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De ja vu all over again… I also have used the Adventure Inn and also Tri-Color rental, and I highly recommend them both – they are very flexible with great customer service.
If you chat with the folks at Adventure, they’ll knock the internet price of a room down from $49 to $39 if you let them know you are paying your bill in cash – also check to see how many days the ‘week rate’ is. If you pay for the week (last time I was there it was for 5 nights or longer) you can stay cheaper than if you pay for four individual nights. They will also happily have a taxi waiting for you at the airport for $10. They also have no trouble with late check ins, since they know when you are arriving. I have stayed there for 2 nights in the first part of my trip, and then the last 2 nights (total of four) but paid for the 6 night week long and actually spent less on the week-long plan – and I kept my room key the whole time not worrying about acquiring another room on short notice.
One more thing, down the highway frontage road (westward from the Inn) about 400 meters there is a great grocery store, which I found perfect for the munchies for the hotel room stay. (And a sixpack of Imperial for 375 colones!!!! Gosh I miss Imperial…. sigh….)
Also, call Tri-color before your flight. Their internet booking system is kinda strange when you tell them you are arriving one day but want your rental the next day. When you chat with them (I love dealing with Johanna and/or Christian) and arrange for it, they will happily pick you up at the Adventure Inn, drive you to the Tri-color office, do your paperwork, and off you are from there (no taxi fees in the morning!). Just make sure you know how to get off the highway and back into the Tri-color street for your return.Good suggestions, all.
I have 5 round trip ticket stubs from last year all a few months apart and found the price averaged $621 from Phoenix or Las vegas or LA – round trip, non-stop or through Miami with one stop. I also avoid w/e travel and use T/W/Th arr/dep times. All of my flights were arranged by me and within 1-4 weeks of the trip. I also figured out the airlines are the way to book – I find the exact same flights for the same or slightly less money than the websites which are booking leftovers and do not let you see all of the flights available. I also feel that since I can book direct with the airline for the same price they have to be making more money and are mush happier giving out freebies…. my airmiles are progressing very well!
The only differences I found were that during the green season I hoped the prices would drop slightly… Instead, the quantity and variety of flights were reduced but the price remained the same. I personally think it’s better and I advise anyone who asks to GO TO CR DURING THE GREEN SEASON!!!! (The people are happier and there’s less tourists and lots less rushing around like (rich) cattle – besides, the rain is incredible and very unlike the rain in places like Seattle.)
The only ‘new’ thing I offer is that you ought to watch the arrival and departure times very carefully. If you arrive in CR at 8 pm and saved $50 on the ticket over arriving in the morning you will shell out at least $50 on a room that night plus taxi and food, etc. I find that I tend to arrange a flight week to arrive at 9 am on a Wed and then leave on the following Wed at 1 pm or so.
Don’t forget http://www.maxibodega.co.cr/ it’s a good one too.
Now Scott, that is BRILLIANT!!!!! I have been so worried over the conflicting info, biding my time, trying to be ever so tranquilo about it… But that idea is terrific. I would even suggest a trigger at $100,000 US would still be appropriate, and you are right, tons of cash, no effect to the Ticos, and hardly a problem for buyers. Now, how do you fix it with the Assemblea Legislateva?
Great info above, but only one small add-on. Cingular works the same way as T-Mobile – the costs are similarly expensive as well, but if you need it, it is seamless service, just like the locals.
I love this discussion. We are so spoiled with DOT standards in the USA is isn’t funny.
We travel as tourists in a foreign land, zip through canopies on UNREGULATED wires, surf, dive, do touristy things near crocodiles, eat food w/o health department oversight, etc. All of which is several hours away from the nearest CIMA or Clinica Biblica hospital…
And then we complain about the bridge when the commercial truck in front of you has just made it, we wonder if our little rental is going to as well.
Just follow (to the centimeter) EXACTLY the track of the SUCCESSFUL guy in front of you, and you PROBABLY will make it, too. LOLOLOL
(Unless the gross vehicle rating (LOL) of the structure has just been exceeded in its duty cycle by that car in front of you!)
TRANQUILLO!!!! PURA VIDA!!!
LOLOLOL!!!!!!!!! Sorry, but that one almost made me lose my Diet Coke through my nose!!!!
If you might be looking for any exemption due to the ‘greenness’ of any car – forget it!!! Costa Rica is the greenest place you’ll ever see, and yes, they signed onto the Kyoto Treaty. BUT, due to the import fees due on all cars (they make none of their own in-country) cars are kept forever, and a very large number of vehicles belch noxious fumes like you would not believe.
When you drive through the countryside and smell the beautiful smell of deisel (traffic speed is determined not by you, but by the speed of the old, overloaded, comercial truck at the front of the line, belching its way up the mountain), you will most likely wonder how they manage to deride the USA for not signing onto Kyoto, while they simultaneously allow 30 year old trucks to pollute like crazy, laboring up a mountainside road. I suppose the good news is that CO and CO2 is what the plants need, right? Plenty of food for ’em.
If you do take your Prius to CR, you may also encounter another problem. Whose gonna service it? Ticos are some of the most inventive, imaginitive, solution type folks you’ll find, but I wouldn’t want to throw a hybid at them and ask for a tune-up.
Now, with Toyota and Presidente Arias so chummy together, and chats about bringing in a Toyota factory and all, perhaps I am completely wrong. I would check with the Toyota dealers in San Jose and see if they can service you.
I just know that when I go to CR, I rent a Suzuki Alto, which is plenty zippy, and about as big and massive as a Prius, and I get about 45 mpg, which sure seems economical and green to me, and I have the sense that if I broke down outside of the big city, I could find some help.
All I am saying is that even if they have only ‘sold’ 1/2 of their land at the discounted price of $50,000 or so, so far, perhaps that small handful of folks have only taken in $25,000,000 gross in the last couple of years. And they brag about the first few projects which are now at least two years old…
Now, think about it. If you had taken in that kind of dough with the minimal outlay of capital to perform these con struction jobs (perhaps $2,000,000 + advertizing) don’t you think you could at least spend some chorizo cash and get some things completed?!?!?? Seems to me a chorizo sandwich ought to be easy to make with all that bread!!!
(Sorry, ‘chorizo’ in CR is not like Mexican sausage we eat in the United States of Mexico… In CR it means sausage, but it’s a term for bribery cash.)
You might want to grab a beer and sit down and read completely through the entire Paragon thread. BTW, when these guys call and leave me messages, they incorrectly pronounce Costa Rica as ‘cost-ah reekah’ instead of ‘coast-ah reekah’ and it drives me nuts!!!
Yes, but surely SOMEONE out of the legions of customers have finished the payment schedule. Let’s not forget, they have (purportedly) nearly sold out 9 or 10 projects at 90-110 lots each… That’s roughly 1,000 lots and 1,000 folio reals, right???? Hmm, at an average of $50,000 each, that’s about $50,000,000 buckaroos or about 2.5 TRILLION Colones… OOPS!!! That’s not right, they sold those parcels for more than $50k didn’t they? You know, for the cost of raw land in some of these areas which I persoanlly have seen at $1.50 per sq. meter (or less, which is about $6,000 per acre, BTW), they have made a handsome profit so far. I am sure the accountants and lawyers are busy… getting those folio reals ready to send out.
Edited on Feb 28, 2006 14:52
Hello? Hola?? Anyone here anymore??? Where’d everyone go???? With all the people who were Paragon customers, certainly ONE of them has their Folio Real, right????? Come on, it’s been over 2 weeks now.
You might also take a look at this
http://www.colegiotopografoscr.com/descargas.htm
That is way deep into the sites Scott suggests.
When you get there, look down the left column to LE-029.
That’s one of the basic building codes. If you keep searching on the same page, you’ll find the elctrical, mechanical, and plumbing codes, and even the lists of plan requirements for your architect.I have used the UBC and IBC for 20 years, so I share your desire to familiarize myself with the various codes and have found that they have (sometimes) more comon sense in them than the local BO where I live!
You’ll be able to interpret many of the codes even if your Espanol is a struggle, or at least know where to go find them.
I found the electrical codes interesting, for example. In it, they calculate the wattage requirements you wish to have and then that’s what you get from ICE – to me that’s exactly backwards. Where I come from we have to calculate what the buildings size will require, regardless of the actual real-life needs of the users, then buy the next size larger from the electric supplier. Good/bad? If you use the building differently or if your architect isn’t told by you what you want, you will be undersized – especially for your future expansion. (BTW, that strategy of expansion is the quickest way to get your plano approved – always start with “just a bodega,” then go back for “a little casa,” Never go in with a master plan and all the drawings for the whole enchilada or the approvals will take FOREVER. But when you get your infrastructure, get what you are going to need on the first go around.) But, on the otherhand, you only have to build what you need, as you are building.
The funniest thing about it to me is, that it doesn’t matter much when you see the connection of the service and meter to ICE in what resembles a birdhouse, or a direct splice along the highway into the overhead powerline. Especially in the rain!!! The sparks can be fun to watch!!!
Scott,
I noticed that it has been a while since you posted this very helpful posting about the only really important info on a plano document, the Folio Real number. (BTW, (warning, shameless plug coming up) I loved the book called “How to Buy Land In CR W/O Losing Your Camisa.” In it, there are step by step instructions on where to find this info and how to deal with that information.)
I am sure enough time has passed for folks to have seen it and perhaps investigated their own purchaser documents, but the curiousity is driving me crazy!!!!
Any progress?
