Before I get into the details of our trip, I am going to tell you some valuable information.
2. LEARN SPANISH. I think I will refuse to go to a Spanish speaking country again until I learn the language. It is so frustrating to not be able to communicate with people. Don't get in a taxi unless you speak decent Spanish because you will get ripped off and chances are you will not end up where you are trying to go. By learning Spanish, you'd definitely get a more "local" experience, because you'd be able to ask around and find cool, less tourist-y spots. That was my biggest disappointment in the trip, I felt like such a tourist. I know a very little bit of Spanish, but they talk to fast you get lost after the first word.
3. Don't flush the toilet paper. Sounds like weird advice, but it will save you from clogging up some toilets. Costa Rican plumbing uses very small pipes that are not made to handle wads of toilet paper. Everywhere you go you will see signs on the stalls to put your TP in the trash can and you best listen!
4. Take advantage of the bus system. I found this schedule online. It got us where we needed to go. The buses are SO cheap also. To go across the country, it costs around $20. However, there aren't really any direct routes. You most likely will have to take two buses, stopping in San Jose, to get where you need to go. There are bus stops all over the city in San Jose, instead of one central location, so plan plenty of time to find your next stop (at least one hour). When you get off the buses, there will be taxis trying to get you to take a ride to your next stop... they will tell you it's far but I promise it's not. Just walk.
5. One thing I really wish I had done differently was try and find places to stay via Couchsurfing or found jobs through WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms ). Don't get me wrong, hostels can be fun. You meet people from all over the world... but after awhile you start to have the same conversations --- "Where are you from? How long have you been traveling? Where are you going next?" Etc. etc. etc. By using Couchsurfing, you could stay with locals who could truly show you around. By volunteering through WWOOF, you would get away from the tourism industry and truly experience Costa Rica while learning farming practices.
6. Make copies of your passport and driver's licenses. Bring locks for your belongings. Another big disappointment I experienced while visiting Costa Rica was the constant warnings to "watch out." While we didn't have any problems with getting robbed, everyone told us it was a problem and we talked to many travelers who had been stolen from. You are a target if you are a traveler, which is really upsetting to me. I didn't like having to constantly watch my back. In my experience, it seems as if some Costa Ricans are very hostile towards travelers or foreigners that move to their country. All the houses have bars on the windows. My aunt, who has been living there for 10+ years, says the locals make it so hard to live there. Upcharging for necessities like car servicing, just because they can and you have no where else to go. This is upsetting to me, especially because I come from the melting pot country where you can't tell a local from a tourist.
7. Avoid tourist destinations. Places that were recommended to us like Manuel Antonio and Puerto Viejo and Tamarindo were really dumps. They don't have a good enough garbage system to clean up after the large amounts of people who visit there so it just piles up. I was shocked by how much trash was everywhere. Many of the beaches have contaminated water flowing right into the ocean!! This was the scene we found in many places we went to unfortunately.
8. Don't just travel inside Costa Rica!! I didn't realize just how small Central America is... you can go to Panama or Nicaragua on a day trip! I really wished we had checked out more countries. I heard from multiple people that Nicaragua in particular is much cheaper and you get a more local experience.
9. Don't visit during the "high season." It is over-crowded everywhere you go. I feel like the more tourist-y sites we visited such as Manuel Antonio and Puerto Viejo would have been so much nicer without all the people there. Even though the low season is characterized with rain, many places experience rain in the afternoons and at night, so it doesn't impact the day that much. This is especially true in the Guanacaste region. Our friends who live in Nosara say the surf is even better during the low season!
10. AVOID SPIRIT AIRLINES! They royally screwed us on our returning flight. We had a connection in Ft. Lauderdale. As we were landing it was getting dangerously close, but the flight attendants literally told us they were going to hold our flights... there were at least 25 people on the plane whose travel plans were messed up. Of course the connecting flights did not wait on us and everyone trying to go to Houston, Orlando, and Baltimore were stuck. They were not helpful at all in trying to get us to our next destination. Their best option was to put us on a bus at 10:00am (it was 6:30am at this point) to get to Orlando. That wasn't our final destination however, we needed to get to St. Augustine. We told them renting us a car would be the best option, but they refused. We rented a car on our own, which cost like $120 and then got a refund of $260 for both our tickets. A bus ride would not have been equivalent to our plane tickets, even a rental car wasn't yet they still refused to help out. It was so ridiculous.
11. Costa Rica is on military time, at least the bus schedules. So watch out for that. We thought there was a bus leaving Tamarindo at 3:00pm, but it turned out to be 3:00am and we had to spend an extra night in Tamarindo.
More posts to come about the specific cities we visited and places/hostels we stayed at. Pura vida!! :)
- Georgia
5. One thing I really wish I had done differently was try and find places to stay via Couchsurfing or found jobs through WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms ). Don't get me wrong, hostels can be fun. You meet people from all over the world... but after awhile you start to have the same conversations --- "Where are you from? How long have you been traveling? Where are you going next?" Etc. etc. etc. By using Couchsurfing, you could stay with locals who could truly show you around. By volunteering through WWOOF, you would get away from the tourism industry and truly experience Costa Rica while learning farming practices.
6. Make copies of your passport and driver's licenses. Bring locks for your belongings. Another big disappointment I experienced while visiting Costa Rica was the constant warnings to "watch out." While we didn't have any problems with getting robbed, everyone told us it was a problem and we talked to many travelers who had been stolen from. You are a target if you are a traveler, which is really upsetting to me. I didn't like having to constantly watch my back. In my experience, it seems as if some Costa Ricans are very hostile towards travelers or foreigners that move to their country. All the houses have bars on the windows. My aunt, who has been living there for 10+ years, says the locals make it so hard to live there. Upcharging for necessities like car servicing, just because they can and you have no where else to go. This is upsetting to me, especially because I come from the melting pot country where you can't tell a local from a tourist.
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| Puerto Viejo |
8. Don't just travel inside Costa Rica!! I didn't realize just how small Central America is... you can go to Panama or Nicaragua on a day trip! I really wished we had checked out more countries. I heard from multiple people that Nicaragua in particular is much cheaper and you get a more local experience.
9. Don't visit during the "high season." It is over-crowded everywhere you go. I feel like the more tourist-y sites we visited such as Manuel Antonio and Puerto Viejo would have been so much nicer without all the people there. Even though the low season is characterized with rain, many places experience rain in the afternoons and at night, so it doesn't impact the day that much. This is especially true in the Guanacaste region. Our friends who live in Nosara say the surf is even better during the low season!
10. AVOID SPIRIT AIRLINES! They royally screwed us on our returning flight. We had a connection in Ft. Lauderdale. As we were landing it was getting dangerously close, but the flight attendants literally told us they were going to hold our flights... there were at least 25 people on the plane whose travel plans were messed up. Of course the connecting flights did not wait on us and everyone trying to go to Houston, Orlando, and Baltimore were stuck. They were not helpful at all in trying to get us to our next destination. Their best option was to put us on a bus at 10:00am (it was 6:30am at this point) to get to Orlando. That wasn't our final destination however, we needed to get to St. Augustine. We told them renting us a car would be the best option, but they refused. We rented a car on our own, which cost like $120 and then got a refund of $260 for both our tickets. A bus ride would not have been equivalent to our plane tickets, even a rental car wasn't yet they still refused to help out. It was so ridiculous.
11. Costa Rica is on military time, at least the bus schedules. So watch out for that. We thought there was a bus leaving Tamarindo at 3:00pm, but it turned out to be 3:00am and we had to spend an extra night in Tamarindo.
More posts to come about the specific cities we visited and places/hostels we stayed at. Pura vida!! :)
- Georgia
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