Costa Rica
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- theplanet
Spending all next week in Costa Rica with some friends. We really don't have any plans or itinerary. Anyone have any suggestions of what to see or do?
- wademd0
Visit the beach
- bigtrick0
visit arenal, climb the slopes of the volcano, sit in the hot springs after the sun goes down, watch the toucans and coatis and shite.
don't eat at tourist restaurants. eat local stuff.
drink some imperial and pilsen.
- theplanet0
thanks.
- sureshot0
Don't wear your rolex!
- kgvs720
No extradition laws and no army.
- gramme0
Surf.
- dMullins0
Costa Rica is the shit. Depending on where you're at, depends on what to do.
Dominical: Go to the Hatua Park
Dominical: Visit Mike and Pete at the Surf Shop, they are cool.
Dominical: Eat at the only nice ass restaurant in the area, trust me, someone can show you where it's at. There's another great "mexican" place on the "strip" with all the young Costa Rican village girls working there, and a neat seating area made form VW vans.
Dominical: Sit on the beach for at least a day, and surf if you're into that.
Dominical: Go to Delicious Cafe for breakfast and get the pineapple juice with apples. It's crazy good.--
Manuel Antonio: Go to the Blue Monkey and watch hundreds of monkeys dig through the trash and get drunk on left-over alcoholic drinks.
Manuel Antonio: The beach here is spectacular. The surfing is dangerous as shit though--
Arenal: Volcano. Hot springs. Mandatory.
--
If at any point you can visit a farm house, either through a horseback ride, a wildland tour, etc, do it. They are awesome if they are not run down, and the owners will feed you the best meal you've ever had in your life, for free.
I went to Costa Rica last year, and I loved it. I would kill to live there, but I guess it would get boring after a while.
San Juan sucks. Stay away.
Hatillo is cool. Kind of shady though. Kind of place you would definitely get stabbed on the streets after-hours just for being a tourist.
Pilsen > Imperial. Pilsen is decent, Imperial is the asshole of Costa Rican beer.
- CyBrain0
Here's some pictures I took in 06. This might give you some ideas.
- gramme0
I've stayed in Tamarindo, on the west coast. Very touristy, but a lot to do in the surrounding areas. Not recommended if you want something off the beaten path. Playa Grande just to the north is nice, cool little hotel on the beach but asshole transplanted Italian surfers in the water. Thumping beachbreak, always bigger there than across the river in Tamarindo.
We had a nice reefbreak in front of our hotel in Tamarindo, a fast right with a sketchy takeoff near a large lava rock that jutted out of the water by about 6 ft., but really fun. Only broke at higher tides, otherwise too shallow. I only surfed there once on our last day, but it was sick.
Good waves around the point to the south in Playa Langosta—reef, rivermouth. I didn't surf there, only watched as it was too big for someone as rusty as I was at the time. Couple really nice hotels there, plenty of houses to rent on the stretch between Tamarindo and Langosta. More secluded, less noise in Langosta.
Playa Avellanas, about an hour south via extremely bumpy dirt road (in dry season, that is), has a few good reef, river and sandbar breaks. Lolas, named after an enormous pig who wallows out to work on her tan right at the tideline each afternoon, has delicious food—fresh fruit smoothies, insane Costa Rican-style fish & chips, etc. No decent places there to stay though, as far as I know.
I hear good things about Dominical and Manuel Antonio too, as dmullins says above.
Then there's the East Coast, which has a distinct Caribbean vibe. Turquoise water. Surprisingly wide array of waves, many of which are actually pretty dangerous. Much less touristy over there.
- dconstrukt0
i go a few times a year....
go to jaco beach. its about a 2 hr ride from san jose, which is a fucking dump.
you can go surfing in jaco,zip lining, white water rafting, atving (I'm not allowed to, nearly killed myself last year on one)
and.... (drunroll please).... at night if you want some action you *must* go to BEATLE BAR.
PACKED full of ladies waiting to please you :-)
nuff said.
- dconstrukt0
btw I'll be in jaco aug 13-18th