Costa Rica - Epilogue
Amy and I had a very pleasant trip to Costa Rica. Considering we really didn't have any sense as to what to expect, our trip certainly exceeded our expectations. It didn't rain as much as I expected. The food was not as spectacular as I expected. The "adventure" stuff was very fun. We didn't hurt ourselves on anything. The roads sucked; pretty much as expected. The beaches were pleasant, but not extraoridinary. I think I would have liked a like more infrastructure at the beach, but that would have entailed heading down to Tamarindo instead of staying at Playa Potrero.
Would we recommend Costa Rica to others?
I guess it depends. I don't know if Costa Rica would be the first place I would recommend people visit. While the landscape and geography stretch from tropical to mountainous to coastal sandy beaches, the country didn't particularly stand out to me. Maybe because we didn't go to San Jose and what we saw were the touristy aspect of the country, I never felt that I was able to grasp the local flavor of Costa Rica; something I try to do whenever I visit a foreign place or even a not so foreign place.
Because it's such a short flight away and not the most expensive place to travel, it is different and had elements of things that I wouldn't experience else where.
What woud we have done differently?
I think the only thing we would have done differently would have been to reserve a rent-a-car from Santa Elena with the option to return it in Liberia. It really isn't the cost issue, but the freedom transportation options would have given us. We were pretty much stuck at Playa Potrero whether or not we liked it or not. The rental car would have given us options to seek out more local aspects of the country that staying on the beaten track didn't allow us to do. Finally, we are never going to travel withou the Lonely Planet guidebook again. The Moon Handbook sucked big time. The maps sucked. There was no sense or recommendations as to what was good or bad. Just not helpful at all. We probably could have or did travel through Costa Rica without it.
Total Costs - Total
Airfare = $830
Hotels = $220 (5 nights)
Transportation = $244
Adventure Things and Hikes and Stuff = $550
Food and miscellaneous = $400 or so
Total costs = $2,200
Would we recommend Costa Rica to others?
I guess it depends. I don't know if Costa Rica would be the first place I would recommend people visit. While the landscape and geography stretch from tropical to mountainous to coastal sandy beaches, the country didn't particularly stand out to me. Maybe because we didn't go to San Jose and what we saw were the touristy aspect of the country, I never felt that I was able to grasp the local flavor of Costa Rica; something I try to do whenever I visit a foreign place or even a not so foreign place.
Because it's such a short flight away and not the most expensive place to travel, it is different and had elements of things that I wouldn't experience else where.
What woud we have done differently?
I think the only thing we would have done differently would have been to reserve a rent-a-car from Santa Elena with the option to return it in Liberia. It really isn't the cost issue, but the freedom transportation options would have given us. We were pretty much stuck at Playa Potrero whether or not we liked it or not. The rental car would have given us options to seek out more local aspects of the country that staying on the beaten track didn't allow us to do. Finally, we are never going to travel withou the Lonely Planet guidebook again. The Moon Handbook sucked big time. The maps sucked. There was no sense or recommendations as to what was good or bad. Just not helpful at all. We probably could have or did travel through Costa Rica without it.
Total Costs - Total
Airfare = $830
Hotels = $220 (5 nights)
Transportation = $244
Adventure Things and Hikes and Stuff = $550
Food and miscellaneous = $400 or so
Total costs = $2,200
posted by amy & albert at 2:26 PM
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