Congrats and welcome to the forum! FI and I are also more the backpacker explore the area type of people and although we have a few coming that are also like that, we chose the AI route because it was a better deal for our guests and no need to worry about counting money while you are there. Although if you are looking in Costa Rica there really aren't a lot of AI options, but I know they have some villas with private chefs that you may be interested in.