I need some information on Costa Rica?

Question

I'am travelling to Costa Rica to teach english next month and would just like to know whats hot and whats not from someone whos actually been there (no links to sites cos ive probably already seen them) Also is it safe to walk around at night?, how much is a Mcdonalds? (good way of working out the average price of a country ;-) and also anything thats worth seeing in the surrounding areas i.e Panama canal...

Answer 1

For starters the Panama Canal is in Panama.  About 15 hours by bus from the Coast Rica/Panama border.

Depending where you will be as to safety at night.  In San Jose the answer is NOOOOOOO  it is not safe at night.  In other areas it is basically safe as long you you don't act foolish.  If you walk around flaunting money and acting like "the ugly American"  well what can I say?.

AS far as McDonald's well there aren't many outside of San Jose.  A typical lunch or dinner consisting of a choice of meat, beans, rice & salad with a non-alcohol beverage costs about 2000 colonies $4.00.  A beer costs 650 colonies about $1.25. The exchange rate is 1USD = 518 colonies.

There are many things to see here.  Volcanoes, hot springs, jungle hikes where you see lots of animals, and waterfalls.  Beautiful beaches, and excellent sport fishing also are here. Depending where you are there are zip lines thru the jungle.

Enjoy your trip

Answer 2

I've been to CR 3 times, and I do like it a lot.  The climate is great and volcanoes, rain forests, whitewater rafting, and beaches are fantastic.  San Jose isn't super dangerous, but Walking through the parks after dark you get approached a lot by people asking for money.  Also a big hooker came up to us and started trying to grab our pingas, while with the other hand she was trying to go into my pocket, but when i shoved her hand out of the way with my arm she screamed out "Que pasa contigo!?"  LIke, what's wrong with me because i didn't want her grabbing my polla.

Other than that if you stick to well lit streets in the center at night, it's not that bad.  Still it didnt feel as szfe as the Zona Rosa in Mexico City because it's darker in San Jose and fewer people out at night.

Sights I really liked:  Volcan Poas!  Volcan Irazu!  And near Volcan Arenal there are 2 hot springs near the town of La Fortuna.  They are like paradise.  Go in the early evening and if you're lucky you can soak in hot water, drink a margarita, watch Arenal shoot its fireworks in the distance, and take walks through landscaped gardens while bats fly around to eat the mosquitoes.  Tabacon is one of the baths, and Baldi Terme is the other.  Tabacon is more nature-looking and Baldi Terme has more of a mosaic tile and artistic sculpture design.

I LOVE Manuel Antonio national park.  Grilled fish by the sea, 4 great beaches, monkeys and iguanas and other unknown animals to watch, and the national park itself has nice hiking.

This place can be packed out in December holidays.

We also went whitewater rafting in Turrialba.  I think we rafted down the River Pacuaro with a company we just found when we got there.  For $75 a person, they picked us up at the hotel, drove us in a van to the river, gave us lessons, furnished all the equipment, cooked lunch for us halfway through the trip, and at the end they had a little restaurant/bar we stopped at and had a few beers and took showers.  Then they took us back to the hotel.  Good deal and the water was great! Not too cold as in many places.  Next time I want to go to the Monteverde/Santa Elena area, Guanacaste beaches, and another volcano (I love them).  I have read you can take a bus from San Jose to Cahuita, a beach on the east coast that's nice, and from there go to Bocas del Toro in Panama, a cool place with surfing, islands, snorkeling etc.

The international trip to Nicaragua might be a long hard bus ride from San Jose; also to Panama.  I have read about heading up to going up to Nica, stopping at San  Juan del Sur to break the trip, then later to Granada.  I think I might skip Managua from what I've heard, but Leon is supposed ot be nice, and Masaya is a handicrafts center.

I haven't read much about Panama, but the canal must be very coolo!