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My wife and I want to come down to CR in mid October of this year (2012) to visit for about 10 days to get a quick “feel” of the country and look around at some different areas to see if we would be interested in moving down in a few years. I know we would need to do more trips to finalize exactly where we would like to buy but this is a first trip to see if we even like the place.
Hola Andynjen,
I submit that taking my Regular 3 day, 2 night, all inclusive tour is your very most efficient way to begin your “due diligence”. Please read all of the recommendations from past guests on my website to see how they have valued their time with me. Feel free to contact any of them by email for their current evaluation.I hope some of the WLCR readers who are past guests will respond as well with their updates.
Andynjen, please scroll up and read what George wrote immediately above. We took his tour in 2005 and found it well worth the investment of time and money. George will show you places and things you’d never find on your own. Maybe the best part is the travel time between stops when you get to pick George’s brain. He’s a wealth of experience and practical information.
And, if you get lucky, George will bring your tour to our home outside Grecia early on Sunday morning!
Do this!
don’t have this problem since I lived and married a “TICA” 30 years ago.
Alajuela, Moravia, San Jose, Guanacaste, Philadelphia (CR), Puntarenas, Limon, Grecia,San Ramon, Heredia, etc… etc… etc…
been there done that
Panama (Arraijan)
San Salvador (El Salvador)
Nicaragua (Managua)
Honduras (Tegucigalpa)
El Salvador (San Pedro SULA)
been there also and always came back to Costa Rica, nice places to visit but HOME is where my wife hangs my HAT, LOL
Thanks for all the help and advice. My wife and I have booked our flights (arrive 12 Oct – depart 24 Oct) and while we have a busy schedule planned – I think we can accomplish a lot. A couple days in San Jose, La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Playa Samara to finish it off. We plan on staying with a friend in Cartago first (for the SJ portion) and then hostels or the like for the rest. Decided to drop the rental car idea and just take the bus/taxi/transfer options. Would love to meet up with anyone that replied (or didnt) when we are down there to say hello and see how you are enjoying your pure vida. 🙂
you really won’t get to experience much of the country with all the territory you are trying to cover on a bus. just because something is only 20 miles away, that distance could take you one hour or two hours, depending on traffic, weather, road conditions. i just got back from a farm near la fortuna — a distance of exactly 32 miles door to door. it took me one hour and 15 minutes to travel 32 miles. and i was in a car!! i have done that same trip on a bus and it took just under TWO hours. distance doesn’t tell the whole story, or even a tiny part of it.
[quote=”andynjen”]Thanks for all the help and advice. My wife and I have booked our flights (arrive 12 Oct – depart 24 Oct) and while we have a busy schedule planned – I think we can accomplish a lot. A couple days in San Jose, La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Playa Samara to finish it off. We plan on staying with a friend in Cartago first (for the SJ portion) and then hostels or the like for the rest. Decided to drop the rental car idea and just take the bus/taxi/transfer options. Would love to meet up with anyone that replied (or didnt) when we are down there to say hello and see how you are enjoying your pure vida. :)[/quote]
It is indeed a challenging schedule but it will give you a taste of the different parts of the country so the next time you come back you’ll have a better idea of where you want to go and what you’ll want to do.
And there are plenty of options to getting place to place, as you mentioned. To and from San Jose, “the bus” is a great option, and in between the other venues, companies like InterBus have a very aggressive schedule – then, once you get to Fortuna, Monteverde and Samara, the local taxis are a great option.
Obviously, the rental car offers more flexibility, but they charge so much for insurance and drop off fees the price just becomes unreasonable. And if you aren’t using the car everyday, it is costing you money just sitting idle.
Over 75% of the folks that rent our guest house do NOT get a rental car for their entire stay. Some opt to get a small sedan for 1 day to drive from SJO to Samara. With basic insurance and the drop off fee that amounts to about $110, as compared to $220-$240 for an “on demand” (non-scheduled shuttle service, or $49/pp for a scheduled InterBus travel. The Alfaro “bus” departs downtown SJO at 12:30 daily and arrives in Samara before 5:00pm for $8.00pp. There is also a (very) early morning departure from Samara (4:30am) that arrives at SJO airport before 9:30am, in plenty of time for all of the mid-day departures for the US based airlines. I have taken several of our guest house renters down to the bus for that departure, it’s only about 3 minutes from my house so no big deal. Also, my wife and I have used that service. The only problem is that they stop half way for a coffee & potty break and that wakes me up! Well, in retrospect I guess that may be a good thing!
You have a good plan – stick with it!I know it’s been mentioned but in my opinion 10 days in October is not enough time – I have been stranded for three days in one place on the Nicoya because of bridge and road issues!
(and – October and November are my favorite months – however you need to be very flexible in your schedule!)
😆
Ok I am a nice guy because I just wrote a long message for you and the fricking site lost it to “log in” again, Jeeesus!
Look to sum up, Arenal and Monteverde in October is nuts. I can’t belive no one else cammented on that. Stay away. You will not see the Volcano due to clouds and Monetverde which is a cloud forest will be cold and rainy and the road is windy and may be inundated with water in places. Crazy as your time frame is limited.
After you land in San jose immediately fly to the pacific north west (Forget Cartago). That is the place to be this time of year or in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean.
You only have 10 days so do not waste your time with buses.
Fly to the area you want to see in Guanacaste and fly back to SJ. Seriously (money well spent).
You will save two half days on the bus (one whole day – that is a tenth of your vacation).
Personally, I love Samara, Nosara (my favorite) and Carrillo. But I would never live there. Nicoya has a crappy crappy hospital, the city is ugly, and the locals at the beach thieve a lot and its very corrupt and the Ticos are not as nice as in other areas. Plus its seedy…
Check out Playa Grande. Look if you have the money and want to be at the beach the place to be is Hacienda Pinilla! By far the best!!!!! (Google it – Aveallans is the best beach and they have a JW Marrot gorgeous and a beach club). Otherwise check out the hills east of Liberia (great investment area) and then visit the beach. Liberia has an international airport great shopping and good medical.
Next fly back to SJ and explore Ciudad Colon, the Hills of Heredia and the hills behind Alajuela. Forget Cartago, its cold and a waste of time. Do the SJ leg of the trip last in case you get stuck by the rain on the coast. You do not have a lot of time and it will fly by – so don’t waste time on a bus or with tourist traps (Montverde).
Read two books at least before you come here. Erin Van Reans Living Abroad in Costa Rica and Phil Baker’s Costa Rica Now (study that one). Van Reans book is more about how other people did it. Baker’s book is more about “is Costa Rica right for you?” I prefer Bakers book because he lives here. Scott featured it on this site. I know he has saved some peoples bacon here as a consultant… Most other books are one long sales pitch… Scott has a good one on real estate.
To me the ARCR seminar was one long sales pitch. Avoid it and others that try to patronize you to sell you something, like most real estate agents posing as Realtors (ajjaajjaja – inside joke) will as well!
Man I am a nice guy for writing this twice… the first one was much more detailed
“Look to sum up, Arenal and Monteverde in October is nuts. I can’t belive no one else cammented on that. Stay away. You will not see the Volcano due to clouds and Monetverde which is a cloud forest will be cold and rainy and the road is windy and may be inundated with water in places. Crazy as your time frame is limited.”
A few years back, we stayed at AOL in Arenal in late October for 3 nights and the volcano was totally free of clouds much of the time. I thought the best time to view the volcano was in October? It’s not really erupting these days, is it?
I’ve lost long posts, too, when trying to send. Now, I copy and paste it prior to sending just in case I have been logged out.
Yes, October is a very rough time to visit…but it will certainly be an adventure! If you can handle it then, you can handle it anytime! The farther south we went, the more challenging it became. I remember driving through Parrita a couple of years ago in the middle of the flood, and being stranded in Manuel Antonio with 4′ of rain. That trip was one of the scariest–nothing since has compared. Bring some tall rubber boots!
[quote=”2bncr”]Ok I am a nice guy because I just wrote a long message for you and the fricking site lost it to “log in” again, Jeeesus![/quote]
As mentioned in the Discussion Forum guidelines….
To avoid losing everything when the system “times out”, it’s always best to type up your response in some kind of text editor (Notepad) on your own computer first and then when you are completely finished, simply copy and paste it into the relevant Forum thread.
Scott
Ok – I get it now. Won’t happen again…
October has nothing to do with eruptions… its the cloud cover… You can be a quarter mile from the volcano and not see it. Regardless if it is erupting or not, it is a majestic site to say the least and a crying shame to miss it because of clouds cover and rain.
As she said, it will not be your typical experience and I think that is what you desire your first time… not an unrepresentative adventure, although my motto for Costa Rica is : Costa Rica – Always an Adventure! jajajajaj (all possible puns intended!)>
I have been living at Lake Arenal for 20 years and just love it, with rain and without. July to October were wet and nasty months until some years ago, but our rainy seasons have been pretty dry lately. Some rain in the afternoon and/or early evening, and that’s it. We would hope for more rain this year, to fill up the lake and the local water supply for the surrounding pueblos, but it looks like it will be another pretty dry “wet” season.
I liked that part about people who buy on the beach head inland in 2 years. We flew to CR to look at a specific property at Jaco Beach. This was only our second trip to CR. After 3 days of too much heat and humidity we headed for Lake Arenal because I had been corresponding with Moran Realty there for 3 years. After 5 hours of looking at property, we put an offer on a house, it was accepted, and the whirlwind of moving began. It was like an episode of “Househunters International”. My husband is still in shock!
I too took George’s longer tour back in 2005 and almost purchased a home in Puriscal which I loved but wasn’t quite able to retire just yet so I waited. George and his lovely wife were so helpful and friendly. I met Dave and his wife on that tour when they were just finishing their guesthouse in Grecia. There was no way I could have found out as much local information without George’s tour and I’ve since had 3 other families that took his tour over the years and are planning their retirements there. On November 16th, me and my little darling cat Mimi will be on our way to live in CR finally. We found a temporary rental in Atenas and will use this as our base until we find another more permanent rental after having a chance to look around. Many folks on this site have been so helpful to me especially Dave and Pete and Stef in getting all my ducks in a row. If I find a bigger rental later on. andynjen you can come stay with us to look around. Best of luck to you.
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