing in mind, though, that Costa Rica is quite pricey, we wanted to stay clear of resorts and instead stay somewhere with a bit more heart and soul. So we turned to Air Bnb, eventually settling on a beautiful treehouse on an organic farm just outside Montezuma.

Getting to Montezuma from Monteverde took, all in all, around 7 hours. It was a long old bus ride, and we pulled up mid-afternoon in Cobano where we hit the supermercado to stock up on treehouse treats: namely crisps, water and beloved avocados. From there, finding the farm was a little tricky – even with my intermediate Spanish and the directions given by the owner, the taxi driver had to ask others on the road. Just as I started to panic, we found it.

All memories of a slightly difficult journey disappeared as soon as we looked up at our abode for the next three nights. Surrounded by the greenery of the farm, our treehouse rose up above us, taking the form of two separate ‘pods’, connected by a bridge and accessible by a set of wooden steps.

Leaving our flip flops at the bottom we clambered up the stairs (our bags could wait). Opening the door of the treehouse we walked into a small kitchen with everything you need, plus a little seating area with cushions. It has to be the best washing up view I’ve ever seen; I think my pots would be spick and span if I could look at that each day.

Walking across the wooden walkway to the other pod, we found our bedroom, with a floating mattress hanging from the ceiling, covered by a mosquito net. The view, again, was breathtaking. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the heat and the light, but in fact I liked being woken up in the morning by the sunlight, and, equally, hearing nature all around me.

The treehouse was around a 45 minute walk from Montezuma itself, so we had a few good walks every day heading down to the beach and town for the day’s activities (and the evening too). There are lots of monkeys to spot on the way, just be sure to step over the hoardes of rotten mangoes they supposedly take one bite out of and then throw on the floor. It was quite easy to get a cab back – just head to the centre, and ask around the cars pulled up. Honestly not as dodgy as it sounds – we even made friends with one driver, Pablo. Although, thinking about it… that may have been connected to the fact he did try to kiss me at one point, to much hilarity from Charlotte sat in the back seat and not-muffled-at-all giggles from us as soon as we got out of the car.

So yes… we made some friends in this sleepy town (not just ones that wanted to kiss us), and loved the beautiful beaches, but my favourite Montezuma times were each morning when we would wake up, make a pot of coffee to accompany our avocado on toast, stick a podcast on the treehouse sound system, and bask in our own little slice of paradise. That and taking an incredible open-air shower. Totally private to the treehouse (which my best friend was grateful for), the other side is wholly open to nature. I’ve never known anything like it and there’s a good chance I might never again.

For those looking to stay in a treehouse in Costa Rica, I can thoroughly recommend it – and especially the Sacred Geome House at Las Delicias, Montezuma. Just be wary that, as staying in a tree might suggest, you should be sure you’re relatively fit, healthy, and not averse to the odd bug or strange noise. That being said, I’m so glad we made staying in a treehouse one of our must-do experiences for our Costa Rica trip – it is one of the most unique and magical experiences I’m lucky to have had in my life, and definitely in my top three all-time travel moments.