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[quote=”CRResourceGuide”]Where do you go around Costa Rica Bill – San Jose to Jaco & back??? Sure there are some easy routes but then you’re not really EXPLORING Costa Rica!
I don’t know WHERE you’ve seen many “road signs” here – let alone a DECENT map to navigate you around???
For those not familiar with CR – there aren’t a lot of street signs & when we do, it’s OFTEN SUDDENLY – AT the exit (like the one taking you from Escazu to the airport – oh, & it’s like 16″ wide & 4″ tall with NO lights around it) – heck – we don’t even have ADDRESSES!![/quote]
I am not quite sure how to say this without letting the cat out of the bag, but people (including me) have been exploring Costa Rica’s back roads for many years, long before there was a GPS system available. I, and they, did it using whatever maps were available and the benefit of stopping and asking the friendly people of CR for directions and local knowledge.
For the benefit of “CRResourceGuide”, yes there are many road signs on the back roads of CR. If you could find the time to stop meditating for a bit, get out of Escazu and away from your “House of Connections”, and quit looking for “street signs and addresses” you will obviously be surprised to see how many government-installed directional signs there are all over the countryside on the back roads offering more than sufficient directions to the next town and towns beyond, as well as those towns that are to the left and right.
Just so you will recognize them, they are rectangular white signs with black letters and numbers (km distance). Are the distances always correct, NO, but I would be surprised if they were. More often than not the stated distance is “optimistic”, but it is close enough.
And no, I don’t drive between San Jose and Jaco. I haven’t been to Jaco in many years, but I have been coming to CR since before the “Amistad Bridge” was constructed and you had to take the ferry to the Nicoya Peninsula, and before the road from Nicoya to Samara to Carrillo was even paved. So I have been exploring for a bit of time.
My car is 5 years old and has almost 80,000km on it and about the only time we use it is either to go to/from the Liberia airport and to go exploring. I can’t say that we’ve been to all parts of the country, but we have extensively explored Guanacaste, Puntarenas all the way down to Golfito, and the area all between SJO and Arenal. Our local, everyday vehicle is a 4-seat diesel UTV by ClubCar, and we use that for exploring as well. It is less than 2 years old and has 340 hours on it and is ready for its 3rd set of tires. At 40kph (top end) or slower on the area’s rough roads it is a great exploring vehicle up and down the Nicoya Peninsula and as far inland as Nicoya, Hojancha, Mansion, Nosara, etc., and all the little towns in between.
I offer two pieces of advice to anyone visiting CR:
1. get (or rent) a GPS if you think that will make you more comfortable – especially if you are planning to drive in and around San Jose. If you are flying into SJO and leaving straight from the airport it is not as critical a piece of equipment.
2. be wary of taking advice about “exploring” from a self proclaimed “resource” guide whose own website describes her rental home as being [i]“in the heart of all the gringo conveniences, home to many Ambassadors & also known as the “Beverly Hills of Costa Rica” – in San Rafael de ESCAZU”. [/i]Now that is REALLY EXPLORING!!!any of the hastily constructed rodeo areas “will seat” several hundred people, and the larger ones could easily “seat” 750 or so – – – the question then becomes if you actually had that many people “sitting”, would it “hold” them.
The question then becomes lighting, banos, Cruz Rofa, stretchers, etc.
I what about the futbol stadium in Liberia?
I have also heard of a venue just outside of Tamarindo that has large horse shows and concerts – don’t know the capacity. I’m not sure but it may be at Hacienda Pinilla, or near by. Some friends of mine went to a concert, horse show and BBQ there.
[quote=”CRResourceGuide”]I’ve had guests do both – bring a Garmin GPS they brought from the states & I’d say that they were accurate LESS than 60% of the time. The NavSat IS more $$ but ain’t your vacation/ease/life/YOU worth a few $$s more to not have all that frustration/wasted gas/potential situations, etc.?? Driving/navigating around CR is tough enough!!![/quote]
Huh?
Anyone with any sense of direction should be able to navigate Costa Rica with a map! GPS is, in the context of time, a very recent utility and as the start up screen on most GPS road units (and all seafaring units) states “sould not be used in place of tradition navigational tools and skills” – i.e., a map (in a car) and celestrial or dead reckoning (in a boat).
The masses depend far too much on technology that most do not know how to use and even fewer understand how unreliable it can be. Just get a good road map, learn how to use it, forget about the computer voice telling you to “turn left in 300 meters” and go exploring!
If you want to read a facinating book on navigation, try “Longitude” by Dana Sobal
http://www.curledup.com/longitud.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/0140258795Take an hour or so to get into it, then let me know if you can put it down!
And don’t get lost depending on GPS, LORAN, RDF or directions from a local – read your map and read the road signs, they are surprisingly good in Costa Rica!
crbHi David, I thank you once again for your insight. I’ll be sure to read the fine print, but my situation may be different. I still have property in the US that is our “official address” for legal matters, social security, medicare, etc., and I buy the “flight insurance” only for the round trip portion of the flights that originate in the US, and I buy it at the same time as I book the tickets. Hopefully that makes it different from your experience, but as I said, I will (as always) take your sage advice and read the small print!
BTW, what happened to the plans for the MIXER!
crb[quote=”sueandchris”] but INS doesn’t cover us when we are back in the States. [/quote]
I understand that there is a INS policy for both “Regional” (Latin America), and “International” (worldwide). Of course they both still have the pre-existing exclusions.
Although we are full time residents here in process (entramite) for temporary residency as pensionados, I have initiated a new travel policy:
1. we are generally heading to either Tampa or Atlanta so we travel on JetBlue to Orlando, and this is “key” to the overall plan because the cost is so low.
2. if necessary (see #6 below) I start by purchasing a one way ticket from SJO to the States.
3. then I buy a round trip ticket on the dates we want to return to CR, and a date several months forward for about the time we think we may want to go back to see the grandkids in the States. Generally, the price for the flight that far in the future is pretty cheap on JetBlue. (note: this plan also takes the risk out of the CR immigration saying you have no “return ticket”.)
4. And, here is the “sizzle” – at the time I buy the round trip ticket I also buy “trip insurance” for about $18-$20, covering the dates between my return to CR and the “projected return date” to the US. Included in the trip insurance has been $75,000 emergency medical treatment while in CR, [u]AND[/u][b][/b] emergency medical evacuation insurance to the hospital of my choice in the US.
5. So, for the $18-$20 cost of the flight insurance plus the cost of the return portion of the air ticket to Orlando (generally about $125 SJO to Orlando) I get a 3-4 month “insurance package” including medical insurance PLUS the medical evacuation insurance.
6. The “insurance package” including emergency & evacuation coverage calculates to a cost of about $5-$6/month if I use the return trip to Orlando as scheduled, or $15-$20/month if I pay a change fee to change the date for the flight back to Orlando, and about $30-$40/month if I just forget that return ticket and book a new flight.
In short, it is the cheapest health insurance I have had in a long, long time! And before all of the naysayers suggest that “flight insurance” never pays off – yes, I did have to use it and yes they paid with no hassle at all….and much less papework than my old health insurance or my current Medicare Advantage policy.
By the way, for the past year Medicare Advantage covers policy holders while out of the US for up to 60 days, and something I just got from them says that it now offers “international coverage”. I haven’t fully read that yet to determine what it covers and for how long, but the front page says it is a “new” coverage.
I hope this offers you some ideas on both insurance and a method to increase insurance coverage for those visiting this beautiful country.
Hi David –
I have seen a couple of your recent posts referencing the crackdown on perpetual tourists (“tightening the noose”). Although we are “en tramite” and presumably don’t have to worry about it, I have many friends that are PT and thus far, none have had any problems coming and going. Maybe they are lucky, but not one has reported any incident with immigration at either SJO or LIR. Is that where the “heat is on” or is it somewhere else?[quote=”jafranz”]Does anyone know the procedure and cost for obtaining new passport pages here in CR ?[/quote]
This is from my post on 18 Mar 2010:
[i]Thanks for the advice and especially the phone number (2220-3939). I called and asked if new passport pages were available at the embassy and the young lady said “certainly, Monday through Friday, 8:30AM – 11:30AM, and 2:00PM to 4:00PM on Monday afternoons.” She also said that there is no charge for this service.
So, I arrived at the embassy this morning at 9:45AM, and at 10:15AM (30 minutes later) I was back in my car with about 20 new pages bound into my passport after filling out one simple form, being called to “window #2”, visiting briefly with the immigration agent, being asked to wait 20 minutes (it actually only took 14 minutes before they paged me), I went back to window #2 and I was handed my passport with the new pages and I was gone!
It was so easy, and everyone I dealt with was extremely pleasant and helpful.[/i]
Hope it is helpful.
[quote=”maravilla”]their attorneys’ fees may be less than that, but if you add in the $700 per couple for the airfare to deport you, the $200 per person for filing the application, plus all the other stuff, you would be hardpressed to get your cedula for less than $3000.[/quote]
I don’t know what expenses are left, but I did all of the application process myself, including all of the submittals to the Secretaries of State (Texas & Florida) for the apostile & authentication process (what a joke!), the submittal to the CR consular’s office (Washington DC), had all of the papers Fed Ex’d back to CR, submitted everything to immigration in SJO, and got my wife and my expediante document (en tramite) on the same day I submitted everything to immigration!
Thus far, the total costs is less than $350.00.
I just helped my neighbor go through the same procees, except they had to get apostiles from 4 states, and their costs is under $500.00 so far.
The process sounds intimidating and costly, but if you are willing to take the time and do it yourself you can save the costs of an attorney. For my wife and my application, I have about 12-15 hours invested in the entire process, excluding the drive to SJO for the submittal of everything to immigration!
I don’t know how else to say how easy it is…..we went there at 7:30 in the morning with a taxi driver, walked about 50 meters to get the blood test and “doctors exam”, then went to cosevi and found our way through to the second floor, got the paperwork, went to the BNCR next door & paid fees (that was the longest line, about 20 minutes) back to cosevi for the pictures and issuance of licences. That’s it – of course both licences have our name misspelled, but what is to worry. Total tip to driver, $20 and actually we could have done it without him.
Please do not pay an attorney for this service, and do it before the 90 day expiration of your tourist visa, even if you are “en tramite”!All I can add is that in Samara there is no giant shopping mall for my wife to shop at on a regular basis; therefore, we live more inexpensively than we did in the States!
[quote=”sprite”]Does anyone know anything about alleged close involvement between Israel and Costa Rica regarding Israel’s supplying military hardware and training to Costa Rica? I understand that Costa Rica has no armed forces but it keeps some heavier arms for certain police. Police armed with automatic weapons are currently stationed on the Nicaragua border.
Might the recent visit of the US Navy with the suspicious mission of medical assistance be related to the border activity (ie; unloading of material and/or personel) The only Central American country which dose not have some sort of arms buying relationship with Israel is Nicaragua and we are now seeing reports of possible Mossad (Israeli) involvement in this odd border dispute allegedly having to do with river dredging. River dredging? Really?[/quote]
Once again, Sprite The Conspiritorial Heathen has been missing too much sleep,and ingesting too much of whatever! How he manages to dream up these conspiracies is beyond any form of rational thought.
The U.S. Navy’s visit connected Mossad (Israeli) involvement connected to to “automatic weapons” connected to the dispute over river dredging?
Really Sprite, wherever you are and whatever you are smoking, you need to take a breath and breathe in the real world. Here in CR there are actual pictures and news film of the dredging and defororestation, and what the Nics are trying to do is really quite easy for a logical mind to undersatnd and comprehend. Maybe you haven’t seen the pictures or newsclips on Mars or wherever you are, but it did really happen and is probably still ongoing!
And even the Fuerza Policia has, and has had “automatic weapons” for quite some time. Before long, you’ll be trying to tell us that Hugo & George W. are secret partners in an international gerbil smuggling ring!
You really come up with some weird stuff dude. Instead of trying to blow it on us, with an imagination like yours, you need to wite a book – – I would buy it and I predict it would be a best seller!
Have you ever looked into the UFO theories?
Maybe we should invite them back and ask them to just send a few patrol boats up the Rio San Juan del Norte ….. just on “drug patrol”. It may be interesting to see what the Nicaraguans do if that were to occur! Obviously the “Satan”istas are not going to worry about what the OAS says!
[quote=”DavidCMurray Before this gets out of hand . . . Jim, have you ever actually barbecued an ostrich before? I don’t want a bunch of naked old farts cluttering up my yard waiting for something you can’t deliver. There’s a knack to it, you know. And do you even have a reliable source of fermented betel nut leaves?[/quote]
Jim – don’t worry about the betel nut leaves. http://www.drugs.com/npc/betel-nut.html
We’ve been through this before with David. I think to him it is an aphrodisiac, and as far as the ostrich goes, if you can cook chicken you can cook an ostrich – – you just need a bigger grill and more wood (and waggoner41 will bring that from his finca)!Actually, grilling David’s pet ostrich will make it much easier – an ostrich feeds a lot more people!
