Pura Vida
Written: Jun 29 '09 (Updated Jun 30 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Safe, beaches, rainforests, volcanoes, lots to do, inexpensive, friendly, not a lot of poverty.
Cons: Nicaraguan refugees are poor. Toilet paper typically does not go in the toilet.
The Bottom Line: Costa Rica is a great tourist spot that offers a variety of activities. It has many of the same things as Hawaii but is cheaper and closer.
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| texas-swede's Full Review: Costa Rica |
On June 12 my son and I flew from Dallas, Texas, to San Jose in Costa Rica with his Spanish Teachers, a number of kids, and a few other parents. The purpose of the trip was to combine language immersion with a vacation (lasting two and a half weeks). The group visited San Jose, northern Costa Rica, the area around the Arenal volcano, La Fortuna, a volcano observatory, the Baldi hot springs, an organic Costa Rican farm, Heredia, a Nicaraguan refugee camp (La Carpio), a Costa Rican mall, San Joaquin, El Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, Sarapiquí, took the Eco-Glide tour, a river tour (El Río Sarapiquí), a snorkeling cruise, visited Guanacaste, mud baths by the Rincón de La Vieja Volcano, Tamarindo, Flamingo, Guaitil, the city of Santa Cruz, and lots of beaches.
As part of the trip were two one week long Spanish class sessions (each Monday though Friday, 20 hrs each), one at CPI Heredia, and one at CPI Flamingo (CPI = Centro Panamericano de Idiomas). Due to family business I had to interrupt the vacation and fly back to Texas and then to Connecticut. Because of this I missed a few days in the middle and I missed the visit to La Carpio, the river tour, San Joaquin, and the classes at CPI Heredia (my son stayed though). I (we) stayed at Hotel Lavas de Tacotal (Arenal volcano), Holiday Inn Express in San Jose, and La Hacienda Guachipelín Hotel and Spa by the foot of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. However, the majority of the time I stayed with a wonderful Costa Rican family in Potrero.
The trip started out somewhat eventful with an emergency landing after a hydraulic leak had been detected (American Airlines). We were told to bend forward and hold on to our heads, prepare to exit through the emergency exits, and then slide down the slide. We were also told to leave all our belongings on the plane. Another parent told me that the reason for this was that it allowed the stewardesses to steal all our stuff, except our underwear, which they did not want. Due to the subsequent bad experiences I have had with American Airlines I concur with the cynicism embedded in that joke. The plane successfully made it back to DFW so we did not get to do a real emergency landing and we did not get to go on the slide. This greatly disappointed the kids; however, some of us still felt that this was for the best. However, all the fire trucks and police cars with flashing lights, and people in hazmat suites at DFW still made it a somewhat exciting experience. In any case we eventually made it to San Jose, Costa Rica, where our trip began.
About Costa Rica
Costa Rica is the most stable, democratic, and wealthy country in Central America. Costa Rica has a well-fare system similar to that of the Scandinavian countries and has good relations with the United States. Our tour guide told me that the Costa Rican model was based on the Swedish model. She said "Thomas your country is the model for my country". She probably said that to be nice, but I think there is some truth to it. Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, won the election in 2006 on a platform of promoting free trade. While touring San Jose we visited his house in the hopes of getting a glimpse of him. He sometimes comes out to greet visitors (ooglers).
Even though Costa Rica is a small country the geography and the climate is varied. Around San Jose there are tall mountains, in the north there are rain forests, and along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts there are a multitude of beaches. There are volcanoes, national parks, hot springs, mud baths, rivers, culture, and cities inhabited by mostly natives (Chorotega tribes).
Many tourists visit Costa Rica and there are a lot of things for tourists to do in Costa Rica, including, rainforest tours, river tours, cultural experiences, volcano observing, zip lines, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, etc. The Arenal volcano is one of the three volcanoes in the world that is continuously erupting.
During the rain season (March though September) the low lands (Guanacaste, the north, and the coasts) are hot and humid, and visited by heavy rains almost every day. Except San Jose and some popular beaches like, Tamarindo, Costa Rica is mostly free of crime. However, while in San Jose and Tamarindo you better hold to your belongings. Theft is common in these places. If you venture outside of the popular tourist spots like Tamarindo, you can find beautiful unexploited beeches where you can be alone, just as if you were on a deserted island. This is typical of the many beaches around the Flamingo area. Iguanas are everywhere outside of San Jose and you can see Iguanas on the beach, by the pool, at school, and in the yard. They are mostly harmless but if you scare them they can give you a hard whipping with their tail.
The food in Costa Rica is mostly rice, beans, a Pico de Gallo salad and something with that like chicken, meat, or just vegetables. The Pico de Gallo salad is always wonderful and the rice and beans is also good but it may become too much of the same after a while (like potato in Sweden). However, one of the really great Costa Rican food items is Yucca. They make boiled Yucca, fried Yucca, Yucca chips, basically everything you do with potato; however, I liked Yucca better than potato. The typical drinks are various fruit juices like Jugo Sandia, bananagana (or similar), their two most popular beers Imperial and Pilsen, and the sugar cane liquor (I forgot the name). Chewing sugar cane is also a more healthy type of candy. I should say that except the nicer hotels in and around San Jose you are expected to put the toilet paper in a waste basket by the toilet and not in the toilet. If you have an issue with this you should find out what policy the hotels that you are planning to stay at have.
La Fortuna, Finca Don Juan, hot springs, and the Arenal Volcano
We arrived at our hotel the Lavas Tacotal Lodge late on Friday. Despite the darkness you could see the silhouette of the Arenal volcano and the smoke plume emerging from the top. It looked just like how you imagine a large volcano with its large spout on top. The next day we visited the Arenal Lake and the town of La Fortuna. At the Arenal Lake we touched plants that moved when you touched them. The kids thought this was fun. We walked around La Fortuna, and visited various stores, art shops and the park. We also visited an entirely self sufficient and organic farm "Finca Don Juan". They produced there own fertilizer (cow manure), protection against insects, energy, and they grew all kinds of vegetables, roots, fruits, sugar cane, and much more. This was an interesting experience for the boys and all information was in Spanish. In the afternoon we visited the Baldi hot springs.
The Baldi hot springs was perfect for kids. Nor only did they have 30 hot and cold pools at varying temperatures, they had water falls (warm mineral water), three swim up bars and a few water slides. I am sure you have been on water slides before, but how about a water slide that will drop you into a pool of warm mineral rich water? I should add that a couple of the water slides were long and fast and took you through tunnels of darkness. The fastest one was not for the faint hearted. The Baldi hot springs also had a large buffet style restaurant. It was good but crowded. There were hundreds of patrons at dinner time and the lines at the buffet tables became long. The price in the evening (including dinner) is $5.00 per hour. Later in the evening we observed the lava flows of the Arenal volcano. I can add that one week after we left the Arenal volcano had a violent eruption and the area had to be evacuated.
In my opinion the most fun activities around La Fortuna were the Baldi hot springs and watching the lava flows of the volcano. It was interesting to see the organic farm and visiting La Fortuna, however, I think we could maybe have skipped the visit to the Arenal Lake. I should add that the area offers a lot of other activities that we did not have time to visit including ATV tours, river tours, hiking, horse back riding, rafting, and balloon rides. There are also the Eco glide and the Tarzan swing which we did do.
The Zip lines and the Tarzan swing in the Arenal Park
The next morning we did the so called EcoGlide. The Eco Glide consist of 17 segments (and platforms) of zip lines that will take you zipping between the tree tops and the canopy in the rain forest. The longest zip line segment was 430 meters and the total length about one and a half mile if I don't remember incorrectly. You are likely to see monkeys and birds while zipping along. I saw a bird of prey swinging by and gliding ahead of me while I zipped down the line. Even though you are high above the ground none of the kids had a problem with the zip line, and that included my son who does not like heights.
We also did the Tarzan swing which was a sort of bungee jump between the trees. You jump and fall about 40-50 feet free fall and then you start swinging back and forth between the trees when you reach the bottom. The teacher wrote that the free fall was 80-100 meters, however, she must have meant "feet" and I still don't think it was quite that far. After the free fall you will start swinging back and forth in a half circle and I estimate that it was about 100-150 feet in diameter. The Tarzan swing was somewhat scary. However, all the kids, teachers, and parents did it, but not without a lot of screaming. One of the teachers regretted her self when she arrived at the edge of the platform. She dug her heels in and told the staff that she did not want to do it (in both English and Spanish). However, they pushed her over the edge and she was screaming all the way down. I should add that in the end she did not regret the involuntary swing.
The Zip line was an awesome experience and I highly recommend it. The Tarzan swing was also a lot of fun. The cost for the Eco Glide is $45 per person and that includes the Tarzan Swing, which is optional (unless you change your mind in the last minute). The entire Eco-Glide adventure takes about two hours.
La Carpio, the Nicaraguan Refugee camp
Next we traveled south to Heredia north of San Jose. The tour guide drove me to my hotel in San Jose while the rest of the travelers stayed in Heredia. In Heredia the kids began their Spanish classes. The next day I flew to Texas and then to Connecticut so I missed this part. However, my son, the other kids, the teachers, and the other parents explained to me in detail what I had missed. They went on a river tour (El Río Sarapiquí) on which they saw howler monkeys caimans, iguanas and a lot of different birds. They visited a large mall, San Joaquin, and they learned Spanish.
However, what turned out to be the most interesting thing that happened during my absence was their visit to a Nicaraguan refugee camp called La Carpio. Costa Rica has a very large population of Nicaraguan refugees. Even though Costa Rica does not have a lot of poverty, these people lived in abject poverty. Here the kids taught the younger kids in the camp some English. I should add that some part of the price for the trip included a contribution for this camp. It is CPI policy that the visitors participating in their program participate in some charity (suggested/organized by CPI). This was apparently a good experience for the kids. Our kids are very privileged and at La Carpio they met other children who are not.
Volcanic Mud Springs & Spa in Rincón de La Vieja Volcano and National Park
I came back to Costa Rica the following Friday (June 19) so I missed only a small part of the trip. We traveled north to Guanacaste. Guanacaste is a province in North West Costa Rica which is famous for its beaches, volcanoes, and rain forests. Once we arrived we checked into our hotel La Hacienda Guachipelín and ate lunch at their restaurant. La Hacienda Guachipelín offered tours to nearby attractions including the mud baths at Simbiosis the Volcanic Mud Springs & Spa in the Rincón de La Vieja Volcano and National Park
Simbiosis had saunas, cold and warm pools, and a mud bath. You could not actually sit in the mud baths because they were too hot from the volcanic activity. Instead you covered yourself in mud that was continuously collected into barrels (so it was warm but not hot). Then you let the mud dry. When the mud was dry you took a shower and then you relaxed in hot pools or in the cold pools. It was a fun experience, and the mud supposedly has healing powers. However, there is another mud bath at Buena Vista and I would check with them if you can actually sit in the mud. It would be more fun to sit in the mud.
I should add that other activities around La Hacienda Guachipelín are canopy tours including zip lines and hanging bridges, horse back riding tours, tubing on Rio Negro, waterfalls, cattle herding and mountain biking. We did not have time for any of this stuff. The room rate at La Hacienda Guachipelín was $29 per night.
Marimba, Merengue, and Ballonato
La Hacienda Guachipelín had a bar with a dance floor below the restaurant. In the evening a music group played Marimba music at the bar. Marimba music is very typical for Guanacaste and is played using a Marimba which is an instrument that looks like a large xylophone. It is really interesting and fun music and the Costa Rican tour guide (Selma) taught me how to dance Marimba. The teachers are from Colombia and they asked the band to play Colombian music and taught me how to dance Ballonato which is a Colombian dance (and music). They also knew how to dance Merengue (from the Dominican Republic) so we danced that too.
We only stayed at La Hacienda Guachipelín one day; however, I think that this seemed to be a great place. I suggest you stay a little longer when you visit Costa Rica.
Guanacaste, Santa Cruz, Tamarindo, Flamingo, and the beaches
Next we traveled to Tamarindo which is a beautiful beach, however, it has a lot of tourists and you need to hold on to your belongings here. In Tamarindo some of the kids learned how to surf and the rest used body boards and did the "lying down" surfing on the fairly sizeable waves. After Tamarindo we moved onto Flamingo and Potrero, which was the little village in Flamingo where we were staying. I liked Flamingo better than Tamarindo because it was more tranquil and unexploited. There are several small hotels in and around Flamingo as well as many beautiful and tranquil beaches. When we visited the various beaches, for example, Playa Conchal, and Playa de Penco, we were typically alone on the beach. I should add that we also took a snorkel cruise out to some nearby islands. The snorkeling was maybe not the greatest but the boat was fun and they offered free food and drinks (well the kids did not take full advantage of the latter).
We also visited Santa Cruz which is an important cultural center in Costa Rica. Santa Cruz is inhabited by mostly the Chorotega Indigenous people and the mix of ancient Indigenous and Spanish culture and art makes for a very interesting city. We toured Santa Cruz (that was our culture day) and we visited a small town nearby Santa Cruz called Guaitil. In Guaitil we visited an art collective for women and we purchased various art and ceramic articles. In summary I would like to say that Flamingo is a relatively unspoiled area in Guanacaste with great and still tranquil beaches.
Staying with Ticos families
Most of us (including me) did not stay at a hotel in Flamingo (even though there were many smaller hotels). We stayed with a Tico family (Ticos is a nick name for Costa Ricans). They served us breakfast and dinner (my mama Tica Maria was an awesome cook). She cooked Costa Rican, American, and Italian food. They entertained us and spoke to us (in Spanish), did our laundry, cleaned our rooms, and helped us with our home work if we so wanted. The cost for staying one week with a Tica family was $120 which I think is a great deal, especially for students traveling to Costa Rica to learn Spanish.
CPI Flamingo
Centro Panamericano de Idiomas (CPI) in Flamingo was a well organized school. They had several small class rooms, a pool, a cafeteria, a library, and many well educated Spanish and enthusiastic teachers. The classes were small (typically a few students), and English was banned. Our classes lasted from 8AM until noon. I came to Costa Rica quite unprepared. I did not know any Spanish before hand and I also missed the classes at CPI Heredia because of my return to the U.S. So I ended up being the only one put in the absolute beginner's class. The pronunciation was easy for me. Unlike Americans who have a harder time with certain sounds I got that part almost perfectly correct from the start. However, I had a lot to learn and the fact that no English (or Swedish) was used made the beginning hard.
My teacher was a smart and good looking indigenous woman from Santa Cruz, and I was her only student. However, using charades, pictures and drawings she made me understand. It was great entertainment to see her pretending to dive, drive a bus around the class room, and hanging clothes in a wardrobe. She worked hard to make me understand various words and grammar. She had talent for acting and seemed to like it. She taught me how to order beers like Imperial and Pilsen at pubs, and how to order food at restaurants. She asked me a lot about Sweden and Texas and I asked her about Costa Rica and Santa Cruz (everything in Spanish). Towards the end of the week I was able to converse in Spanish (but with difficulty). I have to admit it was the most fun class I've ever taken.
Final Recommendation
For a small country Costa Rica has a lot to offer. For example, rainforests, nature, beaches, volcano watching, fun, hot springs, mountains, culture, and much more. There are a lot for tourists to do here and it is safe and relatively inexpensive. Visiting Costa Rica to learn Spanish is ideal for students as well as families. CPI (Monte Verde, Flamingo, and Heredia) offers excellent programs that combine a fun vacation with learning. For your information Pura Vida means "pure life" and is a very typical Costa Rican greeting (Como esta usted? - Pura Vida). I highly recommend Costa Rica to families, vacationers, and those who come here to learn Spanish.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug
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Epinions.com ID:
texas-swede
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Member: Thomas Wikman
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Reviews written: 368
Trusted by: 108 members
About Me:
The photo is of my daughter and a Beluga Whale, Sea World, San Antonio
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