San Jose and the Pacific coast

People watching in the central plaza is fun. You can hang out with the thousands of teenagers who swoop down on the plaza, too. The central market has a maze of cheap stuff, especially hammocks. I bought a two-person hammock for , and it's still in excellent shape. If you're a guy and find yourself getting propositioned a lot, don't start thinking you got good looking overnight - prostitution is legal here, so you're most likely just a prospective customer. On the weekends, you may find street performers and musicians throughout the central city. There are weekend markets scattered throughout the city as well.

Quick Tips:

For a quick day trip, there's a bus that leaves from the from of the Hotel General that takes visitors to an Volcan Irazu, an dormant volcano not far from town. The bus ride is about an hour and a half - it takes you to a parking area literally on top of the volcano. You can walk along the smoldering calderas, and the views are amazing. The whole setup is a little touristy, but interesting nonetheless. On the way back to the city, you'll stop in a roadside cafe for about an hour. The bus ride is also a great way to meet other travelers - I ended up going out that night with several others that I met on the bus that day. Although I didn't go myself, I've been told that an overnight trip to Lake Arenal and the Arenal volcano is well worth it - the volcano is active, and it puts on a great pyrotechnic show at night. The lake is famous for its prime windsurfing conditions.

Best Way To Get Around:

Taking a taxi to and from the airport is the best way to get downtown. The bus stations are scattered around the city, so finding public transport out of town can be confusing. If you don't have a four-wheel drive, buses are the way to go.

The Bella Vista is 10 km south of Domenical, which is on the Pacific coast about 30 km south of San Isidro del General (basically, it''s in the middle of nowhere). It''s a restored farmhouse on a high hill, accessible only by horse or four-wheel drive (you can take a taxi to the base of the hill and walk - not recommended - or call ahead of time for a ride). The main house has three rooms and two shared bathrooms. There''s also a more private home just down the hill. The views of the Pacific on one side and the mountains on the other are incredible, as are the sounds - toucans, howler monkeys, the surf, and little else. Woody Dyer, the owner and host, is one of the most gracious people you will ever meet and an excellent cook to boot (ask him to fix you his jambalaya or etoufee - they''re phenomenal). We would sit in the kitchen and talk for hours until the lights went out. Woody also owns dozens of horses, and his guide (Marino) will take you on horseback through the rainforest to a beautiful waterfall for swimming for the day for about $20 each. You can also visit Brian down the hill, owner of Finca Brian y Milena. He can be a little grumpy at times, but he''s generally a nice guy and he has a naturally heated hot tub. He''ll take you on tours of his fruit farm for a fee, and he also has a guest hut way up in the hills. He also loves jazz and playing chess... In all, the Bella Vista is a once-in-a-lifetime place. It honestly hurts to leave. If you go for a few days, you''ll be very glad you did. You can find the fax number (Woody doesn''t have a phone) in several guide books on Costa Rica.

Very colorful. The Kekoldi is a friendly place on the edge of the city center, within walking distance of everything. The rooms are large and brightly colored, but noisy at night; the bathrooms are serviceable, but be warned - Costa Rican toilets do not take kindly to toilet paper. That''s what the basket next to the toilet is for. The dining area is nice, with excellent breakfasts, and there is a computer for internet access. The staff will call you a cab to pick you up at the door to take you to the airport - I assume they''ll call one to bring you there from the airport, too.

Go figure. An excellent veggie restaurant in the middle of San Jose, with five-course meals for about eight bucks. It's not the cleanest or the swankiest place in town by any means, but the food is very good and the staff is helpful. Open for lunch and dinner.

Because San Jose is cheap and slightly seedy (prostitution and gambling are legal), you tend to meet some very interesting people in the bars. On my last night in the city, a friend and I met this huge American guy who was way over his limit. He virtually dragged us down to his table, and for the next hour veered from insulting me and hitting on my female friend to bursting out in tears ('I miss my mama SOOO MUCH BAAAAH!'). We ended up running for our lives when he went to the bathroom. It was fun in a "let's see how weird this can get" sort of way. Anyway, the bars can be a little strange at times, unless you leave the city center and find a place that the locals hang out in. Some friends and I found one (sorry, can't remember the name) that was actually pretty nice - we sat there for hours, danced, and made fun of Canadian pop stars (two of the girls were from Canada - c'mon, Glass Tiger? Bryan Adams?).

My best advice for nightlife is to ask a local (maybe someone at your hotel) where the locals go - it probably won't be in the city center, but you'll most likely enjoy it very much. Costa Ricans (Ticos for short) are friendly to a fault, and they love to have a good time...