Leo gave us a good price quote for our transfer from SJO to Arenal. I'd love to get feedback from anyone who has used his service. Dyer seemed very pleased with Leo, but I've been having trouble finding other reviews. Also, can anyone tell me his payment policy? Do you just pay the driver, or do you have to wire money in advance?

KaySD, I couldn't find posters on here, but know I have seen some in regard to Leo, so I went over to Frommers's travel site. and there is a Beebeck (she/he has a picture of Leo and other great pics of Costa Rica) so here is how I found his/her posts: www.frommers.com then at the top of the page there are two small search boxes. In the first one I typed Beebeck and in the one next to it I hit on the scroll down and hit on MBOARD for message boards. There are a couple posts about Leo from Beebeck.

Thanks, Dyer. Can you give me any information about Leo's payment policy?

We paid him after he delivered us to our destination (that was his policy last May. We did offer to buy his lunch(s) - didn't know if that was expected or not but he accepted and thanked us (it was maybe $5.00!!!!!). He also ordered for us both times, speaking with staff in Spanish with questions, etc.

Cool, thanks. I've seen other people posting about having to wire money in advance to drivers, and that idea made me nervous.

We used Leo in February. We paid him in cash after he drove us to our destination. We paid in dollars. We recommend him very highly - he was very reliable - he called the hotel we were staying at two days before he was supposed to pick us to confirm and then again when he was late (not his fault, due to an accident on the road). He is very nice and trustworthy and was very helpful - offering advice on all aspects of our trip. Also, he drove very carefully and reasonably and we at all times felt safe and comfortable. He was willing to stop anywhere we wanted, at no extra cost.

Kay SD, I know you are just getting transportation but just so people don't get confused I want to add the following;

You may be hearing about people like us. We wire money ahead to our driver/guide but he also acts as our tour agent down there and helps us with some of our hotel arrangements. The money is for the deposits on the hotels which we would have to do anyway. The person we use is a fully licensed tour operator and can make any arrangements we need. We feel much more comfortable wiring the money to him than trying to fax personal info to numerous places around the country. When he is just driving us we don't pay until we get there.

We just bought out tickets for a trip in Dec. Hooray! means it's definitely happening. There are 4 of us, me, my husband and two kids age 4 and 6. We're thinking about hiring a driver for some legs of the journey. How would we contact Leo since he seems to be highly recommended. Thank you very much.

Leo Rodriguez: [email protected] His phone number is 011 from the USA then: 506-378-0001

If you contact him, please say hello from Tama

Excellent, thank you so much.

A group of 7 of us were lucky enough to get Leo last December to travel from SJO to Arenal and then from Arenal to Quepos. Can't say anything except that he is a wonderful young man. So nice, such a good driver, so helpful, stops along the trip to show us things we would probably miss, just can't brag enough about him. We are returning this December and do so look forward to seeing him again. However, since we will be flying into Liberia and staying at Playa Grande, it might not be workable for him. He did tell us if he is not available for that trip that he would find someone for us. I certainly would depend on him or any recommendation he might make.