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I feel very safe in San Ramon; have never once perceived any danger, even when I am walking through the central park. I see a lot of cops on bikes in San Ramon, and there always seems to be police just roaming around. I hear it’s quite a different story at night, however. One taxi driver told me the park is not safe because the drug dealers come out, but I don’t go out at night so I’ve never experienced anything but daytime activity. If I am carrying large sums of cash, I always wear a money belt and usually wear pants or shorts with all kinds of velcroed pockets, alleviating the necessity of carrying a handbag.
On my last visit to San Ramon, I walked around after dark till about 9 PM. The streets were active and people of every age group seemed to be present. I still felt no sense of danger but, again, I am not 100% sure of my senses here, especially in a foreign culture and country with a much higher level of poverty than what I am used to seeing. I don;t believe ANY town or city is safe enough after most of the businesses close down. At that time, there aren’t too many good reasons to be out and about and I would be highly suspicious of those that are. Why visit a park at midnight?
I have been given warnings from other north americans about driving after dark. I assume that is because of the bad roads, but there could be other reasons. I drove to the airport from San Ramon before sunrise. No road lights anywhere, but the Panamericana is pretty decent even with no lighting.
If I stay away from airports, big cities, night time driving in these areas and strolling in parks after 9 PM, I don’t see any safety problem. And if I mUST do any of the above, a few precautions and extreme alertness should be enough.i’ve never rented a car, but was told that it didn’t matter what kind of car you rented, the ladrones would know it was a rental by the plates. is this true?
I saw a show on TV once about Pickpockets and other scams in Las Vegas.
It told the story about how pickpockets will put up a small sign telling tourist to “Be Carefull, Pickpockets are in the area”
All the tourist would then reach down and touch their wallet, hidden money etc while the pickpockets watched to see where it was hidden.Is it ok to carry a photocopy of your drivers license also. We are heading to Costa Rica tomorrow night.
Are these robberies happening anytime or is it mostly at night? We will have four people in the vehicle. That should help us w/ watching our luggage.
Edited on May 23, 2007 11:14
You really need a copy of your passport, the driver’s license doesn’t tell anyone when you entered the country in case you get stopped by the Police for some reason .
Robberies happen anytime. I’ve walked around San Jose at night many times and nothing ever happned to me , and I have Gringo written allover my face . Our hired help, had his gym shoes stolen in the day time, right by La U Latina in San Pedro. My mother had something spilled on her in San Jose during the day as well, someone then yanked her chain, but it fell to the ground. My friend John was also jumped in San Pedro after pulling cash out of the ATM, he is 6’3″ , not easy to pull down , but the kids ran off , nothing serious happened to any of them, it was basically grab what you can in a second and run.
I think as long as you don’t look like easy bait , you should be fine . Some tips that may help you : Don’t look to the ground when you walk by people, look at them in the eyes, don’t look like your lost, act like you are aware of your surroundings, tell any strangers your expecting your Tico cousin or guide shortly, if they offer you assistance, etc. etc . Taxi drivers are really helpful, you get in any trouble , give one a $20 , they will have all their cabbie friends on your side in minutes , way faster than any police will ever show up. Plus Ticos no not to mess with cabbies unless you are prepared for a showdown.
I don’t trust many cab drivers in C.R. I have the cell phone number of one that drives for the company with the newer orange cabs that service the airport that I always use when I can.
Those old red cabs in San Jose seem to me to be more trouble. When I first started going to C.R. one of the drivers of one of those old beat up red cabs tried to take me to his buddies (I think) to rob me one night. After a phone call that I couldn’t understand but sounded fishy he went off the main road down into a scary part of town and then down a dark alley. I’m a pretty big guy but I was pretty scared by the time he turned into the alley so I took hold of his neck and made him back up and take me to the hotel. I would NEVER ride in one of those old red beat up cabs again.Well I am back home and I can look back upon this as an adventure I would not want to repeat.
As far as I have been told, the licence plates in CR do not identify you as a tourist. A number of you have asked about times of day etc. This happened to me at about 1:30 p.m. height of the afternoon in a very busy area.
One more tip, which I will adopt for my new Credit Cards is, instead of signing the back as is usual, I will print ” ask for photo ID” in English and Spanish. This way it will be dam near impossible to use the cards, if something like this ever happens again.
Edited on May 24, 2007 07:29
TARGET CARS: Daihatsu Terios
I have rented one of these every time we have been in Costa Rica and have had not trouble. But then, we do not spend much time in the Central Valley and never leave valuables in the car.
We did have one of those peculiar moments when we got up for breakfast at the Linda Vista Resort near Arenal (nice place). The parking lot which had been empty the previous evening was completely filled with Daihatsu Terios and Rav 4’s as well as other look alikes. It looked like a rental car lot or afficiandos gathering!
While driving around the country we saw a LOT of these cars and many seemed to be being driven by Ticos. I suspect any rental is a Red-flag. Most are clean, all have luggage racks, no hub caps (they get stolen or pop off on CR roads). Models above these are relatively expensive making them a “red flag” as well. AND, no matter how long you have been driving there i am sure a Tico can tell a tourista by their driving style.
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