From: muradia@bcarh1ed.bnr.ca (Rajiv Muradia)
Subject: COSTA RICA - a trip report
Reply-To: muradia@bnr.ca
Organization: Bell-Northern Research
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:28:20 GMT

Before my wife and I decided to travel to Costa Rica, we received lots of
information from other people who had been there. But there is nothing like
getting the first hand experience.  We went for two weeks for our yearly 
vacation, spent a week in San Jose and the next week at Jaco Beach resort. We
took a package tour which included flight and accomodations via "Fiesta" and 
the price was very reasonable.

They were the BEST two weeks we have ever spent on a vacation, we have been
to Mexico, Dominican Republic but there is nothing like Costa Rica.  I think
it also depends on what you like, we love mountains, greenery, lots of 
sightseeing. The people are very friendly and always make an effort to
speak english, it does help if you know a bit of spanish.  

In our first week in San Jose, the weather was not very hot since it is in a
valley surrounded by mountains and it rained about 2-3 hours a day. But the
next week at Jaco beach (near the pacific ocean) was just great, we are not
water people but even walking around gave us an unexpected tan (or burn :-)).

Food
----
The food was quite good. There are various restaurants, ie. italian,mexican
and seafood. My wife is vegetarian and she did not experience any problems.	
There are many fruits available, ie, pineapple, mango, bananas, papaya, etc..	
Do try "guabana" (sp ??), a very unique fruit drink and also tipical costa
rican breakfast.

Weather
-------
The high season is from December - May...the weather will be about 33 degrees.
The low season is from June-Nov... this is so called "rainy season" which means
it rains for about 2-3 hours a day.  However, if you are at a resort like Jaco
Beach, the weather is just great.

Shopping
--------
Shopping is quite expensive for products that are imported to the country i.e we
found a pair of "dockers" pants to be about $58 canadian. But local goods 
are very inexpensive.  Make sure to bring back some coffee, "brit" is the 
brand that is best in the country.

Accomodations
-------------
We stayed at Irazu hotel at San Jose, it was about $70-80 canadian a night.
The accomodations were nice. We also stayed at Jaco Beach hotel at Jaco Beach
which was equally nice.

Transportation
--------------
You can travel by car,jeep rental (many tourists do this), by taxis, by coach
tours. We took all our tours through "fantasy" tours, which is on a mini bus.
Rental is pretty cheap if you have a group.

Romantic places
------------------
Walking on beaches at night was very romantic, also some restaurants that were
located on beach added to the atmosphere. Most of the driving is very scenic
through out the country. Natural hot springs near the Arenal Volcano was also
very romantic.

Sightseeing (Tours that we took)
--------------------------------
San Jose City Tour - This half day tour takes you to the best shopping spots 
in San Jose. Visit a leather factory, museums and central market filled 
with local produce and crafts.

Coffee Tour - Coffee is the major export and we learned how coffee is grown and
prepared for export. A must see for coffee lover.

Folkloric fantasy night -  An evening at the theatre where dances were 
performed explaining the history of Costa Rica. It was very expensive but 
a great experience.

Banana Jungle train - It is considered one of the most scenic train rides in 
the world, a must for every Costa Rican visitor.  Relax in a private car and
watch the spectacular scenary unfold as you wind through mountains, deep 
valleys, jungle, and banana plantations.  This train ride took us to the Limon
state.

Carara Jungle expedition -  It offers a chance to see many animals such as 
monkeys, sloths (very unique animal), birds, crocodiles, owls and many many
more.. It was a great hike through the jungle and very enjoyable.

Manuel Antonio Park - Most of the beaches have volcanic black/grey
sand but here you will find white-sandy beaches. It is a beautiful park with
many species of tropical birds, monkeys (white-faced), iguanas etc.. Watch out
for the tides in the evening, it tends to be very high.

Arenal Volcano - This was the highlight of our trip. This is the most active
volcano and erupts every 5-200 minutes and if you are lucky you might even
see it erupting (We did and it was amazing!!!).  From there we went to a natural
hot springs, the water was coming from the deep earth and was surprisingly hot.
We will not forget this experience as well.


Things you might want to bring 
-------------------------------
- insect repellant (you might need this if you plan to go hiking or 
  jungle tours)
- sunscreen
- binoculars, camera
- no need for formal clothes, shorts and shirts will do (at Jaco Beach)
- something for rain
- pepto-bismol (this will come in handy if you have adventerous palate)

In summary, I would highly recommend this country to anyone who loves nature,
peaceful surroundings and sightseeing. The whole country is very beautiful and
provided me with an experience that I will not forget. It seems like a perfect
country to retire into, many Canadian and Americans have done just that. 
Be careful of the roads if you are driving on your own as they are not 
properly paved very narrow and road signs are not very clear. If you have 
any questions, feel free to send me email. I also have an extra brochure 
on tours offered by "fantasy".

Rajiv


-- 
..................................................................
. Rajiv Muradia,  Bell Northern Research, Ottawa, ONT, CANADA    .
. Internet: muradia@bnr.ca                                       .
..................................................................
Newsgroups: rec.travel