Costa Rica vacation

7:08 PM 9/2/2004
I went to costa rica on august 24 2004, and stayed for about eight

days. I took my family with me, so we were six people altogether(all

of us rather big.) We rented a four wheel drive from dollar rent a

car for 496, and this was a seven passenger. Actually it could barely

fit us, and with our luggage it was a real pain. Then again that's all

they have. Cars are not as big there as here due to the price of full

which is expensive. Nevertheless, I felt good about it since by

calling from my hotel, instead of getting it from the internet like

some travel books suggest I actually saved several hundred dollars.

Over the internet they wanted 831 dollars for a week, instead I met a

guy named Zenius at dollar who showed me that I could get the car for

496. At the end of the term I paid 541 including filling up all the

diesel that I used. The only bummer was that the first car was kind of

old and it broke down in Arenal. That is the battery went bad, but as

luck would have it, that was a very good thing for us, becuase we

stayed another day and got to see Arenal at it's best, and in the

rainy season no less!! I then got a new car delivered to me within

three hours, with a stick and it was pretty good.
I would like to clear up a few things about driving in Costa Rica

in the rainy season,aka green season. Contrary to what you hear from a

lot of travel books, Costa Rican drivers are really pretty good. Their

problem is that they are a little absent minded, but it's nothing

malicious at all. Like everyone else they want to get home or to work

and so have to pull some difficult manuevers at what may be inopertune

times. Actually I find them to be much better drivers than New

Yorkers, and I found the driving in Costa Rica, as far as other

drivers go, to be much easier than in New York city, in which I've

been driving most of my life. San Jose is a little challenging but

again compared to New York City it's really a sunday drive at most.
What is dangerous in Costa Rica are it's roads outside of the

cities. Especially it's mountain roads. They are very narrow, and very

curvy(as would be expected) and always subject to very bad weather

conditions, especially in the rainy season. The most dangerous momment

I had was when a huge tractor trailer ,comming down from a steep hill

veered half way into my lane on the opposite side on a very narrow two

way road,on a tight curve,and in pretty bad rain. I was barely able to

stop in time,and with all my family in the car, I had the biggest

scare. However, I know full well that the driver meant his best but

the problem is that the conditions are so very difficult. I had a hard

time driving the four by four, small by american standards, imagine

that poor guy having to drive a tractor trailer on roads like that for

a living!!!
As for the pot holes, contrary to what many travel books say,

there are few roads that are heavily pot holed,and most are patched,

or alternative roads exist. Comming from New York City I was not too

badly impressed by the potholes but then again going down to Jaco for

a small stretch of road from Puntarenas, I found it to be quite bad.

Then we hit a newly paved road, and the driving was quite easy. I

thought that I was in the bear mountain region of new york state.
The only other danger rarely mentioned is that of landslides which

occur with regularity during the rainy season. Often times entire

roads are cut off becuase of them. It happened on my way to Arenal

from San Jose and I had to take a long detour(on a rather good road)

through Quesada. For this I can only say that this is Costa Rica, and

unfortunately it's great beauty is in fact caused by that very same

natural dynamism that causes natural disasters. So when in Costa Rica

you have to understand that the real reason you are there is to

experience nature first hand, and at it's greatest height, and in a

sense you put your life in her hands; and so you must take it as it

comes. Just drive slowly and with greate caution and you will just

fine.
To conclude my comments on driving in Costa Rica during the rainy

season, I must say that I found it challenging, but quite doable, and

really nothing that a good driver cannot handle. As for the problems

some people report with renting a car, I can only say that I did not

experience any such problems. The people at dollar were very nice, and

they did not in anyway try to rip me off at all. In fact the first guy

I talked to, Zenius, actually saved me a lot of money by pointing out

to me that my credit card covered any possible loss due to damage of

the car,which included any deductibles. So I didn't experience any

hassles at all. But then again I took good care of that car, and so

should you. If you leave the car in a bad place and it does get a ding

,or if you do something you are not supposed to with it, then quite

frankly you will likely have to pay for it, just as you would in the

United States. If you take care of the car as best you can, and are

considerate and careful you will have a great experience. Overall the

scenery was absolutely spectacular. My family and I(even grandma) got

to see Costa Rica at it's unsheltered best, something you cant do in a

resort alone. Also, it is important to note, that if you are a good

driver you may actually be safer by doing the driving yourself. Not

all those tour bus operators are safe drivers. I saw a few who really

were not driving safely, so in the end you may well do better driving

carefully on your own than having someone else do the driving for you.

San Jose was interesting but quite frankly a little

disquieting. Not because I felt threatened, I'm from New York, and I

know city life, but rather because so many people are trying to sell

you something or other even as youre walking down the street. This

makes you feel a little too special. Then again,though I didn't go

into any of it, being that I am married and was with my family, I can

see that there is a pretty seedy side to it. The place looks like you

could have some fun, if you wanted to. But like everything else I

think you have to go very cautiously,and very slowly or you are likely

to burn a lot of money for less than you expected.
My biggest turnoff in San Jose was the restaurant famous for

it's mariachi bands. This is called La Esmarelda. It was really very

uncomfortable, the food was rather expensive, and the mariachi bands

wanted fifty dollars for two songs. There were a few prostitutes

hanging out also, and the whole scene was a little disheartening and

so I do not recomend it unless maybe you're feeling a little bohemian

and dont mind the experience. Some of the food was pretty good(the

empanadas were really very good)and there was something of an

atmosphere there that you cant get to anywhere else. It was like being

in Mexico City really.
Still there is something about being in San Jose. A sense of

freedom pretty much emanates throughout your whole experience there.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn, and found the hotel's service to

be EXCELLENT, and for a pretty good price. I had a pretty good time at

that hotel and would recommend it.

About the Rainy season,aka Green Season in Costa Rica. It is

annoying!!! Let that be said right away. If you go during the so

called green season prepare for annoyance, even aggravation. For

example I went up to Irazu, and after two hours of some rather

difficult driving I go to see absolutely nothing due to the rain. The

same nearly happened at Volcan Poas. But the rain let up slightly and

I got to see Lake Botos, but not the crater. After those two

experiences I was pretty disheartened. Then I drove up to Arenal. On

my way there the sky turned bright and clear and I thought I was going

to have a good experience. Just as I was going over the mountains I

ran into the worst fog of my whole trip, and thought rather that I was

going to kill myself and my entire family up there on those extremely

difficult roads. I stopped for awhile and bought a few sandwiches from

this local soda, somewhere deep in the mountains. The juices were

good, so was the coffee, but the sandwiches tasted rather wierd. Like

mushed beef or something. In any case I felt good enough to head down

the mountain and into the valley on my way to Arenal. As I approached

the weather cleared again and I could see Arenal and the entire chain

of mountains leading up to it. Still there was a cloud on Arenal's top

so I could not see the entire volcano. Still I thought that my luck

had changed and that by morning I would see the whole thing in it's

greatness.
I was wrong. By nightfall the entire mountain was covered in a

thick fog and it was thundering all night. In fact the fog was so bad

that I could not see ten feet in front of my nose. My daughter

remarked that had we not seen the volcano before, we would not ever

have believed that it was there at all.
I held out hope all night that I would see it, instead by morning

the situation had changed little. I was very dissapointed. I had

decided that I would head down to Jaco and leave the bad experience

behind, but by that time I was getting extremely depressed, and I was

beginning to think that I made a huge mistake in comming to Cost Rica

during the rainy season. Then as luck would have it just as I started

my car up the battery went dead. I was forced to stay at the Montangne

del Fuego one more day while my rent a car company got me another car.

By the time I checked into my new cabins which by the way had

Spectacular views of the volacano, the fog began to clear. By evening

nearly the entire volacano was visible, and I spent most of the next

night looking at the eruptions. By the next morning the entire

volacano had become visible, and the sight is one that I will never

forget.
The lesson in this is that if you want to come to Costa Rica in

the rainy season, which is not a bad idea at all in itself, you must

be prepared to spend much more time if you really want to see the

sights. They will show up, to be sure, but it will take time. Then

again Costa Rica is a tropical wonderland, and to see it in it's truth

you have to see it during the rainy season as well.

The last place I went to was to Jaco. I didn't think much of

Jaco by itself. There are a lot of surfers there, and little else. I

had a hard time finding a good place to stay until I went to punta

leona. I got an appartment there with two bedrooms for about 157 a

night. I was very impressed by the security there, as well as by the

isolation of the resort which seems to be huge. Still it was very

pretty, and it had it's own trails, which I thought were better than

Carrara state park. The beach was excellent. Overall I gave the Punta

Leona resort excellent marks.
I think Costa Rica is much more expensive than people think.

But it's still a good deal. United States economic and political

policies are starting to inflate prices world wide, and they will have

an especially disruptive influence all along the americas which will

likely result in high prices, and some instability. For example I ran

into a national protest down there due to some tax the Costa Rican

government wants to impose on motorists, and it was very annoying. I

was also annoyed by the exit tax of 26 dollars per person, but I think

this was not that bad compared to what may come in a few years as the

monetary policies of the United States continue to pump unsecured

investment resources all over the world so as to spur unprofitable and

unsustanable growth, as is happening in Costa Rica. So perhaps now is

the best time to visit, before prices start to sky rocket everywhere.
One thing impressed me about the airport services. Their

security in Costa Rica was really incredible. They took a lot of

precautions to make certain that everyone getting on a plane was safe.

This included mandatory searches of baggage before check in. This plus

the careful scrutiny by X-ray machines likely make it safer to go

through Costa Rica than it is through Houston, which I found to be a

real circus. If the arab terrorists were smarter, like if they were

vietnamese or Koreans, I think we'd be negotiating the surrender of

Washington DC in a couple of years. So bad was the security going

through Houston on my way to New York. With all my family on board I

had some real sweaty momments going into Laguardia(always a difficult

landing in a very tight airspace) on September first from George Bush

international airport in Houston to New York on the last night of the

Republican convention. Still my trip to Costa Rica was a good one,

and one day soon I'll do it again,though I might opt for the dry

season this time.