Some good information here. Thanks for the nice comments too

Our stay at Villas Pico Bonito (aka Congregal River Lodge) was wonderful. We stayed for 5 nights, following a previous 2 weeks on the Bay Islands. Before we reserved with Villas Pico Bonito, we read the reviews online and looked closely at the pictures they'd posted to Flickr. Although the property looked nice online, when we arrived we saw that the pictures did not do the property justice. It is breathtaking. The pathways have all been made of cemented river rock and have incorporated many of the natural features so that the property blends into the natural surroundings, rather than being an eye-sore on the landscape. And the gardens are spectacular. Due to a booking conflict that made our desired room unavailable, Richard (the owner) automatically upgraded our reservation from the jungle lodge to el bejuco - a full-sized 1-bedroom apartment. I thought that upgrading us was a very classy thing to do (rather than simply ask us to move to an otherwise equivalent room - which we would have happily done). The el bejuco apartment is large, clean, and spacious with great attention to detail - much swankier than we are used to! Richard and Ana are very attentive to their guests without being intrusive or cloying. When making the reservations, Richard was responsive to emails and his replies were always friendly, pertinent, and helpful. When we arrived, Ana greeted us at the municipal ferry dock (despite the fact that it was raining) and got us settled in our room. Richard made phone calls to arrange for us to do whitewater rafting, kayaking, and mountain-biking with Omega Tours (which was a GREAT operation that we recommend highly), and hiking. The fact that Richard offered to make these arrangements meant that we didn't waste any of our precious 5 days trying to figure out how to arrange these activities for ourselves. The staff on-site were equally friendly and helpful (esp. Oskar – thanks for lugging our bags and all those bottles of water!!). We felt very welcome. There are no shops within walking distance of the property and the restaurant on-site is closed on Monday and Tuesday. If you stay at the Villas, you might want to stop for groceries in LaCeiba before you arrive at the property and/or be prepared to walk up the road to eat at Jungle River Lodge or Omega. As an aside, during our stay Richard went “above and beyond” by allowing us to accompany him into LaCeiba so that we could visit an ATM and buy groceries. The property has a great view of el bejuco waterfall and is well situated for lots of activities. It is only a 10 minute walk to one of the entrances to Pico Bonito National park where, for a $7USD entrance fee per person, you can access the loop trail up to el Bejuco waterfall (the same waterfall that can be viewed from the Villas). The Jungle River Lodge which runs rafting tours is about a 3-minute walk away from the villas; however, the excellent reviews for Omega led us to seek out tours with them instead. Omega is located a 20-minute walk away from the Villas; Omega picked us up at the Villas each morning and we chose to walk back at the end of the day. Although we only had 5 nights at the Villas Pico Bonito, we felt like we got to do and see a lot because our great hosts enabled us to use our time to the fullest. If you plan to visit the Rio Congregal, be sure to stay with Richard and Ana at Villas Pico Bonito. You will have an excellent experience at a very reasonable rate.