Costa Rica

Whenever I heard people talk about the non-surfing side of Costa Rica, their first bit of wisdom was: Get out of San Jose as fast as you can. I agree. The beauty of Costa Rica lies outside of the country's capital. The rain forests, cloud forests, beaches, volcanoes and everything else this lush paradise has to offer is only available if you leave the city. That is not to say the city does not have things to offer. The only two things that I can remember off the top of my head are a papa John's pizza place and the museum that, if I remember correctly, has the world's largest collection of gold. I started in San Jose and criss-crossed the country several times. I visited Barillo Carrillo, Arenal, Manuel Antonio and the city of Puerto Limon. The best part was the scenery. The country is gorgeous.

Quick Tips:

Eat at places that have a lot of people there. That's a general travel rule that really applies in Costa Rica. Stay away from the Coca-Cola terminal in San Jose at night. Try to get a bus ticket in advance whenever possible. It's always confusing to know which busses require a seat reservation and if you don't have one you may be forced to stand the entire time. I didn't rent a car but I happen to know that if you go to Costa Rica with a car quote, every car rental company will beat your quote.

Best Way To Get Around:

We took public transportation as often as possible. For less than dollars you can go from San Jose clear to either coast. The buses are comfortable enough. We always stopped at some town half-way to the destination. Bring change if you want to use the bathroom. People will also get on the bus and sell you refreshments.

Taxis: always got a price up front. You might be charged double if the meter’s off, but it is still really cheap. We took the taxi to Arenal. The ride was only , which was cheap. He tried to make it cheaper for us by seeing if any people at a local hotel needed rides. There he got a ticket for parking in a no-parking zone. On the way to Arenal he tried to get us to pay for the ticket, his gas, and to give him more money. Shuttle service: we used one from Arenal to San Jose. It was only -, but I preferred the local transportation. The shuttle sat upto 8 people and they were usually Americans. While it was very comfortable, I just felt we had a better feel of the culture on the public busses.

The Cariblue Hotel is owned by an Italian couple in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica lies on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. It is comprised of about 14 private bungalows, a house and a separate bungalow-type lobby area. It sits on the edge of the Rainforest.

First Impressions
We arrived in the evening and were taken to our private bungalow via a beautiful walk through a garden. At this time of night, it didn't seem like anything else existed. It was amazing.

The Room
The wood bungalow large and very simply decorated. There is a large bed, a desk area, a place for clothes and a framed picture of local artists work. The bathroom is beautiful. The stand-up shower is tiled n an Italian mosaic of a gecco. It it bright and beautiful.
The room has no electricity except for the ceiling fan, the lights and the heating unit for the bathroom. There is no television and no radio. Outside of the room, on the porch is a hammock to rest on.

Our toy snakeThe Cariblue Hotel is owned by an Italian couple in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica lies on the Caribbean coast of Coast Rica. It is comprised of about 14 private bungalows, a house and a separate bungalow-type lobby area. It sits on the edge of the Rain Forest. <br/><br/><b>First Impressions</b><br/>We arrived in the evening and were taken to our private bungalow via a beautiful walk through a garden. At this time of night, it didn't seem like anything else existed. It was amazing. <br/><br/><b>The Room</b><br/>The wood bangalow large and very simply decorated. There is a large bed, a desk area, a place for clothes and a framed picture of local artists work. The bathroom is beautiful. The stand-up shower is tiled n an Italian mosaic of a gecco. It it bright and beautiful. <br/>The room has no electricity except for the ceiling fan, the lights and the heating unit for the bathroom. There is no television and no radio. Outside of the room, on the porch is a hammock to rest on.<br/><br/><b>Our toy snake</b><br/>When we first checked into the room, we noticed the spotless room had a small toy snake in the corner. We thought it was cute that the owners would put this toy in the room. When we came back from dinner we noticed the "toy" had moved. It was a real snake! We spent about 15 minutes planning the snakees escape and then very carefully used a stick to guide it back to the outdoors.<br/><br/><b>Breakfast is included</b><br/>Every morning, breakfast was included. It was a delicious array of rice and beans and fresh fruit. The owners gave us a boxed breakfast for our last lunch because we were going to leave before their regular breakfast time.<br/><br/><b>The Lobby and Restaurant</b><br/>We often relaxed in the lobby area before or after a meal. There was a little shop to buy both Costa Rican and Italian goods. The owners kept music playing at night, and it was a nice place to relax and talk to the other residents.<br/><br/>
When we first checked into the room, we noticed the spotless room had a small toy snake in the corner. We thought it was cute that the owners would put this toy in the room. When we came back from dinner we noticed the "toy" had moved. It was a real snake! We spent about 15 minutes planning the snakees escape and then very carefully used a stick to guide it back to the outdoors.

Breakfast is included
Every morning, breakfast was included. It was a delicious array of rice and beans and fresh fruit. The owners gave us a boxed breakfast for our last lunch because we were going to leave before their regular breakfast time.

The Lobby and Restaurant
We often relaxed in the lobby area before or after a meal. There was a little shop to buy both Costa Rican and Italian goods. The owners kept music playing at night, and it was a nice place to relax and talk to the other residents.

Manuel Antonio is hard to categorize because it offers a little bit for everyone. When we arrived at the location, there were many tour guides available to offer us a tour of the animals located inside the park. We opted to wait till we got to the park entrance to get a tour guide. I highly recommend doing this. Our tour guide was roughly $15. He was great. He really took the time to show us the animals. In the amount of time we walked around the park, we saw the tourguide outside the park who wanted us to use him. He had taken two groups of people through in the time our guide took us through once! During the tour we saw many iguanas and sloths. We got really good at finding the animals after a couple of tips on how to look for them. He took us a little off the main path to a waterfall. When we were done, we were so thirsty. There's a little shop for drinks and we bought our tourguide a drink. He was so grateful. The tourguide and the drink were both so refreshing. After we parted, we went a short hike to get to a nice look-out point. Here we could see the beaches and the pacific ocean. It was truly amazing. When we were done with all of that, we relaxed on the beach.