Roostmonkey Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I'm taking my family there this friday for a week. Luckily we arent near the recent earthquake so passage shouldnt be a problem.It would be nice to hear some first hand recomendations for must see/do places.Ive done alot of research and know of all the turisty sp. spots but I prefer to stay off the beaten path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Been there. You must take your family fishing. Nothing like seeing my wife catch a 9 foot sail fish! Do a zip line canopy tour also. We are going back this year. We'll do the volcano tour, maybe check out a nice beach but will spend post of the time fishing from http://www.crocodilebay.com/ Hope ya'll have a great time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZZZeee Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I hear it's an excellent place for retirement. Beautiful and cheap... everything!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roostmonkey Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Fishing is on top of my list. I plan on going out of Quepos but havent picked an outfitter yet. Also, plan on some scuba diving with my son's,zip line sounds pretty sweet too. We have a beach house in between Quepos and Jaco on the Pacific side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismopick Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I lived there in 2001, and went back in 2003 for a time. It's absolute paradise. Places to go: Manuel Antonio National Park - you can chill on the beach w/ monkeys. Dominical - Surf beach, not very crowded. Quepos - Cool town. Jaco - Surf town - overrated. Downtown San Jose - Lots of tourist shops / restaurants. Volcan Poas - Very cool volcano, and right where the earthquake was. Volcan Arenal - Active volcano, you can usually see lava at night. Limon - Caribbean Coast - aka Jamaica. Awesome food & beaches - hot as hell. Tortuguero - Swamp / jungle guides. Hard to get out there. Playas del Coco - Awesome tourist town up by Nicaragua. Flamingo - Tamarindo - Panama - Linda - Nosara - Samara - All world class beaches. YOU MUST CHECK THEM OUT. Liberia - Town at the crossroads of the northwest coast. Cool place to chill. Anyway, that's just to get started. If you want more info than that, let me know. Make sure you keep your passports on you at all times. The authorities love North Americans, but sometimes like to "check you out". Change most of your dollars to Colones - everything is cheaper in Colones ... and you'll get "took" if you pay in dollars. Take cameras and batteries!!!! Those are double the cost down there. Lots of car rental places... but the roads suck, and they are crazy drivers, so drive defensively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roostmonkey Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Thanks Nismo, thats the info I was looking for. Man, I cant wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon 74 260Z Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I lived there for a bit about a decade ago... I agree with the suggestions so far but would also add: -- the hot springs near the resort at Arenal are pretty cool. The lake is a nice place to hang too... -- if you are VERY adventurous, go see a soccer match. Saprissa or La Liga would be good teams to see. (I think it's a boring sport but being at a match would be an experience.) -- One of the parks has some ancient ruins (forgot the name). I thought it was boring but some people like it. -- If you speak Spanish, don't trill your r's or use the second person conjugations. -- There's some very good white-water rafting if you're into that. And -- most importantly -- do NOT under any circumstances refer to a local as a "nica." Don't even think this word around the ticos... "Adios" is used as a greeting; don't use it to say goodbye. You probably already know that "pura vida" is a very common expression... Commit to memory the following Spanish phrase: "Tienen que estar tan apretadas las esposas?" Standing underneath the monkeys to watch them is a really BAD idea, unless you have an umbrella! I'm sure you and your fam will have a great time. Have fun and let us know how it went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismopick Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 ^^^ Buahhaha!!! 100% to the "T" how it is. La Liga won the national championship while I lived in Alajuela, so I'm puro "Rojinegro". Roostmonkey, you are going during the best time of year too. Unless you go to Limon, you probably won't ever see any rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismopick Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Oh, and the city of Escazu (south west of San Jose) is where most of the Americans live due to the US Embassy and Intel being close by. So... they have a lot of US restaurants like Tony Roma's, Outback Steakhouse, TGI Friday's (if you get sick of the rice & beans). Most any restaurant is fine to eat at, but stay away from the street vendors. There's also a Denny's on the main highway between the airport & San Jose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon 74 260Z Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Nismo covered the places to go so I'll add some things to expect (while I'm avoiding work): -- It's very common to see two women holding hands or walking arm-in-arm. They are not of a uhhhh...... an 'alternative lifestyle.' Costa Rica is a much more affectionate society than the US and that's just something they do there. -- Kinda related to that is that you'll see teenagers making out on every other park bench. "PDA" is pretty much the norm. -- You're supposed to do the peck-on-the-cheek when greeting a female. -- It seemed like every time I bought something, they HAD to wrap it up in a plastic bag. (And usually they taped it shut too.) I think they have a federal law that prohibits customers from leaving a store with their items not securely placed in a plastic baggie... -- You know you're in a small town if there isn't a Chinese restaurant. -- Ticos consider themselves of European descent and not indigineous. Tangent: Saprissa were nat'l champs when I was there. So when I came back and got a puppy, I named her after them. Had to explain the name to everyone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I lived there in 2001, and went back in 2003 for a time. It's absolute paradise. Places to go: Manuel Antonio National Park - you can chill on the beach w/ monkeys. Dominical - Surf beach, not very crowded. Quepos - Cool town. Jaco - Surf town - overrated. Downtown San Jose - Lots of tourist shops / restaurants. Volcan Poas - Very cool volcano, and right where the earthquake was. Volcan Arenal - Active volcano, you can usually see lava at night. Limon - Caribbean Coast - aka Jamaica. Awesome food & beaches - hot as hell. Tortuguero - Swamp / jungle guides. Hard to get out there. Playas del Coco - Awesome tourist town up by Nicaragua. Flamingo - Tamarindo - Panama - Linda - Nosara - Samara - All world class beaches. YOU MUST CHECK THEM OUT. Liberia - Town at the crossroads of the northwest coast. Cool place to chill. Anyway, that's just to get started. If you want more info than that, let me know. Make sure you keep your passports on you at all times. The authorities love North Americans, but sometimes like to "check you out". Change most of your dollars to Colones - everything is cheaper in Colones ... and you'll get "took" if you pay in dollars. Take cameras and batteries!!!! Those are double the cost down there. Lots of car rental places... but the roads suck, and they are crazy drivers, so drive defensively. I'll second all of this. Great place, some of my family have retired at lake arenal. I suggest you take a night time tour around the back side of Volcan Arenal... ignore all the signs telling you that the tour is at your own risk, don't read the signs informing you of the pyroplastic flow that wiped out several small villages. Go to see the glowing rocks being thrown up out of the crater and rolling down the side of the Volcan.... they are noisy and you can hear them rolling down hill. Considering that some are the size of cars or small houses, this can be a real treat. Close off the night at Volcan Arena by visiting some of the hot spring spas and restuarants on the lake side of Volcan Arena. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roostmonkey Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Wow what a trip.One week isnt nearly enough tho.Fishing was truelly world class.Scuba was just OK, Ive been spoiled by Cozumel, Puerto Rico and even the Bahamas were better.Heres a couple of fish pics of me and my sons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismopick Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Nice! What places did you visit? And we need more pics!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roostmonkey Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 We pretty much stayed between Jaco and Quepos. Theres so much to do there, we didnt have time to go anywhere else.We did the " Rainmaker " park suspension bridges ( 160' high and 500+feet across ). That scared the zhit outta me. We did the "Mountain View" zip lines.Supposidley the highest and longest in the country.Went scuba diving the islands off Manuel Antonio and fishing out of Quepos.It was nonstop the whole week.Heres a couple more pics. The crocs were just laying on the bank of some river between Jaco and San Jose. The sunset was from the beach at the house we rented in Playa Banderas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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