Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Hola,

I am in Costa Rica for a month and figured I might as well post my weekly trip reports that I'm sending to family and friends. They're a little condensed for mass viewing but feel free to ask me questions.

Some things I purposely didn't include, like my spanish and surfing teachers, more about the town, etc because I wanted to spread it out between 4 trip reports for my family/friends but go ahead and ask me questions and I'll try to respond.

FWIW, I am 25, and have been playing poker professionally for a year and a half. Pretty burnt out, the main reason I decided to take a trip.

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Pura Vida!

The term, used in greetings, good byes, and everyday conversation is a staple of Costa Rica. It means “pure life,” but can be interpreted as “the good life,” “it’s all good,” or “good living.” It’s a philosophy that Costa Ricans have as they approach their day to day life, living much more in tune with the Earth and ocean than Americans, with our concrete paved land and hectic day-to-day schedules.

It’s part of what attracted me to Costa Rica, along with it’s affordability and it’s openness to Americans. Many Americans reside here, and many locals speak English as a second language. That’s why I decided on impulse to book a trip down here and take a “learning vacation.” Part surfing camp, part Spanish school, I felt like getting away from the States and trying something new, while learning a vital language if I plan to start a small business in California. Getting better at surfing would be pretty cool, also.

I also get to meet new friends, like this little guy (well, he’s actually by far the biggest frog I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s about the size of my Spanish-to-English travel book.) who showed up by my toilet:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/IMG_0465.jpg

I landed in San Jose on October 14th. Located in the heart of Costa Rica, San Jose is known for being a little dirty and not worth much of a visit; it is more about branching out and visiting the coastal or tropical areas of Costa Rica. I quickly left on a shuttle for the closest beach town near San Jose called Jaco (it’s pronounced Haco, gringos!), where the school is located.

However, I’m also in the rain forest. Which means… a lot of rain. It’s literally rained more my first week here than it will in Los Angeles for an entire year. It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds, since the temperature averages around 70 for this time of year and the rain is not cold.

There’s also a ton of wildlife just roaming around. Here’s my Iguana buddy who was outside of the school the other day:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/IMG_0497.jpg

He was on the road and when me and a couple other students approached him to take a picture, he quickly ran off and up a tree. I was disappointed at first at missing the shot, but he reappeared on top of a building, in a more masculine pose which he held while we took as many pictures as we wanted. It must be his more photogenic side.

The school is beautifully designed and acts as a small motel. There’s capacity for about 15 students and, while they come and go within the weeks, we’re at about 11 students right now. They come from a variety of backgrounds and I get to learn more about other cultures while educating them about my own.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/IMG_0487.jpg

There’s “the guys,” which has come to consist of me, and 5 other Americans. Ranging in ages from 18 to 34, we’re all pretty similar. We’re all here to party, surf some waves, and maybe learn a thing or two.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/IMG_0455.jpg

There was a French-Canadian couple from Montreal named Isabel and Frederic that spent the first week here, but just left today. They were extremely friendly and were a blast to hang out with. There have also been four European women here, all representing a different country.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/IMG_0508.jpg

There was also an out-going Wisconsin blonde named Meghan who spent her last week out of 4 weeks this past week. She seemed to have an amazing time down here, perhaps a life-changing one. She’s considering taking a chance and trying to make a living down here in Jaco and escape the boredom and dullness of everyday life in Wisconsin. She seemed to make a lot of local friends, has multiple jobs lined up and I think she should go for it.

We took a kayak trip last Wednesday. We kayaked to a small beach north of Jaco, which a cool 20-foot waterfall and interesting rock formations. Our tour guides managed to grab a puffer fish in shallow water and show him to us. It was certainty one of the most bizarre living things I’ve ever seen; it puffed up to the size of a balloon and looked like a cartoon character. Eventually, when let go, it deflated to the size of a regular fish. Absolutely bizarre.

http://home.planet.nl/~hans.mebrat/dahlaks6.jpg

(didn't have my camera for that so I grabbed a pic off the web to show what it looked like)

I haven’t used a phone or watched TV in my entire first week, except for two baseball playoff games that I enjoyed with fellow American students down here. I don’t miss the technology at all. Same goes for the internet; I check up on the world and my e-mail for about 20 minutes, but often find myself bored and wanting to do something more productive. Amazingly, I haven’t had one drop of caffeine while down here and feel more energy than I ever have before.

The same can’t be said for beer, of course. The easy-going lifestyle and cheap beer leads to mucho fiestas, but that’s it for now. I have much more to talk about, from the nightlife, to our stern yet hilarious Spanish teacher, to my progress in Surfing and Spanish. Thanks to all who have read this far, it is really exciting to leave the States and experience a new culture.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Cool trip report. I'm looking at heading down there for a few months sometime next fall.

How reliable is the internet once you get outside San Jose?

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

When planning a trip, how do you go about choosing where to go and how long to stay?
Why specifically Costa Rica and not some other affordable America-friendly country?
What percentage of Costa Ricans can speak English?
What do you do on a daily basis? What does your schedule typically look like?
How do you get around there? Can you rent a car?
How much cheaper are things there? Give examples plz.
How much surfing experience do you have?

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

nice nice

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

keep them coming.
you look like the guy that zapped the girl in Match Point.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

nice TR Costa Rica looks cool

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

God, I'm such a nit. If you use Spanish in a trip report to seem cool and cultured, please don't [censored] the Spanish up.

That said, seems like a cool trip though it seems like you are spending far too much time hanging around Americans. How is the surfing there? Might head to Costa Rica for that reason alone. Compare it to California & Australia if possible.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

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God, I'm such a nit. If you use Spanish in a trip report to seem cool and cultured, please don't [censored] the Spanish up.


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Pura vida, bebe. You sound a little angry [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Please enlighten me. Are you familiar with Costa Rica? People use the term as slang in a way that reminds me of "it's all good." As in, como estas? Pura vida.

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That said, seems like a cool trip though it seems like you are spending far too much time hanging around Americans. How is the surfing there? Might head to Costa Rica for that reason alone. Compare it to California & Australia if possible.

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The surf is much much better than California. You never have to use a wetsuit 365 days a year. The waves are more consistent and bigger. Surf sports are less crowded.

No idea about Australia.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cool trip report. I'm looking at heading down there for a few months sometime next fall.

How reliable is the internet once you get outside San Jose?

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At the school, it's a little slow, and somewhat unreliable. My laptop is having some problems of it's own so it's hard for me to tell if playing internet poker is a viable thing to do with the internet in this area. I am also using my wireless card which has never been that great.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
When planning a trip, how do you go about choosing where to go and how long to stay?

[/ QUOTE ]

I planned the trip mostly on impulse. I wanted to go somewhere new, and soon, and figured in a program like this I'd learn two things I wanted to learn as well as have people to hang out with.

I had been interested in Costa Rica before, perhaps as a place to play poker and live for a few months. It just seemed like a cool place that was America friendly.

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Why specifically Costa Rica and not some other affordable America-friendly country?

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No real good reason to this. I wanted to learn spanish and surfing and have considered (based on ome readings) costa rica as a place to live to play online poker. I didn't do too much research on similar places.
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What percentage of Costa Ricans can speak English?

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In the service industry, most of them speak it ok. Some speak it very well, some speak very well, some speak none at all. You could get by in this area without any spanish but it can be hit or miss with the locals.
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What do you do on a daily basis? What does your schedule typically look like?

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For the class, I do 1 2 HR session of surfing a day. I do 1 2 HR session of spanish (w/ a class of 5 right now,) and then a 2 hr "Lab." The lab is more of learning new words or playing memory type games, etc.

Once a week we do a trip type thing during the day with the school. Last week was a kayak tour, this week is a croc tour.

We just chill alot otherwise. I've been reading books in my free time. We go into town and eat out alot. Me and some other students have begun to rent boards so we can surf in non-class hours ($6 a day.) Unfortunately me and another student basically ate [censored] on the same wave near each other and the fin of his board managed to slice my board.. probably about $50 to fix.

We party on occasional nights. This weekend we will probably make a trip to another area of Costa Rica (the national park fo Manuel Antonio is within 2 hours, and is one of the biggest tourist attractions around. Supposedly there are monkeys everywhere which sounds awesome.)

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How do you get around there? Can you rent a car?

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You can rent a car. I am not sure of prices but it's probably not that expensive.

When we go to manuel antonio and such we will probably just take a bus. They are very cheap and probably bearable if you're with a group. Alot of the roads are in poor condition here, especially in the more rural areas (which 95% of the land around here is compared to the States) so it can take awhile to go to other regions.

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How much cheaper are things there? Give examples plz.

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Thigns aren't really that much cheaper. I am in a town that is beginning to "blow up" with tourism; there are probably 5-10 huge condo projects that are just beginning here. This town w ill be much much different in 10 years. You can find pretty good meals (rice, beans and fried plantains + a meat is a meal called casado and very popular, can get for around $5-7 after drink + tax + tip.)

Alot of goods here are more expensive then in the States due to import tax. You can find some things that are pretty cheap here and there but really it's not like a huge bargain, just 10-30% cheaper than what you're used to.
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How much surfing experience do you have?

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Not much. I took some lessons in LA in summer. I surfed a little with my buddy but had to ride his 6'2" shortboard and I never got close to catching a wave (I caught waves during the lessons but they were with a bigger board and better beginner waves.)

90% of the people who are here have little to no surfing experience. I'm standing up pretty consistently and am now learning to turn, recognize waves, etc. Surfing is a sport that is very hard to get good at. I'm standing up on waves but in reality I still suck very hard.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Were you there with CTS?

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

He's there by his lonesome while I have sex in every corner of the apartment.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

OP,

My issue isn't with Pura Vida. You screwed up something else grammatically, but it really is just me nitting it up. It is fairly basic Spanish though so I'm surprised you wrote it incorrectly.

Nice to hear about the surf. Costa Rica is moving up in my list now.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Yo,

been lazy about making a new post. I have about 4 more days here and will make a pretty detailed post then.

I messed up my knee surfing this weekend and can't surf for the rest of the trip [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Otherwise, I have done a ton of stuff, bungee jumping, seeing tons of monkeys at manuel antonio, and seeing lava pour out of a volcano (truly one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen.)

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Here's one video I made of monkeys with my crappy digital camera and amateur filming skills:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=21531685

also:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/IMG_0669.jpg

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

plz post a TR when you go to the Del Rey kthnx. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

I recently spent two weeks in Jaco (Oct. 17 - 31) and would be happy to assist in answering any questions. I also kept a blog which is still up:

Costa Rica blog

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Hey guys,

I'm going to list a bunch of stuff and tell you a little about them then do an extravagant trip report. To sum up Costa Rica, it's a laid-back, friendly tropical area that was somewhat cheap. Also, I really enjoyed the "learning vacation" concept. I basically wanted an immediate vacation and wasn't going to bother rounding up someone to go with me and I think a learning vacation is a great way to travel if you're going to go alone.

Some stuff about Costa Rica:

Volcano Arenal

We took a weekend trip up to Volcano Arenal, which is located in the northern mountains. It's a famous volcano that was dormant for 400 years when an earthquake caused it to erupt in the 60's or 70's, killing 80 or so people in the valley below. It's still active, and is constantly smoking and there are viewpoints where you can see lava flowing out sometimes, which we were able to see at night.

It looked something like this (didn't have my camera on this night:)

http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/arenal...olcano-1-s.jpg

It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in my life. The lava flows off and on but flows like an avalanche and is so bright orange compared to the dark background there's just nothing like it in nature.

On the way back from the volcano we stopped at a bungee jumping place that was near San Jose. It was a 260 foot off a bridge overlooking a river. I was incredibly nervous, despite having skydived previously this year. There's just something a little more scary about having the ground right there when you jump.. but I sucked it up and did it. I'm glad I did it but didn't really enjoy the feeling of being upside down for so long. Some pics:

http://a68.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/...6884a7ed13.jpg

http://a65.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/...406f257910.jpg

Manuel Antontio, Dominical

We headed south from Jaco on a 1 1/2 hour bus ride (only $1.20!) to what some consider the crown jewel of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio. MA is a national park located on the pacific coast, which an abundance of amazing white sand beaches and monkeys. We only had time to spend about 3 hours here and I spent most of the time observing the monkeys. This is just something that anyone who comes to CR will have to check out.

A beach in MA:

http://a109.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...931620ecf4.jpg

http://a773.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...4957119cd4.jpg

Viewpoint in MA:

http://a832.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...26767ffbcf.jpg
Then we made a trip to a surfer town called Dominical, on the southern pacific coast. From Manuel Antontio, the stretch of coastal highway to Dominical is only 44 KM, but it takes up to 3 hours by bus. There's no paved roads (according to Lonely Planet, this is because the government of Quepos/Manuel Antonio owns the roads and won't build as to prevent tourism easily spreading south.) It's quite a journey as every bridge makes you feel like it's going to be your last.

Dominical is a very small town but still one of the bigger towns in this area. There are no paved roads, but plenty of surf shops. It's known as a gringo place with a lot of surf bums and pot. Walking around I probably saw more white people here than in Jaco despite the fact there were many many more people running around Jaco.

The weekend was somewhat of a bust as I sprained my knee surfing the first morning. I got wrecked pretty good and felt my knee move akwardly when I slammed down with the wave. It hurt pretty bad and I couldn't move my knee for about 2 minutes, meanwhile I'm trying to stay afloat while getting hit by oncoming waves. It freaked me out a little and I was limping and off my board for 5 days (it's been a week and a half since it happened and my knee is still pretty sore, but I managed to go surfing again before I left.)

Here's what the surf looked like (taken off the web:)
http://www.govisitcostarica.co.cr/im...beach-surf.jpg

Since I was holed up in the hotel room getting drunk to escape the pain, I didn't see much of the town.

Jaco

The town I stayed in, Jaco, is one of the larger beach towns (by large, I mean it has some paved roads and probably a local population of 20,000.) It's blowing up in development, though, and has a ridiculous amount of condominiums being built and will probably look completely different in 10 years (and remind someone more of Cabo San Lucas than a Costa Rican beach town.)

It's known as one of the more "ghetto" areas of CR since there's a large amount of drugs and prostitution. I got offered weed and coke on every street corner on some nights. Despite this, it doesn't feel that sketchy to walk around or anything. There's barely any violent crime here, word is there's some petty theft but I didn't see any of it. Basically you're not going to get your ass kicked and your wallet stolen but you might get pick pocketed in a club.

Prositution

Based on the Thailand thread it seems you guys want to know about this stuff. It's legal in CR and pretty prevalent in the clubs. Ho's are everywhere. It's actually quite annoying in Jaco because you have no idea who are the regular local girls are. One surf instructor told me, you just never know if a girl's a hooker or normal.

Only Jaco really has this problem. Other areas of the country, it's not going to be engrossed with so many hookers. There are a lot of 50+ year old white men who spend time in these bars and this is basically there reason for being in the country.

You also get your ass or dick grabbed by the hookers alot. I just found it annoying and had no interest in banging one. One of the surf instructors lived with a hooker for awhile and told me they're not as cheap as you'd expect and can run $300 for a whole night. I was thinking $15 blow jobs and didn't even want any.

I'll make a post in a little bit about the school, more about the learning vacation stuff.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

This is an awesome TR.

I'm getting married at Villa Calletas (just south of Jaco) in a couple weeks. We are going to MA, and going to go on some of the day trips. Are there any particular ones that you thought are can't miss. Obv everyone talks about the zip lines and such. Did you do any rafting? How was the croc tour?

We are staying for 2 weeks, so the first week will be at villa calletas and the 2nd week we are staying at the Tabacon Resort at the base of Arenal.

I can't wait!

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Nice trip report, thanks!

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

wow those monkeys are sweet. im going.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

how goods da bud?

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

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how goods da bud?

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In my experience about a 2 out of 10. It's really really cheap though.

It's been a couple years so maybe things have changed, but I doubt it.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
how goods da bud?

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In my experience about a 2 out of 10. It's really really cheap though.

It's been a couple years so maybe things have changed, but I doubt it.

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Not cheap anymore. Good quality is U.S. prices.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
how goods da bud?

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Agree with the above poster it was about a 2 out of 10. I imagine the cocaine is top-notch given it's proximity to Columbia, but I managed to avoid using any.

Funny story, walking from one club to the next, I saw two white guys and a local drug dealer doing lines off the trunk of a car, that was facing the main road. It's just not a big deal down there to do anything like that.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
This is an awesome TR.

I'm getting married at Villa Calletas (just south of Jaco) in a couple weeks. We are going to MA, and going to go on some of the day trips. Are there any particular ones that you thought are can't miss. Obv everyone talks about the zip lines and such. Did you do any rafting? How was the croc tour?

We are staying for 2 weeks, so the first week will be at villa calletas and the 2nd week we are staying at the Tabacon Resort at the base of Arenal.

I can't wait!

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NOTE: I have no idea why these images aren't displaying.

The area between Jaco and Manuel Antonio is great. Nice scenery, not very developed except for a condo or resort here or there, and just overall a really nice scene. If I were to buy property in Costa Rica, it would be in this area.

One word of advice for MA, is to bring your swimsuit. I guess we missed that in the Lonely Planet, but the beaches there are awesome and the water is warm. The water is warm all throughout CR, but Manuel Antonio has the nicest, cleanest and most beautiful beaches.

I didn't do any zip lines, but some students did. It sounds pretty fun, and the scenery you get to "zip" over is the rain forest. Not too expensive either ($50 or $60 for a tour.)

None of us managed to do any rafting. There's a place near MA that does it. I would have loved to but it didn't fit in our plans when we went through MA.

The croc tour was really cool. We went up on a river north of Jaco and a boat took us on a little tour. There are crocs everywhere. Once they found a really big one (this guy must have been 15 ft,) one of the tour guides got out and started slapping a fish in the water to call him over. Once he finally did, the croc took a bite of the fish and the tour guide put his hands over the crocs mouth and gave him a kiss. It was cool. Here's some pics (I didn't get a good one of him kissing the croc unfortunately):


[image]http://a275.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/47/l_3ceaa7288f64fd538d82784ce1037ec2.jpg[/image]
[image]http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=168438 54&albumID=1107882&imageID=19105758[/image]

And one more thing about Arenal. There's a waterfall called "La Fortuna" near the town. It's a really cool waterfall that is about 80-90 feet high and has a little swimming hole by it. The hike is pretty easy and it's worth a few hours.

Here's a video of it: La Fortuna

And some pics:

[image]http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v136/49/82/29907078/n29907078_31318658_6251.jpg[/image]

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

I'm leaving for San Jose Saturday. Do they still have poker games at the Jazz casino in Jaco?

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
how goods da bud?

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I have a house in Liberia and just got back from there in augest. We payed 50$ for an ounce of dirts. Couldnt find any good stuff, but the coke is ridiculous, like 20$ for a gram and it seriously numbs your whole face. Hookers ask for $200 for the night but if you come by at around 3am theyll go for a $100, and you can bang them 10 times if you want. Me n my freind got two for a 100 bucks each, banged them then asked them 2 switch, and they were cool with it. The police are very laid back and dont [censored] with you, I was standing at a bar and saw 1 of the security guards hand a policeman an envelope of cash.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm leaving for San Jose Saturday. Do they still have poker games at the Jazz casino in Jaco?

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Yes.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

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I'm leaving for San Jose Saturday. Do they still have poker games at the Jazz casino in Jaco?

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Yes.

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Thanks, I'm looking to leave San jose as quickly as possible

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

if anyone goes to costa rica i highly highly recommend www.crla.com, really well good language school. and if you go there please thank me by doing a favor, say hello to teacher Olga from an united states friend

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

lol at costa rican cooking classes.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

the dance classes were the best!

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

fwiw to people, i have been surfing for a while and been to CR 3 times and there is no better place if ur a beginner or experienced. The surf instructors there are generally awesome and actually want to teach you to surf. The ticos are awesome in the water and there is always a great vibe except when some Americans piss people off. The waves are great year round and break down the whole pacific. pura vida

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

i arrived yesterday and this place is unbelievable...will be posting trip report in the EDF upon returning...if i ever come back.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

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i arrived yesterday and this place is unbelievable...will be posting trip report in the EDF upon returning...if i ever come back.

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What parts of the country are you planning to visit? Jaco? Be sure to get to Manuel Antonio.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

I keep forgetting to leave off the school's information. It's called School of the World, at schooloftheworld.com. If you ever want to take a trip by yourself and learn something new, I'd recommend this 100%. It was a blast.

Re: Costa Rica Trip Report
 

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