[juliab]

If you want to stay right in the town center, you have 3 options:
Hotel Aeromundo, B&B Grecia and Healthy Day Inn and Spa

If you prefer to stay away from the city noise, here are your options:

Mango Valley ($35 and up) http://www.mangovalley.com

Dave’s Guest House ($35) http://www.welovecostarica.com/public/1421.cfm

Villas Escondidas ($45 and up) http://www.villasescondidas.com

Posada Mimosa ($60 and up) http://www.mimosa.co.cr

La Terraza ($90 and up) http://www.laterrazab-b.com

Have a great trip! Grecia is beautiful this time of year.

[juliab]

Some monopolies are better than others;-)
For example, paying $6 for cell and $7 for a landline is great. The service is ok, too.
On the other hand we pay twice more than we used to pay in Canada for electricity and the price is growing by the month. Interestingly enough, ICE had a huge surplus last year, coincidence?

[juliab]

Agreed, it’s still better than dial up (slightly better), but it’s very annoying. BTW, I’m with Puro, too. I was wondering if we have this problem just in Grecia or it’s the whole country (as they are saying).
I also heard that it’s specifically Grecia that got affected, so I don’t know who believe to.

[juliab]

Exactly! The costs did come down, both materials AND labour now, so it doesn’t make much sense why the tazacion( estimated value) came so high. Scott, if you remember, what was the tazacion for your mountain home?

P.S> yes, it’s a very small project, plus we take care of all the materials (chasing them, choosing, paying, bringing). That’s why it’s slightly cheaper in our case.

[juliab]

Here is another opinion.
I personally like Azul a lot. I’ve been there several times and it was beautiful each and every time. Hopefully they’ll build that water treatment plant soon. That should make Azul even more attractive: it is the closest beach to San Jose after all.
Last time we went to the Guacalillo (about a month ago) we noticed that the municipality has been planting a lot of young palms along the beach. The road was better, too. It’s still gravel, but it was in great shape. The beach is covered with plastic, that’s true, just like any other beach in the world that’s not cleaned every day. It’s just a matter of effort (read money).
BTW, I never saw any crocs there.. where should I be looking for them at this beach?

Our personal favorite for boogy boarding is playa Blanca (in Punta Leona). We find the waves to be just perfect for that. Snorkeling can be great sometimes: once we saw a bunch of turtles. FYI: the waves are probably too small for surfing, we saw surfers only once and they weren’t doing that great. If you face the ocean, the best place for boogying is to the right.

[juliab]

Thank you Stan. I’m planning to go to Golfito next month to do some purchases. I’m planning to use the “buy the cheapest” path. I wouldn’t mind to replace everything anyway in 2-4 years.

[juliab]

Already tried craiglist several times. There are great deals in Can or US, but everything is overpriced in CR. Did you ever buy in Golfito? Was your experience that bad? Please share.

[juliab]

dehaaij, Could you, please clarify how exactly you purchase appliances in Golfito? Is it true that you save about 30-40% after the delivery expenses? That’s the number I’ve been hearing, but not sure if it’s true or not.

The first 500 (1k with the spouse) are tax-free, on the rest you have to pay regular taxes (13% I think). Did I get it right?

You’ve purchases so many times there, what do you think is the best time to go there? I heard that Nov-Dec (aguinaldo time) prices are the lowest. Is that true?

If possible, could you, please post links to their stores? I really want to do my homework before heading there. It’s quite a drive for us.

Also, is there a hotel(B&B) that you can recommend?

Any other advise is greatly appreciated!

[juliab]

Pls see below.

Edited on Aug 13, 2008 07:29

[juliab]

Thank you!
I was looking all over their website trying to find anything about “300 sq mts”. Could you, please confirm this link:
http://www.setena.go.cr/pp_tramites.html
It dosn’t work for me. It sounds exactly what I was looking for.

Actually the guy from the municipality was asking only for SETENA approval and planos. The project isn’t a competely new one. We’re modifying the existing property. The modifications are within the borders of the pre-existing construction.
May be that approval is all they want, but it might be only a beginning. “Uso de suelos” isn’t changing (I might be wrong..), but the type of activity is. The new activity (a tiny hotel) will have significantly smaller impact on the environment, so I don’t even understand why we’d need the SETENA approval. Does that make any sense at all?

Edited on Jul 30, 2008 09:36

[juliab]

Scott, in your book you mentioned a company somewhere in the Central Valley that prefabricates log houses. We’re looking to buy a small “house” that will be a sauna/steam room. The prices you mentioned were increadible. I know they are outdated because I have an older edition of your book. What’s interesting is that the price was much cheaper than for the block construction. Do you know if that company is still in business and if yes, do you have their contact info?

[juliab]

We found the cheapest way to get the wood you require is to cut it in one of the local sawmills. For example, you won’t be able to find 2*4 in a store. They use 2*3 here. Same thing goes for 2*10 (in fact anything more than 2*6). Just to give you an idea of prices if you haven’t shopped around yet. Typical biga (roof support 2*6 comes in 4 varras) costs more than 10 mil, aka $20. If you cut it in a sawmill you should be able to get the same for just under 5 mil ($10). I used cypress wood as an example above. BTW, the prices of wood are constantly increasing, so if someone gives you a quote today, don’t expect to find the same prices in 2 weeks. I believe that prices are cheaper during the rain season, at least we’ve seen prices increasing by 15% in the last 2 months, though it’s possible that this is true only for our area (Grecia).

[juliab]

What type of dogs those are? I’m looking for a big “guard” dog (or may be 2).

[juliab]

I always find the best price on Orbitz (http://www.orbitz.com/). If you want the best deal, do the search every day for a week or 2 several times a day and you’ll catch that deal. For example, I’m flying from Seattle and each time I’m able to fly for under $500 (round trip). Have to admit that my schedule is very flexible:-) Good luck!

[juliab]

Posted this question as a different thread as this one is not showing up in the “recent” for some reason.
————-

dkt2u,

We plan to go to Bocas next week, so I was hoping to see the report of your trip, but the link (http://www.dktreadway.com/Trip%20Report.htm) doesn’t seem to work. Could you, please re-check it?

The info I could find on Internet info about where the bus to Panama departs from and when is contradicting, so I’d really appreciate if you could provide the correct info. We’ll be leaving from San Jose.

Thank you,
Julia

P.S. this is the best article I found so far:
By Bus:
There are two buses, one from Limon (departs with intervals of 2 hours) that ends at the border (Sixaola). The other, from San José that cross the border and ends at Changuinola. This bus (Transporte Bocatoreño) departs from the same terminal as Panaline, in San Jose, at 10:00 am daily.
To reach Bocas there are also two ways, through Almirante or through Finca 63.
To go to Almirante from Sixaola you can take a taxi ($15) or a bus ($1), or taxi ($5) to the Changuinola bus terminal, and here a bus to Almirante ($1 – 45 minutes).
At Almirante take a marine taxi ($3 – 30 minutes) to Bocas.
To go to Finca 63 (10 minutes away from Changuinola) you can take a bus ($0.50) or a taxi ($1). At Finca 63, take a marine taxi (Bocas Marine Tours $ 5 – 45 minutes) to Bocas.
To return to San Jose by bus, Transporte Bocatoreño departs every day at 10:00 am from the buses terminal in Changuinola.

Edited on Mar 25, 2007 09:25

[Author]

Posts