Hi
Just returned from a glorious time in Costa Rica.
I stayed at the Vista del Valle.
Before November 14th they had a special that if you stay 3 days you pay for 2 , 6 days and you pay for 4 days, and nine days and you pay for 6 days.We took the latter.
A full breakfast was included.
I hired a private guide/ driver all the time and believe me it was enjoyable to sit in the front seat of the van , just the two of us and the guide.
I want to Thank Peg in Toledo for all her help and information about which suite was the best for views in Vista del Valle and about hiring Oscar for my personal guide.
Everything was like you said it was Peg.
The views of the Rio Grande Canyon from our front deck was superb.
Dinning outside by the pool under a glass roof with night time views of Alajuela and San Jose was just fantastic.
Oscar took us everywhere and I saw much more than I ever thought I would on this trip.
Thank you Peg.
Oh yes Oscars says "Hi" and "Thank you for the good referral".( which is me.!!)
I am thinking of posting a trip report but I just got back last night.
Percy

You are quite the traveller these days! Glad to hear you had a great time.

Did Oscar remember us or was he just fooling you?

Hi Peg
I told Oscar that you came here last October with 2-3 other ladies and hired him for your tour guide and he seemed to recall all of you ,after I told him that you were from Toledo.
I think that Oscar remembers the people that stay at Vista del Valle more than the people who hire him from elsewhere.
Yes last words to me at the airport were. "Boy I am sure going to miss you, you tell Peg Thank you for the good referral."
When you spend 8 days with Oscars you almost become his brother.!!!
I reviewed the pictures that you sent me of Vista del Valle and the tours that you took..so I knew quite a lot about the places I wanted to go to.
Once again ,Thank You
Percy

how much did it cost to hire Oscar and the car? IS he available in the main tourist season? does he have to be booked ahead? would seem like they would have more guests at that time.

didn't get claustrophobic or whatever having the guide along all the time?

Joanel:
NoI did not feel clautrophobic!
It was a delight to have Oscar.
He drove us to place and then waited for us.
Sometimes he came on the tour with us if he felt like it, he goes free.
Because I stayed at Vista del Valle,and he works out of there, I booked him for the duration of our stay.
He spoiled us ..group tours will never be the same.
His price is by the tour and how much time he spends with you.
But it was worth it because the prices are much cheaper at the tour destination.
let me give you just 2 examples:
Cafe Britt Coffee Plantation tour was $55.00/person if you went on a group tour, waiting at your hotel for a bus to come to pick you up.
Oscar took us right there and the price was $30.00/person.
Next we went to Poas Volcano:
The tour bus price was $34.00/person.
Oscar took us right there and the price was $9.00/person.
So it is like ,you pay Oscar out of what you saved.
Not to mention that you are one on one with him.
he is driving and you are enjoying seeing everything.
He know where he is going and the best way of getting there.
If there is a nearby landmark, he will just zip off and take you there.
His cell phone is ( he lives on the cel phone!!) 373-2736.
There is no area code in Costa Rica.
I can get his e - mail for you if want it.
You know it was terrific to have him.
Oscar would say, "okay tomorrow I will pick you up at 8Am and we will go to Cartago, Paraosi, Orosi Valley and the Reventazon River.
Next morning at 7:59 AM,there is Oscar!!!
On my own I would have seen half of what I saw.
Percy

Percy, thanks for sharing your fun time in CR. I noticed you'd posted the other portion of your trip report separately; for convenience, I'm copying the rest of it here >>>>

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34456317


Trip Report 3 Costa Rica

Author: Percy
Date: 11/07/2003, 06:21 pm
Message:
Today we headed out for Cartago from our Vista del Valle Resort.

We had to go right through the centre of San Jose, so it was another chance to make a few diversion to see some places I had on the list, like Hotel del Oro, the statue of Pepe Figueres (Father of the Nation known as Don Pepe), the University place of San Pedro which is at the other end of San Jose.

At Cartago of course you want to see the Ruins,(church destroyed by 1910 earthquake), which only has the walls standing ,with a garden inside and a bell hanging from one of the arches. Then it is on to see (in my opinion) the NICEST church in all of Costa Rica, The Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles.

A vigil is held here each year on August 2 and people come from all over Costa Rica.
There is Holy Water to drink on the right side of the church. Some were filling up litre jugs to take the water home.

From Cartago it is only a very short trip to the lovely town of Paraiso ( this means Paradise and with the flowers and scenery I see why they think they are in Paradise!!), so you might as well see the Lankester Orchid Gardens. The admission is $5.00, so for that price it is worth walking about and viewing the flowers. Best time though is in February.

From Paraiso we went to Orosi, here they have the oldest church in Costa Rica.
Our guide Oscar took us to some very lovely look out spots to over look the Orosi valley and the Reventazon River. Oscar said three months ago, a mud slide came down the hill and buried 7 homes and killed 10 people?..you could see the strip area of the slide.

Then Oscar suggested that we have a late lunch at a place called Sanchiri Lodge which has good food and panoramic views of the Orosi valley. He was right , the food and views were just great. I had cerviche and dessert calle Tres leches, which is a cake soaked in sweet condensed milk and covered with whipping cream. Yum Yum.

Other days were spent seeing individual sites like Heredia, ?the City of Flowers?
I wanted to see the central park to view the old buildings and also to take a picture of
EL FORTIN, the fortress tower with the weird slit windows. Also saw two Clay colored Robins here.
If this is the National Bird, it sure is nothing to look after considering all the other colorful birds they have !!!

In Alajuela, there is a museum and a statue of Juan Santamaria, the local hero boy for whom the airport is named. His statue is in the Central Park with cannons on each side.

On the final day our flight did not leave until 2PM, so we went to Zoo Avenue.
This is a nice place and here you will see a lot of birds and animals that you could only dream about seeing in the wild. Admission is $7.00/person. It is worth the price of admission just to see the RESPLENDENT QUETZAL.
What a bird this is !!

The next area I want to do is the Jaco ,Quepos, Manuel Antonio and the Playa Tambor region. For me all I can say is that it was much cheaper and less nerve wrecking having Oscar as my tour guide for the duration,then driving and fighting traffic and reading maps?.. this was my first time to Costa Rica, but not my last.

I am already planning for February/March.
I hope this information helps someone else as other have certainly helped me.
Peg in Toledo gave me excellent advice and ideas about seeing the Central Valley Area.

Thank you all
Percy


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Joanel, I am with Percy. I would much rather pay more to have a private guide than go on a bus with a bunch of other people who only think of themselves and forget there are other people with them.

Thanks to Arturo and Oscar of Vista del Valle we saw more than we thought we would get to see. So we were grateful.

how did you find the weather - temperature where you stayed and went seeing? you were there in ? Villa vista not air conditioned. was this an issue? also eating dinner - all meals there since didn't have a car?

Joanel
Thanks for your comments Peg,you and I agree that a private guide is just great.
Joanel..as for the weather it was great always and yes it did rain, but it never interfered with our travel plans.
One of the 3 days we did San Jose ,it was raining hard.. so our guide Oscar drove us right to the door of the Gold Museum...when we came out , no rain!

I found the weather to be equal,where ever I went.
Whether it was Arenal Volcano area, San Jose, Orosi Valley or the Tarcole River area near Orotina, the day was always pleasant...I mean when it is always over 80, there is nothing to complain about.
If you go,have a great time.
Percy

Air conditioning was not a problem,in fact I had toshut the ceiling fan off because it was cooling the room too much.
I ate all dinners at Vista del Valle,except one Sunday,because I have a friend inSanJose who owns a Restaurant in the hills of San jose with superb views..so of course one day we went to see her and have dinner also.
The dinners at Vista del Valle ,were just great, the food was very good.
If I have one complaint about the dinners, it is that they gave you TOO much to eat..not once did I finish the whole meal.
You are eating outside under a glass roof with night views of Alajuela and San Jose way out there..lovelysight.

Joanel
Part of my message got lost somewhere.
let me just add that I found the weather to be equal whereever I went.
Whether is was at the Arenal Volcan or at Orotina or at the Orosi Valley area or in San Jose, it was always pleasant...I mean when it is over 80F
there is not much else to say.
If you go ,have a great time
Percy

did you decide what you watned to do each day? did oscar decide or joint decisions? did you go out for full days everyday or some half days?

we are really interested in pursuing this for next year.

not clear what you paid? cost of tour- he kept the differenc between admission to places and the cost of typical tour.

can contact me off line. [email protected]

thanks

Up for Lori77

Joanel:

We arrived in the afternoon on our first day. They have a book with many different brochures in it to choose from. So we sat by the pool and picked out what we wanted to do and Oscar and Aruturo told us if we could or not. They also gave us suggestions on what to do, like Arenal. Never thought we could get there in a day, but we did and got lucky to see the volcano errupt while sitting in the hot springs pool bar.

We went out on full day trips combining as much as we could in a day. We wanted to see as much as we could in the short time we were there.

As for the cost. To clarify, the hotel charged us x dollar amount (US for us)for Oscar to take us around for the day. The dollar amount varied so you might want to e-mail the hotel for exact figures. Then if the place we were going charged an entrance fee then we had to pay that. At the end of the week we paid our driver bill along with the other charges we occured.

Having the private driver is a bit more expensive, but then you have greater flexibility regarding times, or if you see something you like you can stop vs. the tour bus scene. You leave right from the hotel vs. having to go to San Jose and catching the bus. And the very best reason: do not have to spend time with people who should not be let out of their houses let alone a different country!

Peg is correct about her analysis.
My tours were just a little different.
I paid Oscar personally each day at the end of the day, because I wanted to do it that way.
Of course Oscar was happy to get paid everyday.!!
Yes it was a little more costly , BUT not more costly than renting a vehicle and driving myself.
It was heart warming at the end of my visit ,when Oscar was driving me to the airport and he said:
" You have seen everything there is to see in this whole Central Valley area and up to Arenal Volcano..to the Orosi Valley and town and the Reventazon River."
We also went up to Orotina and Carara Park and were almost at Jaco.
Of course I did not see everything,in say ,Heredia ,but I saw all the major tour places in Sarchi, La Fortuna,Grecia,Zarcero etc.
Peg told me to hire Oscar and I am very glad I did..it was certainly worth it.
And like Peg says, no tour buses , no line ups,no late people, no one standing outside of ther bus having that last drag on a cigarrete, etc. etc.
My next visit has to be to a completely diffent area of Costa Rica because I feel like I have seen all I wanted to and ( much more) in the Central Valley and surrounding area.
Percy

do you have an email address for Oscar

Yes his e - mail address is:
[email protected]
and also
I have his cell number if you want that also.
he always has his cell with him.
Please say Hi to him for me .
I just got an e mail from him last week.
He said he misses me!!!!! I assured him that in this cold Northern Climate, I miss him and Costa Rica more.!
Percy

We started traveling with our own private guide/driver a couple of years ago. They have been some of the best trips we have ever taken. We basically hire him for the amount of days we want. We tell him where we want to go (he has also made some great suggestions), he makes the reservations for us and the three of us have a great time. This year we have hired him for 9 days. The rest of our trip (another week) we arranged for ourselves. He picks us up at the airport and off we go together for the days. He stops whenever my husband sees a good bird or wants a beer. He has shown us tiny little neat places along the way that would not be on a tour list.
We have chosen one pretty expensive place this year so the cost is a little higher than normal but our total charge for 9 days is a little over $3,000. This includes all our hotels (plus a room and food for him) most of our food, many of our tours, all the transportation (including one in country flight). We will also be spending a night in his home. He is what CR is all about. For those of you who have been there...the people are what makes it really special.
His name is Orlando Vargas and is in his early thirties. Married.
[email protected]

ttt

Suzie
Not sure what "message ttt" means !!?

Percy

'ttt' means 'to the top'. Suzie2 was simply sending your post back to the top of the forum list.