drinking water in CR
 

I keep getting conflicting reports about the drinking water in CR.

A friend of mine said he got the runs from the water out of the water
faucet.
Another said the water is fine.
We will be in M. Antonio for a week and would appreciate any advice.
Thank you, Lou

We drank the water at our hotel and at all the restaurants we went to in MA and never had a problem. I've never heard of people not drinking the water there. The only place we've gone in CR where you couldn't drink the water from the tap was the Osa Peninsula. We've traveled all over and never gotten sick.

Same here. Been drinking tap all over CR for many years, no problems. No one in our family either, or friends with whom we have traveled. I'm guessing your friend's experience was a coincidence. We have this problem in Mexico, and take precautions. But never in CR--no "runs" either! Usually the opposite! Is that too much information?????

Ditto. We spent a week in MA last Aug and had no problems with tap water.

How did this person know that the problem came from drinking tap water? There are lots of things that can cause lax bowels, and some of them take a few days to cause symptoms. On the other hand there are many places in the Manuel Antonio area where you can smell the results of overtaxed septic tanks. Underground sewage pipes close to underground water pipes in an earthquake prone area is a recipe for the runs. I have been told that some hotels have to bring in water anyway. You might see the flatbed trucks carrying large blue tanks of water.

If you don't want to worry about it, then just buy bottled water. In 12 trips I've been sick 3 times. I used to drink the tap water, but after the last time I was sick I decided to stick to bottled as much as possible. I know there's no way to tell if the water was the culprit, but it's easy enough to eliminate that possibility. The water doesn't have to be "bad" but if your body isn't used to the particular bacteria in that area, you can have problems. Eating yogurt every day will help too, since it's full of pro-biotics.

Sandy

That really surprises me. We have stayed in some really remote areas and have lived with Costa Rican families (not wealthy ones!) for weeks at a time (while studying). Our time in CR over the years has probably totaled 6-8 months. None of us have gotten sick except for once a couple of years ago--not the water type sickneses, but just stomach cramps for 18 hours or so, a virus that I am afflicted with every 3-4 of years at home as well.