I know we're in the minority it seems, but honestly, out of the 10+ countries we've been to in the last almost 2 years, CR is our least favorite. It's a huge tourist trap, very expensive (more so than our European 5 country trip!) and was just like being in the US, with tons of Americans, English at all the hotels, burgers and pizza at the restaurants, etc. If there weren't monkeys in the trees, we'd think we were still in the US! Definitely left a lot to be desired. I know we're in the minority, since most people love CR, but we didn't. We still managed to have our own fun, driving to very local places on our own time and exploring non-tourist populated areas. If you like to travel like a sheep and follow Americans from excursion to excursion, CR is the place for you. Some of the hotel guests went on a zipline excursion. They only spoke English, so the guides had no idea they understood Spanish. They were making fun of the Americans the entire time! At the end, one of the Spanish speaking Americans told them off! So glad we didn't waste money on their excursions! We can only ATV/zipline/rappel down a watefall/raft so many times in our lives and had zero desire to do it there after having just done all of that in Mexico and Aruba. We love culture, local foods and CR severely lacked in that department. It's not what it used to be 5 years ago, and people are taking note. Some hotels are $600/night, which is outrageous! They used to be so cheap, but I guess tourism got to them.
We spent our first and last nights in San Jose, at an American owned little hotel. The owner warned us of the crime as soon as we got there, which was not a great feeling that before anything else, they felt the need to tell us that! Then we drove to Arenal region for 2 nights, 3 nights in Manuel Antonio (was supposed to be 4, but we cancelled one when we got there) and one night in Jaco at the spur of the moment. All of the hotels are owned by Americans. The flight attendant on our flight from ATL to SAN was from our city and said she's been to CR several times and got the same impression we did. She visited the Pacific and Caribbean side and wasn't impressed. She told us Belize is the same way, a huge tourist trap, so we're no longer planning to go there. We heard a ton of complaints from travelers at our hotels, basically stating what we've been experiencing.
If you go, be aware of thefts. We met two people who had all of their luggage stolen, every single piece, after they stopped for 5 minutes to take pictures of the beach. They locked their car but it didn't help. It's funny, we rented a CR GPS that would tell us when we approach huge tourist spots and it told us to pull over and take pictures. After hearing their stories, the last thing I wanted to do was pull over to take pictures. We did so once, to see crocodiles, but our car was ten feet away. Two of our hotel owners warned us to be very weary and said that they had laptops stolen right from their hotels last week. We're not ones to listen to travel warnings, but these locals said it's a lot more common than we think and mentioned it several times during our stay.
Also, according to the locals, CR has two seasons-the rainy season and the slightly less rainy season. It rains almost every day, all year long they said. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend going there. It's not pretty, the beaches we saw were so dirty that our clothes smelled like sewage after going in the water, the roads are horrific and the people were not that friendly. In fact, several local restaurant owners refused to serve Americans! I've never experienced that in other nations. The hotel owner said many are sick of the tourists and don't want them in their place. And the ones who let you in, have two menus...one with local prices and one with tourist. We paid $50 for 2 typical CR food, which consists of rice and beans, plantains, a small piece of meat and a small salad. That should be no more than $6, as the local were paying! Oh, and as you are leaving to come home, you're financially raped one last time when they make you pay over $25pp as a departure tax at the airport. I have no desire to ever go back and have successfully convinced my friends to look for alternate locations, with a bit more culture. We had free airfare, which was the only positive financial part of the trip! So on to the pictures.
Hotel Mountain Paradise, in the Arenal region. This was one of the better hotels on our stay, though not cheap! We had a little house, with a yard, private jacuzzi, porch and rainfall shower. We found stray kittens and took them in for the night, because it was pouring. The hotel staff took them on our last day there and allowed them to roam in their restaurant. Which is another point..if you don't like dogs/cats, don't eat at their restaurants. They come up to your table and beg. There are thousands of stray dogs in CR, roaming the streets and restaurants. No health code requirements, so they don't care. We didn't mind but many others did.
Arenal volcano:
Hanging bridges in Arenal:
Sloths:
Hummingbird and butterfly garden:
On the way to Manuel Antonio, just past Jaco, the GPS told us to pull over and look over the bridge to see crocodiles.
View of Jaco:
This was the only wild frog we saw. The rest were in captivity, for ogling tourists. The most sought after was the red eyed tree frog, which they had in captivity for us to see.
Grasshopper:
Beach inside Manuel Antonio park:
In MA, we stayed at La Posada jungle bungalows. The monkeys came to our room almost every night and (shockingly) the staff gave us bananas to feed them, even after they handed out a brochure stating why you don't feed wild animals. We also had a deer come to the pool area every night. She was very friendly and loved people. Mama raccoon showed up every night to our room in particular as well, with her 4 babies in tow.
Downtown MA:
Inside MA park, right near the beach area. This path takes you from one beach to the next, where all the monkeys seem to be.
Typical road in CR. This is a two way road, with about a 100ft drop. I can't imagine if it rained and was muddy! We thought several times that we were going to go over the cliff. They drive like psychos and flip you off if you're not going 40mph over the speed limit!
If you go, bring a ton of bug spray. I brought off and it didn't work at all. This is after being outside, for only 10 minutes, covered in off. Here's hoping none of the 1000 mosquitos that bit me were carriers of malaria!
Hotel 9, in Jaco. Nicest hotel we stayed in. Owner is from San Diego and really cool. He is the one that warned us of the crime in Jaco. All the hotels have armed guards at night. Nothing like seeing a guy with a machine gun to make you feel safe! This hotel is on the beach, in very quiet area.
Jaco beach. Wearing a white bikini was a huge mistake. It's now black and smells really bad from their water. I don't know what it is about the water, but I'm hoping I can get it clean!
Coffee beans:
Downtown San Jose and their central market:
Typical food. Yup, these two cost $50, with no alcoholic beverages!
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