Country Info
- San Jose
- Capital
- Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
- Currency
- 3,773,057
- Population
- CR
- Country Code
Costa Rica Slideshow
Travel Blogs from Costa Rica
My First Cup of Agua Dulce
This is a top pick! ... but she also invited me to her church. While at an event, I made so many friends, that it really feels like I've been in Costa Rica longer than just a few weeks. At this event, I met Lucy and Anya, from the neighboring town of San Antonio de Escazu. They ...
Ants on Steroids
This is a top pick! OUR FIRST HIKE Once we got settled in, Caro and I set about the challenging task of going for a hike in the surrounding area. Just imagine uphill and downhill were the only directions - not 5 feet of flat land to speak of!! It was worth it though, ...
Placing my Life in the hands of a Horse in Tambor
This is a top pick! JOURNEY TO PLAYA TAMBOR The second adventure I had in store for my mom was a stay at an all-inclusive resort in Guanacaste. There is some debate as to whether Playa Tambor is actually in Guanacaste or Punta Arenas (seems to be right on ...
Pure Vida
This is a top pick! ... in a real river - just pulled over to the side of the road and went up on the bridge and looked down!!!!!! Costa Rica has the world's largest biodiversity - more species here than anywhere else on earth. It is only the size of Nova ...
Manuel Antonio and Surf lessons
This is a top pick! ... ). We leave at 7:30am and won't arrive at our hostal until 5:30pm! That is the one thing they need to fix here in Costa Rica. A lot of the roads are terrible and the bus schedules are worse. There are two buses that leave Puntaranus for Monteverde one is ...
A story about my classroom...
This is a top pick! In my classroom, I am Teacher. I pull strange looking caterpillers off of cringing students without the bat of an eye. I tell Mauricio to get out from under his desk and sit in his seat. I have the power to give out ...
La Estrella Noticias
This is a top pick! While it may seem like the world is falling apart sometimes, what with the floodings, draughts, earthquakes, and tsunamis shaking the world right now, La Estrella has somehow managed to be untouched by it all. In my little corner of the world, ...
Getting Sick in Costa Rica - A True Blessing
This is a top pick! BEING THAT I'M UNINSURED... Costa Rica was the perfect place to take on an ear infection! A few days ago, I started to feel a sharp pain and stuffiness in my right ear. If I had been in the US, a doctor's visit and prescribed antibiotic would have cost ...
We are leaving our souls in Costa Rica
This is a top pick! Hi All, So our taxi is about to arrive to take us to the airport. We went to the Poas Volcano this morning and although there was too much cloud to see the main crater we did see the second crater. We also got a few wonderful pictures including one ...
No Sloths at the Holiday Inn
This is a top pick! ... replacable. We had plans to do the famous canopy zip lines and go to the turtle reserves on the Carribean coast, but as Costa Rica has a thriving tourist industry, the cost of most things is far beyond the realms of a backpacking budget. San Jose ...
Volcan Arenal
This is a top pick! ... here than patchwork together other busses to make it to Managua. We hear the border crossing is awful.... It seems like, in Costa Rica, they lure you in with relatively cheap lodgings and sometimes cheap food, then expect that you will be willing to ...
Andrew´s birthday, and Monkey Attack
This is a top pick! ... which was super spicy and tasty--note to CHAD: we DID have spicy food before we got to Mexico. The Carribean side of Costa Rica has a huge Jamaican influence. We will probably leave tomorrow to head south to Manzanilla and to see Tom Shaver in ...
Backtracking to see Volcan Arenal
This is a top pick! Dean: After speaking to a few other travelers in Santa Elena, we realised that we had missed a key stop in Costa Rica - Volcan Arenal. This is one of the most continually active volcanoes in the Americas and the locals do some great night tours where ...
La Estrella...business as always
This is a top pick! La Estrella del Guarco is a little town of 500 people, though I have yet to see these supposed 500 people. I think they´re counting everyone who lives within a five kilometer radius as there are only about ten houses in town. Along with said ...
Moving into a writer's paradise
This is a top pick! LO BARATO SALE CARO (THE CHEAP COMES OUT EXPENSIVE) Before I describe the paradise I'm living in now, I must take a few minutes and share a revelation I had while staying at an extremely cheap hostal in San Jose. They advertise as a B&B, but at $15 ...
No paradise found.
This is a top pick! It's like a cheesy Hollywood movie. I have just arrived in beautiful Manuel Antonio with it's stunning beaches, where big surf crash in from the Pacific ocean. I'm walking down the beach in an incredible fiery orange sunset, when I spot Gabriella, the ...
I alone.
This is a top pick! I am sitting with my journal on a beautiful white sandy beach, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. I am finally on my own again, traveling solo. It kind of feels good. It's day 64 of my trip, and I have been constantly traveling with other backpackers ...
The rumbling volcano.
This is a top pick! The small town of La Fortuna is the gateway to Lake Arenal as well as Volcano Arenal (1633 meters), one of the most active volcanos in the Western Hemisphere. The place is booming with tourists, most of them here to watch the spectacular lava flow down ...
The Great Kapok Tree
This is a top pick! Hi, So we went for a 2hr jungle walk this morning. I was hoping to see more but it was still pretty neat. We heard but did not see howler monkeys. We saw 3 tucans and a few other neat birds whose names I don't know as the guide only knew the ...
The Fieldtrip...
This is a top pick! ... to our new surroundings, a young scientist came to give a speech about conservation and what human development does to animals in Costa Rica. I beamed as my students stood in rapture, intently listening with growing concern to what the woman was saying. ...
The hills are alive with the sound of music...
This is a top pick! ... night before, we met Eider, a friendly Boston resident who had just come back from visiting his family in Chapinlandia. He was in Costa Rica for a few days and hung out with us on Saturday. We decided to hike the beautiful green mountain that neighbors my ...
Wild whitewater!
This is a top pick! Booked to go rafting with 'Wave', a company recommended to us on grade 3/4 rapids. Were taken by our guide, Warner, first to see some huge iguanas on trees by another river. They were massive and many were orange and strutting their stuff as ...
In Case I Forgot I was in Costa Rica...
This is a top pick! ... and the bus riders. In La Estrella there are the walkers and the horse riders. It was a special day in Costa Rica on Wednesday, which always means that at 10 am we all head over to the salon for a special activo civico. ...
The Stresses of Caribbean life
This is a top pick! 21st From Leon we got a taxi to the bus station and then a direct minibus to Managua (La UCA) and then another taxi to the airport for our holidays. Its a nice big new airport and all the motorway is pretty good and very US looking ...
Pura Vida.
This is a top pick! Pura Vida or Pure Life, you hear it everywhere you go in Costa Rica, from smiling Ticos and Ticas, the locals around here. The country is absolutely beautiful, with amazing palm fringed white beaches dotting two different oceans, heaps of national parks, ...
Our Adventures in the Mini-Amazon
This is a top pick! DON'T TIP THE BOAT My mom and I have a jam-packed week ahead of us, but our first stop was Costa Rica's mini-Amazon: Tortuguero. We decided to play tourists for a week and take a tour. Gerardo was our friendly guide for the two days we were ...
Back Fat
This is a top pick! ... some strength left in me after all, though I guess some would call it weakness. "What the hell?" I say as I grab a hunk of bread and sit down for a gab session with my curvy friends. In the end, this is Costa Rica and back fat is SEXY in Costa ...
Snapshots
This is a top pick! Yesterday someone told me that I look a lot better now that I've gotten fatter. I know it was meant as a compliment, but I still wanted to cry. And of course, when he realized that what he had said was upsetting, though he couldn't understand ...