What is the best mosquito protection? I don't mean to protect the mosquitos!!!!!

Eat several cloves of raw garlic in the mornings and afternoon (it will repel MOST BUT NOT ALL mosquitos). Do not venture outside an hour either side of dusk or daybreak. Apply Avon brand Skin So Soft oil everywhere. -- and of course any deet containing topical insect repelent. Sleep under a mosquito net.

Well garlic should repel just about anything from humans to insects!!

I like Cactus Juice and have found it sold in CR. Some stores in the US carry it, however you can also find it online
www.cactusjuicetm.com

I have also heard good things about the Avon product, personally I do not care for the scent.

Speaking of scents, avoid wearing perfumes and scented lotions.

I have never avoided going out at certain times of the day, I love being up and out early with the animals. Just apply whatever insect repellent you decide to use.

And my all time word of caution - insect repellents containing Deet are highly recommended, but if you do decide to use a product with deet, do try it before you travel to be certain you will not have an adverse reaction.

A couple of years ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article on mosquito repellents and ranked them by effectiveness. One of the top repellents without Deet was Repel with lemon and eucalyptus. We don't like the idea of spraying Deet on ourselves and the Deet makes us feel dirty.

When we went to Alaska that year, we used Repel and it worked wonderfully! We were at a lodge one day and the mosquitoes were fierce. The lodge had 12 different products free for their guests to use. A group of us went hiking in the woods and I ended up spraying about half of them with my Repel. Watching my husband, I could see that the mosquitoes didn't even land on him. I'm taking Repel to Costa Rica next month. I bought it at REI.

Another great thing about Repel is that you can put it on your face and not feel dirty or the urge to wash it off. After hiking, we had lunch and returned to our cruise ship and forgot about it until we showered for dinner.

Jeannette

We have a lot of pesky mosquitos in Virginia -- much more than in CR -- and I've never had luck w/ the Avon stuff. I don't like to use Deet unless I'm desperate, so I put more clothes on. Lightweight longsleeves and pants work very well in the rainforest and I rarely need anything else. I also try to put the repellent on my clothes rather than my body as much as possible.

Sandy

I ditto Jeannette C about Repel. Having recently returned from CR, that's the product I used and it worked great. I, too, hate using Deet and don't think it's good for the environment. It also smells much better than products containing Deet. We brought some Deet, but never used it.

The problem with avoiding the products that contain DEET is that, while some of them may work fine in northern latitudes, they may be ineffective against some of the tropical disease-carrying mosquito breeds. Yes, DEET repellants do stink and probably are not environmentally friendly, but they do keep the mosquitos away...

Have fun!
Mark
www.tiogringo.com

I forgot to say that the last time I was in Costa Rica, I tested Avon's Skin So Soft. I used a spray on one side of my body and a lotion or oil on the other side. It didn't matter because I was bitten on both! It might have kept some mosquitoes away but I went home with 30 very itchy bites. The only thing that saved me was wearing long pants and socks and keeping my hands in my pockets at night. Repel was fantastic.

The problem with Deet is not so much it's adverse effects on the " envoirment " , but it's adverse effects on " our " body .... Concerns are with the ill effects on human health . But I guess it's a catch 22 , in tropical country's . ( Malaria or Deet)etc. If another product mentioned here has shown sucess in the tropics , give it a go ! I do not think there is ever a need for %100 Deet !!! Unless of course it's to protect against those crazy polar bear sized Canadian mousquitos !!! lol .

We were advised to take garlic tablets and B vitamins starting weeks before our trip to Belize and continuing through the trip. We decided that worked great in areas where there weren't any mosquitos. We also used Cactus Juice, which worked fine in areas where there were hardly any mosquitos and we were wearing long sleeves and long pants.

In most parts of Belize we hardly saw a mosquito but in some areas they were HUGE in size and number. In those places we had great success with Sawyer's Time Release Deet:

http://www.sawyerproducts.com/sawyer...lent/index.htm

It's sub-mircro encapsulated and, like they advertise, appears to have the effectiveness of high deet products with it's much lower concentration (20%).

We also sprayed one set of clothes with permethrin before our trip. If you get really bad bites and benedryl lotion isn't saving your sanity, try dotting on Orajel - works like magic for hours!

3Ms Ultrathon (DEET) was developed for the military and worked great in Panama and CR. Even effective vs. swarming Africanized bees whereas others were not. It was highest ranked by CR in '03.
M

We found that 3 M's Ultrathon was by far the best repellant. Also use it at home in Alaska as we have a lot of mosquitoes in the summer. Approved highly by military and World Health Org.

Interesting, I just came back from CR and spent 5 days up in Arenal and Monteverde...hiking, wildlife reserver and Cloude Forest and not one of us in our entire family saw a single mosquito the entire time we were there!

we tried to buy some repellant back home and bring it with us but no stores in NE had it on shelves yet. So we said we would just buy some locally. We had no need for it our entire trip and never even bought any.

So I guess it depends if you are going in dry season versus wet season.

TTT

I just returned from 3 weeks in Costa Rica - spent time in the Osa Peninsula, Central Valley, Monteverde, the Caribbean coast, and Guanacaste. Never saw a mosquito, never used any insect repellent unless I was out on the beach at sunset and then I sprayed my ankles to discourage sand fleas.

We kept commenting at how wonderful it was to be outside enjoying the climate without getting bitten. Here in Vermont, when the weather is warm enough to be outside in shorts and T-shirts, the mosquitoes are out full force and make life miserable!

Everyone has their own experience, but that's my two cents - or dos colones, as it may be.