LOL! Donna, how funny your "friend" story. What a hoot! We had that experience before and vowed years ago never to take friends along ANYWHERE again, telling them how great it would be. What a perfect retort you summoned up for the tacky fellow at VdV! Good for you!

Our story SO similar to yours. First time, all inclusive. It was the 2 day trips we took to Los Inocentes and Rincon de la Vieja that sold us. Reminds me of the old Peaches and Herb love song, "Just One Look"--that's all it took! Giving away my age, I know! Perhaps you are way younger and won't remember that one!

Yep--everyone will be waiting with bated breath to hear tinamidon's "take" on beautiful, irresistable Costa Rica!

My departure is not til the 23rd...I am anxious to see our initial feelings after all this discussion. Its been interesting reading others' 1st experiences!

dfarmer.
ive been here nearly 4 years on and off!
ive <b>never</b> done a zip line, never intend to and ur quite right they are destructive to the local wildlife enviroment!
as for ATV´s they´re becoming a problem on a lot of beaches here.
which may or may not get fixed when they either kill a kid on a beach, or an american tourist gets killed driving one!

note to tourists- it is <b>illegal</b> to drive ATV´s on the beach!!!

Your friend's idea of &quot;different cultures&quot; is Cancun?

Hmm.. that says a lot.

Great post Donna. Like you, we prefer to stand quietly and enjoy where we are.

My friends won't even mention ATV around me even here in the states..... they know how I feel. As far as zip lines go...wouldn't even consider it. Enough squealing going on to send the wildlife running without my adding to it.

We have always been worried about traveling with friends. We know too many people who aren't friends anymore because they traveled together. We did go to Guatemala with friends who I am happy to say are still our friends. Maybe it was because it was a new place for all of us. They travel to CR frequently and maybe one of these days we will go together. They just missed you up at Bosque that one trip. I actually met them on another CR forum and we arranged to meet. They just live a couple of miles from us!

I actually hope more people won't like it down there so it will start getting less crowded.

We just got back and we loved it!

If your friend's idea of a &quot;different culture&quot; is Cancun than she is really missing out!

I would suggest she never visit parts of Asia, South America or anywhere else where the golden arches are not on every street corner.

If you want an adventure with your family, Costa Rica is the place to be! I'm sure you and your family will enjoy it! It is exciting, beautiful and nature there is incredible.

We did not visit Tabacon but we did goto Baldi which cost less and was just so wonderful.

I would recommend that you and your family stay away from Tamarindo (now, that is a dump)but I bet your friend would love it there! That whole town caters to folks like her and also comes with the drugs and prostitutes that are usually found in such tourist traps. Not many Ticos there but there sure were a lot of Americans! We hated it there for so many reasons including the ridiculous ATV driving.

La Fontuna and Monteverde were unforgettable and I'm sure your kids will have a wonderful adventure! There are so many things to do and see in both areas. We only went to San Jose to catch a bus so I can't really say much about it. We have found that it's best to just skip the major cities if we can and only visit them to see the museums when we are travelling.

The weather was beautiful for our trip and we met so many wonderful people.

Your friend is way off and does sound like a &quot;whiner&quot;.

You will be amazed! Your kids will love you even more!

It was better than I had ever imagined.