Archive for the ‘costa rica’ Category
How much did you spend traveling in costa rica?
March 20th, 2010 | 
Author: My Friend and i are heading to Costa Rica then travel around Central America For about 4 to 5 weeks. We are curious to how much other people have spent in similar situations. We have one friend there and plan on camping and pretty much where ever we end up. Thoughts?
Most tourist locations have youth hostels and the buses are very cheap. if you eat food from grocery stores and plan on youth hostels, you can live on about $30 per day on a budget. Most of the hostels charge at least $10 and some are $20 in the high tourist locations like Manuel Antonio. Also keep in mind that this is high season. Food in restaurants is pretty cheap, stick to the Casados (means married in Spanish) which are "what a married man would eat if he were at home". A complete meal with a main course of fish, chicken, pork or beef along with squash, rice and beans, plantains, a small salad or slaw. On a real budget, buy food at the grocery store. If you want to travel like a tourist and go on the zip lines, visit the national parks, white water raft, etc,. figure that any national park will cost you $10 to get in, good for all day. Zip lines and such are at a minimum $30 per person. Rafting is $40 to $60. Most of the "touristy" things are expensive since the largest source of income in Costa Rica is tourism and demand is close to exceeding supply. If you are camping, most places allow camping for free on the beach but the chances of you losing all your stuff are pretty high unless you stay with it.
Downtown San Jose… and some of its 19th century architectureWhat is the cheapest way to ship a car from the US to Costa Rica?
My husband’s family lives in Costa Rica. We’d like to ship one of our cars from NJ to Costa Rica. So far, the cheapest we’ve been able to find is $5,000. Please help!
Shipping prices vary depending on size of car and whether or not is is a roll-on (drive it off) or shipped in container and what size of container. Now if you can drive the car to Philadelphia, Miami etc, your cost will be a lot cheaper.
A friend a few years back shipped a Ford Ranger (small pickup) from Miami, and shared a larger container (40 foot long) with another person and his cost was only $625.
However, once the car is in Costa Rica the problems and real expenses start. The car is taxed not by its value and its condition but against it original price. Duties are calculated by taking the higher value between the infamous Costa Rica Black Book (not Blue Book) which is based on the Average Retail Value and the value that the Ministerio de Hacienda puts on it, and God-knows what that is.
And because of this, a lot of cars are abandoned after arrival because of the cost and complexities of getting it out of customs can break you.
Example: Please note, these rates have changed based on the New Year, but it will give you an idea of the additional costs to expect ON TOP of the shipping.
Car models Years 2004-2007 pay 55%
Car models Years 2000-2001 pay about 65%
Car models Years 1999 and older pay about 80%
And these costs can change without notice.
To get an idea go to the below links and they should be able to give you a quote
http://www.autocarshippers.com/
http://www.freight-calculator.com/Car-RO/carocr.asp
http://www.limonagency.com/
I hope this helps
What is the average temperature of Costa Rica in the traditional winter?
I’m studying abroad in Costa Rica from August to December. Is it going to be eighties? Sixties? I’m trying to figure out what kind of clothes to pack.
If you are going to Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro or anywhere in the San Jose area A.K.A., the Central Highlands, then you can expect sunny mornings with rainy afternoons with highs around 70. On the coasts it will be more like 85-90 with morning sun and afternoon rain. Towards the beginning you will get very rainy days as you are in the height of the rainy season from August to October.
Costa Rica’s first female president
Laura Chinchilla enters Costa Rica’s history books after a landslide presidential election victory.
Duration : 0:1:5
What is a good place in Costa Rica to make a billboard on?
In spanish class we are making little billboards of places in Costa Rica. What is an interesting and colorful place i can make mine of. One example would be somewhere like Buru ri ri (sp?) It is a national park, so something like that. Or a good website with different tourist sites that are there.
One of the volcanoes would make an excellent billboard. You can look them up in Wikipedia.
Baldi Hot Springs Fortuna Arenal Costa Rica
http://TravelCostaRicaNOW.com Hey Everyone! Finally we re-did our Baldi Hot Springs REVIEW. Baldi Hot Springs is located a couple miles outside of La Fortuna Arenal area and is ONE of the 3 more popular hot springs options in La Fortuna. The other two being Tabacon and Eco Termales. Baldi Hot Springs is big, cheap and probably the BIGGEST BANG for your buck if that’s what you’re looking for, but it is also fairly touristy and almost seems like it could be located right next to Disneyland. Baldi has like 25 pools in various sizes and temperatures, swim-up bars, water slides, KIDS, dinner buffets, loud music and definitely draws a younger crowd for the most part… and in the past couple years the vegetation has really matured and it’s looking MUCH nicer and tropical than it once did. Like I mentioned, we did a video before on Baldi, but we shot it from the back of a golf cart and it was quite a long time ago, this is a MUCH better version. So if you’re thinking about checking out the HOT SPRINGS when you’re in La Fortuna viewing the Arenal Volcano, you might want to CHECK OUT this video. Hope it helps, ENjoY!
Duration : 0:6:7
Posted in costa rica | 
Tags: arenal volcano, Baldi Hot Springs, costa rica, Eco Termales, hot springs, la fortuna, Tabacon Hot Springs | 
7 Comments »
what is the best beach in Costa Rica for beginner to intermediate surfers with accommodations?
I am looking to plan a trip this summer to Costa Rica and wanted to spend it surfing with a few friends and stay at a cheap/safe place. Where is a good area for that, that is also conducive to surfing conditions for beginner to intermediate surfers?
Dominical has cheap accomodations and great surf lessons. Dominical sometimes has BIG waves but you can go further out and ride smaller waves as you get proficient.
Playa Hermosa, just after Jaco is full of surf camps and hotels just devoted to surfers. There’s not a lot else to do there especially if you don’t have a car.
You can get lessons and cheap places to stay in Manuel Antonio but the waves aren’t great there. There is more to do in Manuel Antonio but less emphasis on surfing.
Jaco has a surfing scene as well and again plenty of cheap accomodations. The emphasis in Jaco is more about drugs and prosititution but there is a good surf scene albeit more crime. If you were my kid, I’d spend the money and send you to either Manuel Antonio (you’ll haev much more than just surfing to do there including a great national park, good singles scene at night, lots of restuarant choices and area tours to things like white water rafting, zip lines and horseback riding. Another option is Puerto Jimenez, in the corcovado, but it is much further away and will take a day each way to get there and back. Dominical will take about 4 hours from the airport and if you are planning on taking buses, the answer becomes Jaco or Manuel Antonio. Jaco is only about 65 minutes fomr San Jose now that the new Caldera highway is open. Manuel Antonio will take about 2.25 hours from San Jose if you were driving, now with the new highway. My vote is for Manuel Antonio if you want lots to do and for Dominical is your main concern is surfing.
How much does food cost in Costa Rica if you cook it yourself?
I was thinking of going to costa rica for a month or two, how much will it cost me to buy food there?
Right now I eat very well in America for $250 US dollars a month unless i go out to eat.
If you cook everything yourself, and keep away from the imported foods and can goods and buy at the local markets and/or roadside stands – for $150 a month you will eat like a king.
Here are a few costs:
Bananas: .50-$1 a bunch
Mangos: .5-10 cents each, if not free, they grown just about everywhere.
Rice 1lb: .25-.50 cents
3lbs of Fish: 3-$5
Coffee 1lb: $1
Sugar 1lb: .50-.75 cents
3lbs of Chicken: 3-$6
Lettuce one bunch: .20-30 cents
Local can goods: tuna, soup, sauces, etc, .10-.75 cents each
Meat: round steak/hamburger etc $1.50-$2.50 a lb.
Milk: $1.50-$2 a gallon
Bottle or Canned Soft Drinks: .25-75 cents each
Beer: .75-$2 each
costa rica a traveler’s guide part 1
a film directed by dennis zambataro, director of photography leo mileman, shot on location in costa rica
Duration : 0:10:0
Posted in costa rica |
Tags: Costa, leo, mileman, nature, Rica, travel, video, zambataro |
6 Comments »