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To all you brave souls who are driving around for the first time in Costa Rica:
1. There aren’t that many highways. If you’re on one, you’re probably going the right way.
2. Don’t bother with maps. They’re often wrong, and there’s little signage anyway to confirm you’re on that particular highway.
3. If you violate rule #2, don’t ever show your map to a Tico while asking for directions. It’ll probably be the first time he will have seen a road map in his life. He’ll stare at it quizzically for 5 minutes, before turning it upside down for another 5.
4. Follow the other cars, unless the people inside are looking at maps.
5. In lieu of other traffic, follow the tire marks.
6. If the car in front of you swerves, swerve with him. There’s a reason.
7. Stop and ask for directions. Even if you don’t speak Spanish, simply state the name of the town where you’re going as a question. When the person finishes talking, he’ll point. Follow the finger. Giving directions is a national past time, whether they know them or not. Look directly into their eyes while you’re asking. If they hesitate or look away for a second before answering, ask someone else.
8. If you do speak Spanish, be prepared for directions based on landmarks, not street names. Something like this is common: “Turn left at Matute Gomez’s house, go 600 apples and turn right where the Higuerón tree used to be, then turn left again when you hear a barking dog”.
9. The road from Ciudad Colón to Puriscal is called “The Road to Puriscal”. In the other direction, it’s call “The Road to Ciudad Colón”
10. In the Central Valley, “abajo” is general toward San Jose, and “arriba” is generally away from San Jose (unless you’re West of San Jose).
11. When confronted with a fork in the road, the asphalt of the main road will generally be at the same level, while the secondary road will go up or down slightly.
12. When going through small towns, it’s common to have to jog one block over to the right or left at the church to stay on the main road.
13. If there’s a traffic light and a stop sign at an intersection, the traffic light takes precedent.
14. Stop signs are evidently just recommendations.
15. Yield signs are evidently placed only to assign fault after the accident.
16. Lines and dashes painted on the roads are evidently just ornamental.
17. When in San Jose, think of your car as a drop of water finding its way down a window. Go with the flow.
18. Also when in San Jose, start your car rolling 3 seconds before the lights turns green or the guy behind you will honk his horn.
19. Don’t stop for pedestrians. If you do, they’ll know you’re a foreigner.
20. Don’t drive straight. You’ll be pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving.
GringoTico –
Delightfully & susuccintly stated! But, for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of driving Costa Rica – go for it! You will see some incredible scenery while you are driving around trying to find your way back to where you are supposed to be, just give yourselves about three times the amount of time anyone says you will need to get from a to b. I would however avoid driving in San Jose, THAT is hell on earth.
GringoTico,
Your Tips for driving can best be appreciated only if you have driven there, I enjoyed them. Here is one perhaps you did not experience, if driving in a small village make the turns wide or your car could end up lying on its side on the sidewald. In my little town of San Isidro we have huge gullies between the sidewalks & roads. Maybe if they checked the sewers they would find a missing person or two.
You are soooo right driving in Costa Rica is worth it!!!
nomad
You gotta’ let me use this for an article on the site – May I?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comAlso, when driving south from Cahuita to Puerto Viejo, watch it! Those potholes are so big there may be here and there a tico sitting in it. We also found out, if you show a map to a tico and even if you pinpoint your location they still do not know what the hell this map is all about. Best way is to stop at a gas station. Chances are that one of the attendants know. We just went to Cahuita, which has a very beautiful beach in the national park and can recommend very highly a B&B (Kelly’s Creek) with excellent span. food only a few feet from the entrance. The owner (tico couple) have a parrot who entertains you on the porch while having breakfast.
May I ad: Due to a little face surgery we were stuck in SJ for a week and had SOME experience driving around in the city. I (husband) did got my master degree in driving a few weeks in Rome back in the 60’s and also in Rio where it seems to be a national sport to run down pedestrians, but I tell you, after SJ we both look like we had Parkinson Disease (still shaking) But now, back in the states it is getting better, I can even read my own handwriting again.
MAPS:
The maps we have of Costa Rica seem to be quite accurate. We have three including the National Geographic Explorer map and they all match. However, like many maps roads and towns of a certain size may not be shown. You need topographical maps for most of the rural roads. We drove all over CR including some very rural areas without problem. However, San Jose’ is a typical big city nightmare made worse by lack of signage.
The lack of road signs IS very confusing and if you get off your map you might be confused for a while until you get somewhere recognizable. And THIS IS difficult. However, each small town has a telephone sign with the name of the town on it IF you can find it. Otherwise you will have to guess by the names of local businesses. Look for the telephone sign. But remember, not all small towns are on the map.
If you want to seriouly explore CR by road do not plan on being anywhere at any given time. Plan for it to take twice as long to cover the same distance as in the US or Canada. If you really want to know where you are get one of those portable GPS devices. These work world wide but you may have to purchase a digitized map as an extra.
ROADS:
Don’t believe anyone’s assement of any particular road unless they drove on it yesterday. The heavy rains and heavy traffic destroy roads rapidly. They DO repair the roads regularly in Costa Rica (we actually saw road crews). So a road that was great for you this year may nearly be a Jeep trail the next. The main road to Cahuita was miserable last year but you could tell it has been better. The main bridge to that road in Limon had holes through the deck big enough to see through as you drove over it. But it has probably been repaired since then.
The best rural roads are the ones leading to big commercial farms. The agri-corps do their own road work. The worse are in small villages where there is no major traffic.
DRIVING:
Those who recommend that tourists do not drive at night in CR are absolutely right. Don’t do it until you are familiar with the area. Even then, be carefull of the herds or lone cows in the road at night!
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