Costa Rica: Es Pura Vida!
Written: Dec 13 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beauty, Cheapness of products
Cons: Heat and humidity
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| jennyb's Full Review: Costa Rica |
I went to Costa Rica in late April for two weeks and had an excellent time. We visited several places. One was the National Park, Manuel Antonio. That was extremely beautiful. You need to be sure you remember sunscreen. Swimming inside the park is highly recommended, but the nearby public beach is kind of dangerous. There are severely strong currents there, and several members of my party were swept out and had to be rescued by other people as there were no lifeguards there. The waves are beautiful, and the sea is an incredible blue. There are also tons of hermit crabs, lizards, iguanas, small mammals and monkeys. There is a nearby hotel that has incredible rooms with incredible views. Another beautiful place was the Tabacon Resort at the foot of an active volcano. There are wonderful hotspring pools there that have been linked to form pools of varying temperatures. you can see the volcano from the resort, but we could not as it was cloudy while we were there. There are lots of opportunities for wildlife sightings there as well as on the trip in through the beautiful countryside.
Another Beautiful place that we visited was the rainforest. We took a tram ride through the canopy, which is where most of the exciting stuff in a rainforest is. That was incredibly beautiful as well. There were many different beautiful flowers and some animals and birds, but you could hear them more than you could see them for the most part.
We had 3-4 hours of Spanish language instruction in the mornings at the Costa Rican Language Academy, as well as cooking lessons and Latin Dance lessons some afternoons. All of the instructors are very capable, and know several languages. I met people from many other countries there. I also stayed with a host family in the suburb of Cedros. That is a very nice neighborhood. San Jose is loud, and there is a lot of exhaust in the air, but there wasn't a lot of bad air in Cedros. It is also very easy to get a bus; they go by about every ten minutes.
I took Chloroquine while I was there for Malaria protection, but I thought it seemed rather unnecessary as there were hardly any mosquitoes where we were, and the medicine made me sick every time I took it. I only took that because we were going into an area where there was malaria for a weekend. But you don't need it if you only intend to visit San Jose. I also had a Hepatitis A shot before I left, which I thought was a good idea, and I got the booster about six months later. The first shot will protect for about a year, the second brings that up to ten, but there is an amount of time that you have to get in before you get to the country for it to work while you are there. I don't know what the risk was while I was there, but it made me feel better knowing that I had the shot. The total cost if the trip was $1500, and well worth it. It also definitely helps if you know Spanish or someone who does. I had a very easy time there as with 4 years of High School Spanish I could get around easily, but some of my friends even with three years of the language had a tough time with out other people as they really didn't pay attention in Spanish class as I had done. I recommend checking as much luggage as possible as the line to get into the country of Costa Rica goes rather slowly.
For Women:
The Latino men can be annoying at times as they will whistle and wave at you, but they expect to be ignored, and it is a compliment. Wearing
they will not bother you.
I loved my time there, and I will go back someday if I can. I know my experience there was made easier by my fluency in the language, but if you have an interpreter, it is easy, and most of the people there are used to American tourists and know quite a bit of English, though maybe not enough to be able to construct grammatically correct sentences.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jennyb
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 1 member
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