Thanks for all the great info Jackie.

No Chardonnay? Oh no! Do they serve any white wine at all? Maybe I will have to stop at the airport and buy myself a little something....thanks again.

Red wine is usually served room temperature - hope hot just means you are used to drinking chilled white wine. Don't tell me they don't offer gin and tonics!!! There is no better warm weather drink!

They did serve a white wine, forget which one it was. You can get chard by the bottle, but I think it was $30; one night we celebrated the sunset at Miramer with our new Cbd friends, they broght the chard (ice bucket and all) and it was very good. We did pick up a bottle in town, but it we couldn't drink it and threw it out. The red wine was served at room temperature--remember room temperature can be 90ish.

Jackie,

I need your opinion...Should I pick something up at the airport in San Jose or wait until we arrive via Nature Air in Puerto Jimenez? Where would I go to get wine in town?

They do serve gin and tonic, but I drink tanquray (sp?); after fixing my own and going down to the bar at dinner, theirs just didn't compare.

Moonpie--I picked up a bottle of gin at the SJO airport; it put my carry-on luggage over the weight limit, but it wasn' a problem. You can pick up stuff at the grocery store near the airport when you arrive. The only problem with that is that if there are others getting picked up with you, everyone is left waiting in a hot vehicle while you are in the store. We got beer, tonic water and some grocery items. They did have a selection of alcoholic beverages, but since we were holding others up we tried to get in and out as quickly as possible. When we were in town for kayaking, we checked 2 stores for chard; found the last bottle. If it were me, I'd pick it up at the SJO airport, traveling with liquids was not a problem there.

Keep in mind there is often not a lot of variety, especially in wine. I often saw more chilean wines than I could shake a stick at but often not much else. I'm a wuss of a drinker so I like fruity, icy drinks like daquiri's or beer, so I never really paid much attention to what else they have to offer (and Jose makes 'em strong so never needed too many either)!

Thanks everyone!

Sounds like my best bet is to pick something up at SJO. I just found out that Nature Air allows 30 lbs for checked bags. Woo Hoo! That is music to an over-packer's ears.

Ok - now we are on to a very very serious subject, having cocktails on vacation.

This can be a very important part of the day, so I want to ensure I have the full goods! What can you buy in PJ and where? What needs to purchased beforehand and flown down?

The sounds of a G&T in the heat sounds perfect. Can you buy wine as well, and of any good quality?

We will be staying in the houses and having a pre-dinner cocktail will be a must sitting on the deck. Can you then take a bottle of wine to dinner, or is that just not on?

I was all excited about getting the wildlife cards, but we must prioritize!

Cheers!

Francetrip, you are my kind of person -- wanting cocktails as the sun sets. BdC has a full bar, its not really necessary to bring your own, but it is nice to watch the sunset from the house with a good, cooling drink in hand. I'd stop at duty free at the SJO airport. I don't recall seeing much selection on wine either there or the PJ grocery store.

And, in the category of things I wish I would have brought with me, ice cube trays would be at the top of my list. As a point of reference, I recall that wine is $5/glass and most hard drinks were $4.

Hi Jackie!
Do remember the cost of other beverages? Does BdC have those wonderful frozen lemonades and other fruit frozen drinks?
Thanks, Gem

Usually Jose's special of the day is some sort of fruity, colorful drink. I don't recall the cost. I preferred guaro (aka Cacique) with Fresca--cool, refreshing, and I was told it's a Tico favorite. Of course, it might not be the most ladylike drink (as I got plenty of "huh?" stares when I ordered), but it's tasty!

How did this get from "Spiders, Bats...." to "what to drink" - TOO FUNNY!

Jackie, looks like you very much enjoyed your stay at BdC, even with the little surprises! It is a very special place. I had the massage in the jungle, it was so nice, relaxing and surpisingly cool under the canopy - BUT I did not have monkeys hanging out over my head!!

In CR, the critters have never bothered me. Now if I were at home and happened across a spider, etc, I would certainly be uncomfortable.

As to the drinking section of this post!! I am not a huge fan of Chiliean whites, but they have a red that is pretty good. On our last trip to CR at BdC, a friend here at Fodor's had a bottle of red waiting for us in our cabina, it was such a nice, sweet and unexpected surprise. I very much enjoyed a glass on the porch of Gecko, overlooking the beautiful waters, yes, my mind can take me there in a moment.

Jose's mango with anything is good! One thing I had in CR that was very good, but can knock you on your behind if not careful is the caipirinha made with guaro. Recently I had a fresh pineapple mojito in Belize - that was lite and refreshing - yummy!

Well, I am going to keep this topic going with a question. If we are staying in a cabina, and brought a bottle of booze, would we be able to get ice from the bar, or would that be not cool? I would imagine we would enjoy having a cocktail on our deck sometimes, but with no ice, guess we could go with red wine.