We like to balance our stays between hotels and Japanese Inns or Guesthouses. It gives us the best of both worlds as well as an insight into the culture of where we are. Lacoma Guesthouse in Esumi was a good choice and we highly recommend it. A young woman owns and runs Lacoma….it is by far the most welcoming, characterful and organized Guesthouse we have experienced.
She took a property that needed some TLC and transformed it. Guests have full access to a well equipped kitchen, a room she calls a workstation for reading or using your computer and a comfy traditional tatami mat room for sleeping. You feel relaxed as she makes you feel at home right away. She has thought of everything is provided for your use in the kitchen including some snacks and beverages
Once you are checked in and shown around, she leaves you to enjoy the space. Check out is simple…you lock the front door, leave your key as explained. We were touched to see her personalized note to us in the entrance.
Her hospitality extended to our trikes. We were ok parking them in front, but she wanted them to be inside and undercover. Usually, we are trying to negotiate with a hotel as to why our trikes deserve a safe place….but not here.
The Kumano Kodo is a pilgrimage route that has been in existence since 800 AD. It is one of only two UNESCO World Heritage trails in the world- the other being the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The family were very interested in what we are doing and where we are from. We had a fun time visiting with them . I am holding our bag of freshly cooked treats and the dad is holding down the fort in the van.
The boy was a bit shy but we could see that he was intrigued by our trikes. We invited him to try my trike as it is smaller. He was so excited and kept saying in a quiet voice…thank you.
Barry went in to the convenience to buy ice and a few other things while I waited outside. When he went to pay, the clerk encouraged him to dump all of his coins on the counter. She then took the whole handful and dumped it into the coin chute of the cash register. . Unfortunately,it jammed the machine. She ran and got the manager who asked Barry to wait while they figured out what to do. They had no way of knowing how much money went in. After about ten minutes they figured it out. While we were sitting outside, she came out and said sorry and gave us two iced lattes. Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. In the end, Barry gave her our business card, both she and manager came out to wave us off as we left.
