[mr.di]

Hi,
If you are in or near Playa del Coco, we used a custom furniture builder this summer for a TV cabinet, an armour and closet doors. his name is Louis. Have scott send me an email and in the mean time i will search out his number.
joe

Edited on Oct 09, 2009 21:13

[mr.di]

I say travel further north (up the coast) to coco, ocotal, hermosa, or panama. we bought in coco and love the quietness, friendliness, safe and most of all the convinience – 25 min form Liberia airport, three new supermarkets, development is there, all around, but it still has the small town appeal. I hope it does stay this way for as long as possible. each year i hear new deveopments going up. again, you do need to see for yourself. it doesn’t have the white sand beach that “north americans” search for. its golden brown sand may be a blessing in desquise and keep most away.
joe

[mr.di]

If you don’t mind the “dark sand” –we have enjoyed Playa del Coco for the past four years with never any worries of strong rip tide or large waves. we have two boys who love the water and now are 14 and 9. I always like to be “further out” then the boys especially at the beaches around Flamingo due to the larger tides. be aware and all should be safe. as mentioned by others, during the day all is well, at night, stay to the main streets and you will also see little of the other stuff. we have a condo in the las palmas complex and feel very safe there even at night when we go for a late night stroll. down town Coco (like many other towns) gets pretty busy after 8pm and lots of night life –but there are many areas here in toronto, that i would not venture at any time of day. we go in to town for dinner and a walk but are back to the complex by 8ish. we have never experience any trouble or been bothered by anyone out and about. again blend in and be aware of your surrondings and you will have a great time in CR.

[mr.di]

Hi terri,
here the info:
Verónica Sancho R.
Reservations
TOYOTA Rent a Car -Costa Rica-
Tel. (506) 2258-5797, ext 133 · Fax. (506) 2222-7875
From USA & CANADA: 1-800-894-6709
http://www.toyotarent.com
veronica is the one who has replied to my latest request for this summer’s rental –as i have said i have rented from them on several occassions and always hasstle free.
take care,
joe

ps. i forgot –with 5 weeks you will get a cheaper monthly charge (it’s what we got last year when we were there for 5 wks) and then the extra week’s charge.
–ask for it to make certain.

Edited on Apr 26, 2009 17:02

[mr.di]

IhelpIt
Hello. I am also Canadian (Toronto) and we love visiting CR. for now –our intentions are early retirement and then make CR our home away from home. We were all a bit nervous on our first trip –truly not knowing what to expect as we visited friends who had build a house here.
We have been coming down since Christmas 2005 –our first trip down here and we all fell in love with the area, the country, the people, scenery, wildlife, culture and everything else –especially the food. We bought a condo that week in Coco. Coco, simply because you fly in to Liberia and in 20 min you are on the beach. This is what we loved most. We have returned every summer (July-august) and at Christmas (I teach so it is the only time I can get away –for now). We love July because of the greenery. As for rain –we have gotten quite good at “reading” the ocean breeze. At about 12-1 pm the breeze picks up–we get our things together and leave the beach and head to the restaurant–sometimes run to the restaurant if we hesitated a tad. lol. By the time we have a delicious lunch, the rain has stopped. The kids head to the internet cafe, the wife goes back to the beach and I head off for a little siesta. This is the pura vida. The last two weeks of July and sometimes into early august there is a short “dry spell” and you enjoy several days with no rain. This past summer, out of the 5 weeks we were there, only three days had very heavy downpours that “kept us in”. The rest of the days, we were at the beach or on day trips. We will be there from July – august this year. We have friends there and have become close with a Costa Rican family. My two boys have made friends with their son and his cousins and enjoy interacting and playing with them. We have friends that rent their place too. I will be more than happy to share photos and more of our experience with you. You may ask Scott for my email and I will be more than happy to answer your questions for the “vacation trip”. I will let the more experience “residents” of the site who actually live and/or make a living in CR to answer the work related questions.
But do realize, as many have mentioned on this site, that the richness of CR extends to the “weather” too. You can choose beaches galore, or higher elevations, for that perfect temperature, you seek.
Hope this helps.
Joe

[mr.di]

Hello all,
We have always flown in to Liberia and used Toyota rentals on our last 6 trips–always prompt pick-up and drop-off at airport and car ready to go at their off-site office(apprx 500yrds from airport). staff speaks english and prices are fair for new to one-year-old toyota vehicles –to date all well maintained and nearly new vehicles, (including Daihatzus Bego –smaller but cheaper than a RAV4). Staff even helps load your vehicle and will allow drop-off at airport on departure at no extra charge. we are offered 15% off (10 for returning customer and 5 for reserve through email/on line) all they required to date was our flight number. I have just received my quote/confirmation for our summer trip.
hope this helps.
joe

[mr.di]

Shawn… I suggest you keep your US number/plan for now and the old cell phone, it should go through. our plan (in toronto, ON) is with rogers, and the past few times we have come down, nothing has had to be changed –I was told that all you need is to have a quad-band phone and allow “roaming” –the phone automatically picks up the associate provider and forwards any calls made directly to the cell –where ever you are. keep in mind you will be paying a premium for air time. yes, even when others call you or you check your messages. I suggest using emails at any internet caffe’, and/or paycards as the cheaper way to communicate. Don’t forget, novelty items also attract a lot of attention -not always positive. just a suggestion.
joe

[mr.di]

Coco41,
what area are you interested in?
we have a 2bd/2bath condo in coco (playa del coco, guanacaste ) that may be available soon and i may be able to assist you in that range.
Scott can provide you with my email and i can share the details if you are interested.
We live in toronto, and will be visiting coco during the Christmas break.
joe

Edited on Oct 18, 2008 21:20

[mr.di]

We have travelled to cr’s guanacaste area (playa del coco to be exact) four times now and continue to rent only from toyota –new vehicles and fair price. On our first trip i rented from economy and also had no problem. but toyota is closer to the airport, great service and friendly staff –pick up at the airport and vehicle waiting at the compound). I have rented a terios (summer 06), a prado (christmas 06)and the rav4 (this summer). the rav4 seemed to go where ever i pointed it to –trips to flamingo area along the monkey trail, trip to arenal and the vadano carverns), but for room, comfort and off-road ablility the prado (8 passenger, lots of room, hill climb/decend and all wheel drive, higher ride hight, and a turbo diesel automatic, seemed that we could really go off the beaten path –and i did venture to some areas where only service vehicles seemed to have visited. The prado is the new toyota land cruiser and is also marketed in canada and north america as the larger lexus SUV. but as mentioned earlier –all rentals remind you that the cars are for “on-road” travel only. we hope to visit again soon and again it will be from toyota that i will rent.
enjoy your trip.
joe

[mr.di]

Hello,
my wife bought perscription glasses on our last visit, ready in 3 days, wonderful service and a franction of the price she paid for her “older ones” here in canada. If i recall –she paid close to $700 in canada, and in cr she paid less than $200 for designer/name brand frames and the lenses. the store was an optical chain –don’t recall the exact name but it was in one of the new strip mall in liberia.
hope this helps you.
we are heading down for christmas and guess what? we are bringing my mother down with her new perscription in hand.
merry christmas to you scott and all the vip members.
joe D.

[mr.di]

hello ticachica,
we are also from TO and “still living here in good old TO”. we are going down in july to spend some time at the property we purchased earlier this year. my father in-law will be flying down next week for two week stay. see the article i posted a while back later on in the forums on properties in guanacaste by grupo mapache –i believe it is forum number 303. hope it helps you. good luck and let me know if you need more info.
mr.di

[mr.di]

Hello to all,
We have recently purchased a property in coco’s development (grupo mapache). Our friends have already bought and are living there periodically. They referred us to margarita arroyo (she is in charge of the sales) and she not only answered all our questioned but presented various possibilities. My wife and I both had this sense of what if? initially –but this is only normal. Seeing the work and other projects on the go we felt more and more comfortable with the idea of purchasing. We used our friend’s lawyer too. We met and felt comfortable with him. We are in contact with the lawyer regularly as he oversaw the close and transition of property.
The close has taken longer than we expected and it made me wonder at times what was happening. But while there and as we have learned in this process things move at a different pace there. I guess this is why we seem to be attracted to this beautiful land, and pace of life! 🙂
After viewing finished and unfinished units we settled on a resale one that was fully furnished. We met the owners of the neighbouring unit, also Canadian, and talked with them at length. Hearing their story of the headaches of furnishing and supervising the installations of various appliances -furniture not ready when it was promised, the number of visits during construction etc. only solidified our decision to buy a finished unit that was fully furnished. Yes it did cost a few bucks more but in the long run it may save numerous headaches. If you are retired and can afford to be down there for an unspecified time then you may save quite a bit by furnishing it yourself and overseeing everything yourself. But if you are there for a specified timeframe and hope to get things done well you are setting yourself up.
We videotaped the unit while margarita was there and also again later on our own. We are presently trying to get them to rent the unit but as it has been said in other discussions above things are very slow. E-mails responses seem to take forever. Inexperience, or laidback culture?? I don’t know perhaps a bit of both. It’s a family run business so things seem to be handled all inhouse and they are learning on the job.
We are realizing that it is much more like a laid-back European style than our North American pace. Hence the bit about Eric’s experience of leaving the key under the flower pot, the area is safe and patrolled in the evening. They seem too trusting according to our standards but it’s not downtown Toronto or Chicago. But now I’m concerned about the lack of pre check-in and out inspections that Eric mentions. we may not proceed with the rental option.
We are going back in July and looking forward to it.
Our friends check on the place for us and this makes us feel much more comfortable with the whole idea of owning the property at this time. Until we also retire, we will need to depend on them to keep us up to date for now.

Joe

Edited on Aug 02, 2006 23:56

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