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Hello, just wondering if anyone knows of any village, apartment or room my husband and I might be able to rent for our trip to CR. We are thinking on traveling for about 1 week sometime in February 2008. This is going to be our very first time in CR and we both are soooo excited that can’t wait. We are the adventurer type and are thinking on trying to explore the country on our own. Any ideas? God bless.
You excitement is justified. I started coming to CR 10 years ago and have now moved here for good. My only advice is that the first time here would be so much easier if you hired a guide from CR. You will see twice a much in half the time and go to places that you would never knew existed. If $ are a factor, I understand, however’ I still believe you will waste time and money. Do read up on everything you can before you come, regardless of a guide or not.This website will educate you as much, if not more than any book. (Books
are necessary also.)
Just keep asking questions on this site.Dernocom: What part of Costa Rica will you be staying at that you’ll need a room/apartment ,etc. It would help if you give a geographical location and I would be able to help point you in the right direction. No matter where you end up going you’ll have a great time. There is so much to see and do in a country the size of W. Virginia! Buena suerte.
Edited on Nov 02, 2007 03:54
Just don’t make the mistake so many people make and try to cram too much into such a short trip. One week is a very short time, especially if your arrival and departure days are included in your “one week” trip. If that’s the case then you really only have 5 days, and depending on your departure time you might have to plan on being back in the San Jose area the night before. I would suggest splitting your trip into maybe only two locations to keep your travel time to a minimum. Costa Rica is a small country but travel time from one location to another is long. If you want beach time, I would suggest the Central Pacific coast. It is only two hours from the airport, so you can easily get back for your departure. It really depends though on what your interest are. I prefer exploring on our own as well. Where we live you can visit national parks, horseback riding on the beach, ziplines through the jungle, canopy tram over the jungle, swim, surf, or just relax. You would really need to let people know the area you plan on concentrating on for people to be able to suggest a rental.
Greaaat, all of you are just amazing. I am thankful for all your prompt replies. Each and all of your answers makes so much sense. Which part of the country we are wanted to vist don’t know yet. Yes you are all absolutely right I think one week is not enough to know the country at all. Yesterday we just bought a book about traveling to Costa Rica and we are doing lots of research online, to see where to go first. Once I have all the data together (or some) I could keep you guys posted. As for now we are getting ready to go to Cuba November 21, we are spending 2 weeks. Again thanks a lot, and lets all keep in touch.
Hi Dernocom, What part of Cuba will you be visiting? I would love to know your impressions and how your trip goes. I’m Cuban and haven’t been there in a few years. The Cubans on the island are very dynamic, well educated, fun loving culture with a “resolver” (just get it done) kind of attitude which also entails the “sad story” (in CR it’s called sacando el violin) to get more out of you–Unfortunately, some of those sad stories are uncomfortably true. Some of the contrasts the people experience during this “special period” (as Fidel calls it) can be very sad to observe, but they seem to be very inventive in finding ways to get by. Many Cubans also offer “non-official” tours, taxis, B&B type home stays, paladares (little restaurants) and are tour guides to get by and they’re pretty good at it. Finding gasoline is always fun there, but maybe now, at least for tourist, they have this more under control–some of the concoctions they make to deal with their shortages are amazing. I hope you have a wonderful trip!
How nice to meet another cuban. Well we are going to Santiago de Cuba pretty much all my family is still there. Last time we visited was 3 years ago and we are really thrilled about this visit since we can only go every 3 years. Political issues between USA-Cuba make things difficult at all times. The american side allows us to visit the island only every 3 years and the cuban side let us stay only to 21 days. But still like I said we are excited, and can’t wait to see the rest of the family. Do you have any relatives left in the island? How long ago you left?
Dernocom, I have previously recommended to folks looking for a place to live, retire, etc that they consider three things about any area. First, you cannot escape or change the climate. If you love heat and humidity, then look at Costa Rica’s coastal areas. If not, confine your search to the Central Valley.
Second, consider the amenities that will make your life comfortable and the lack of which will be a burden. If medical care, or a particular medical specialty, is essential, is it available where you’re considering? If you have children to school, is there an acceptable school? If cultural events are important, are they accessible? Etc?
Third, is there a community in which you will be comfortable? If you only speak English, and if you enjoy interaction with others, then you’re going to want a circle of English-speaking friends. If you want to make friends with your neighbors, you won’t want to settle in a neighborhood of absent owners and weekly renters.
Cubans are just about everywhere :)….My father received political asylum from the Brazilian embassy in ’60-61, but ended in Venezuela so I was actually born in Caracas. A Tica friend and I went to meet my family in Santa Clara and La Havana a few years ago around Christmas time. We spent the whole 2 weeks meeting and getting to know them. When I landed in Cuba it was a very strange feeling to recognize faces and attitudes–to feel at home in many ways even though I had never been there before. It was challenging observing everything and making sure I didn’t say anything that could be construed as subversive so as not to create a problem for the people that live there–but I was amazed at how much they could accomplish with so little. I hear that Santiago de Cuba is beautiful and one day I hope to get to know more of that island and its people. Most of my family is in Santa Clara, very few made it out and those that are out live either in the US or Costa Rica. There are a good number of Cubans in CR right now (recent and not so recent arrivals). The first time I went to CR in ’82 some friends insisted on taking me to the “Cuban’s Farm” in San Carlos by Muelle. When I talked to them I realized that it had been their great, great grandfather (or something like that) that had been Cuban and had settled on that farm late 1800s when the oxen cart was still used to haul things around :-). It was a beautiful farm and they were very generous with me, but I found that kind of hospitality throughout all of CR, especially in the more rural areas.
I know some people in the Central Valley area who could offer lodging, there’s a bunch of smaller hotels and some larger ones throughout, but it definitely depends on which area of CR you want to visit. As someone else suggested, try not to spread yourselves too thin or you will spend the whole time traveling to and fro and that’s not exactly the best part of being in CR. Let me know when you know the area(s) you want to visit and timeframe and I’ll gladly help anyway I can. Have a great trip! Rebe
Come and spend time in Grecia, it is the cleanest city in Costa Rica, very safe, other areas can be easily reached from Grecia. Only about 21 miles from the airport, 1 1/2 hour from the beach and just a few minutes from some very famous and beautiful tourist locations. Check http://www.bedandbreakfast.com, it rates accommodations in the area, some even offer airport transportation. You can also look at http://www.tripadvisor.com, they rate accommodations and also post customer comments.
To each his own but sometimes the best plan is no plan. I just returned back to Miami this evening from another short stay in the Central Valley and the best part of this trip was a two hour hike by myself on the spur of the moment down into a valley. Most of the hike was climbing down and back up. At the bottom of the valley, near the Sandero river I came across the waterfall I was told I would find. It was spectacular and perhaps 100 feet high or more but the absolute icing on the cake was finding myself alone in what seemed the middle of a tropical forest when I had not planned to be there earlier that morning. A few short minutes of looking straight up into the morning sun peeking through the canopy with just the sounds of birds and rushing water is now the most vivid memory I have of 5 days in Costa Rica. Let the place happen to you.
CR has much to choose from and you certainly need to gage the requirements of your comfort level, but may I suggest that when exploring in traveling you might also want to consider the mood you might want to set for yourself and your family which may have very little to do with the way you live back home. I had the privilege of previewing many hotels for the language-cultural exchange program that I ran for 10 years in CR and there really is a range of offerings. If you’re feeling adventurous I can tell you that I have stayed in little houses within lush Caribbean gardens, right in front of Playa Chiquita for much less than $35. Now the bed was not as comfortable as the one back home and the netting needed some fixing since this is a must as the mosquitoes there mean serious business when dusk sets, but I managed to have a magical stay there nonetheless and the music of the congos (howler monkeys) and birds was free throughout the day. When looking for more creature comforts and privacy I’ve stayed at Villa Caletas for over $325/night (which is a bargain in NYC, but obviously not in CR and that was in 2001) and how can you complain when the furnishings had a rustic elegance and the suite had its own enclosed garden with a beautiful pool where you had full view of a star filled sky? But I would take the beach at Playa Chiquita any day over the one offered in Villa Caletas unless you like literally being stoned while swimming in the ocean. I don’t know if they have been able to fix this, but you couldn’t go in the water without being hit by fairly good size rocks that came with every wave. My daughter’s favorite hotel in the Central Valley area is the Marriott and it is beautiful, but has become a bit more expensive these days than I care to spend all the time. There is a very safari type place where the rooms are large tents on platforms right in the middle of lush jungle areas and they have been making them more and more rustically elegant in the last few years, it is a fairly expensive place to stay called Almonds & Corals that I took my students to while in the Gandoca-Manzanillo area of Limon, but as the signs on the beach will tell you, and I can vouch for, you are NEVER to swim in that part of the beach since the riptides are treacherous even for the most expert swimmer—you need to walk towards the town of Manzanillo or in the opposite direction towards Playa Chiquita in order to take a dip in the ocean. Consequently, it will always be about the kind of trip you would like to enjoy with your family, the money you spend may not necessarily guarantee what you may be looking for. The worst thing that can happen (and I have done this before) is that if you get there and don’t think it’s an appropriate place for you and your family, then you take your things and leave the next day. Beware of very inexpensive hotels that use the same or very similar names as very nice hotels in CR and are just the opposite, I learned that in Monteverde and also watch out for really nice websites that may not portray the current conditions of said establishment. One of the hotels I previewed in Guanacaste with a friend and my daughter made my 12 year old daughter become incredibly religious, she just kept repeating “Oh my God,” over and over again because the conditions were so deplorable:). We arrived under torrential rains, it was late and we had to tough it out that night, but I was sitting at a very nice resort the next morning. No matter your budget or level of comfort expected when you travel, I’m sure you will be able to find places that you will enjoy during your stay in CR with plans or winging it–the idea is to enjoy what CR has to offer and your family time together. Pura Vida!
Wow, you are absolutely right there are many places to choose from which is great but kind of overwhelming at the same time. Good news to all of this we kind of travel light, meaning just the two of us (no children in the family, which sometimes might make things easier or worse (depending on the individual)
I absolutely agree when you commentated about raising awareness in relation to those so called inexpensive hotels which at the end are just a big disappointment. Once again I would like to send thousands of thanks for your thoughtfulness about this topic.
So you run a language-cultural exchange program in CR, tell me more about it, it sounds interesting.Dernocom, there are a lot of people on this Forum that truly are very knowledgeable not only about CR but many other areas and we are most certainly a diverse group, but that will also give you a broader range of information. Costa Rica has so much to offer that in the 25 years I have been going there and exploring I cannot say that I have been everywhere–there’s much left to see and other places that well, are just my favorites so I have to revisit every time I’m there. My aunt Yiyi says, “camina despacio que voy de prisa” (go slow because I’m in a hurry). Give yourself time to get to know a bit of a specific area or it all becomes one big blurr. Make that your incentive to come back over and over again. Who knows, maybe after a few trips you will really want to buy a home somewhere in CR for visiting or for a total change of scenery. If you do end up thinking of buying something in CR, don’t hesitate to seek the founder of this Forum (Scott Oliver) since he can probably guide you to people that can truly help you in this respect. I have professionally sold real estate part time in US and in CR and I wish I would have known about this site or Scott when I had to leave CR due to an emergency and I couldn’t get a decent (professionally speaking) realtor to sell my house. I actually had to come back to market it and sell myself–it took me all of 3 weeks to find a buyer and close the deal and I never knew why one of the 3 realtors working on my house couldn’t do it in 3 months!
Anyway, regarding the cultural-language program it was with a very conservative, private, affluent, southern university that asked me and a friend to help them set up this program in CR. They were incredibly open to our suggestions so we were able to make an 8 week language program with language schools/UCR, home stays in the San Pedro area near the university, lectures regarding different aspects of CR life and history from very distinguished professors/authors/artists/musicians, dance classes (a must if you ask me :), cultural activities, explored different parts of the country from volcanoes, to beaches, to jungles to mountainous areas throughout not just as tourists, but to learn about the local issues and our program had an additional factor different than most language programs in CR–we had a peer group counterpart of 4-5 young Ticos/as that helped the students navigate their new academic and social environments. It became the most highly sought after program of its kind even though they had others going to Europe & Japan. The peer counterparts made for very interesting friendships and usual youthful drama that didn’t always make me smile (at least not while I was trying to explain to them that they needed to act responsibly), but that certainly kept me feeling young! 🙂 However, after the first 6 years, the accompanying university professors were not that thrilled to have to take 4-8 weeks out of their lives to be away from their families and living in CR–that part was difficult. After 10 successful years, a new director was chosen at the university and he was from Chile so he decided that it would be easier for him to take the students to Chile, visit his family there and that’s where the group goes now. There were some other factors involved such as the concern with the SJ area safety for the students, but the accompanying professor’s preference was a big factor. I loved watching those kids come in with all sorts of preconceived stereotypes and feelings of superiority as they reference Hispanics in South Carolina and watch them leave sobbing because they didn’t want to leave CR, the friends they had made and their heartfelt attachments to the CR families that hosted their stays and loved them. Not to mention that I’m very maternal and I was their “mom away from home” for 2 months during good times and more than one scary medical crisis. I cherish them all in my heart and still hear from some of them on occasion.
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