trip report Feb 28-Mar 14
 

Thanks to all here, I took many suggestions from here and wasnt disappointed.

Rental Car- take pictures of everything, including interior. Check spare tire. Know which side of the car has gas entrance and know how to unlock before you get to gas station. Make sure you have all insurance, they do drive crazy (like pass on corners-tractor trailer trucks too; on dirt roads, they hug the corner- I almost always came to a complete stop when approaching these corners...could have gotten hit at least 6 times). You must drive defensively, always.
Tri color was a good company. But they do not give you a full tank, it was on an 1/8...and of course one will almost always return it with more as noone wants to be stuck without gas. Gas attendnant took us for $2.00...i didnt know where unlock was so he knew I was 'new'. Was glad our rental was not new- we didnt experience any vandalism, perhaps the vehicle state aided in this.
First night picked up by car service and driven to Don Carlos. We chose this as we were heading to Carribean side. Next day we got car/small suv.
Driving to Puerto Viejo- easy drive. Lots of potholes once we reached Limon and headed south. And dirt road. Stayed at La Costs de Papito. Great place, nice people especially our bartender Martin, and very reasonable. Easy 20 minute walk to town. Breaches are beautiful here and about 10 degrees F less than Pacific side. It was 85. Walked beaches forever. Drove to Punta Uva beach, walked there too. Manzanillo, water is calmer, beach has specks of black volcanic rock WICKED HOT- my feet peeled the next day. PV- mostly ate at our hotel, but did also eat at Chile Rojo - great place. Many hostels here. Not a resort town. Nice and laid back.

Headed to Arenal. Drive was easy, long but easy. Definitely get a good map. We used National Geographic and had no problems. But you do need to keep an eye on mileage as some turns aren't obvious. We stayed at Arenal Paraiso. From the point of my guidebook till we checked in, the book said 20 cabins, its more like 150. So new. Every place is individual, beautiful landscaping, price includes hotsprings on their property, nice pool, awesome breakfast buffet (also included). We lucked out, first night we saw volcanic eruptions and lava and the next day, all day the volcano was totally visible. We were there for 2 nights. That was enough. Volcano 'park' isn't much. Hotel had a trip there for 30.00...if you have your own car, it is cheaper on your own. Had late lunch at El Jardin, pizza, good place. Temp here I'd say was 75-80F.
Next we headed to Monteverde, via around the lake. This road is now all paved-around lake. Following the map, we hit a town, drove 1/4 mile and knew it wasnt right. Turned around, and of course, a local waves us down. 'Sells' us a map to get to MV for 4.00- proceeds go to build local soccer field. We give in. Think they took the turn sign down. This road is AWFUL. Even the worst 4WD roads in Vermont are better than these. It really was horrendous. We stayed in Santa Elena at Poco a Poco. Local place, clean, nice folks. But, they were working on the building form 7 to 7-right next to our room and the stairs create a very loud noise as people pass down- thought there were elephants. Spent 1 day/6 hours at the MV reserve, hiking all the trails. Somewhat disappointed, more my expectations on a primary forest -I expected large trees. It was interesting though. Nice walks. Awesome place to eat in Santa Elena, Morpho's. We were there for 3 nights and ate there every night. Cant go wrong there. We did the Sky Trek zip lines. This was fantastic. Lasted about 2 hours. Unforgetable. We took a different road out, not as bad, but those crazy drivers cutting the corners. Even the turisto vans! Temp here about 75, very windy and the dirt roads dont help- dust flying everywhere.
We then headed to Puntarenas, to catch the car ferry to Pacera, then to Montezuma. Unfortunately, the ferry had gone on strike the day before and only 2 trips a day were being done. We got there at 10:15, ferry left at 10, next one at 2. So we drove. Not bad till we turned south on the peninsula and the road becamse dusty and washboardy. We spent 8 hours in the car and I could have gone home right there and then. I hoped our last destination was worth it. We finally arrived in Montezuma- no Ticos here for sure. We stayed at Ylang Ylang, down the beach. AWESOME place, would recommend to anyone. We had a beach bungalow (they also have jungalows which are made from tent material). The bungalows are spaced out, so you feel secluded. Dont be afraid of the per night price as it includes breakfast and dinner daily- and the dinners were out of this world. The bungalows have coffee maker nad mini fridge. We went into town only for beer, water, snorkel trip, and to check on our vehicle...which we found one afternoon with a flat tire :o(. But, a gentleman, Mario- we dubbed him Super Mario, not only did he change the tire but Ylang Ylang fixed it for us! Now, we could have certainly changed the tire (hence, check your spare) but the sweat equity and vacation time lost would have been a bummer, as we would have had to drive to Cobano to get it fixed. Of course, we gave him compensation, it was invaluable for us. I cannot say enough about Ylang Ylang. I totally forgot about the horrendous drive. Thankfully, the ferry was up and running when we needed to go home!!! Snorkel trip, CR isnt known for snorkeling, but we did see about 15 different kinds of fish, blue starfish. We went with Zuma Tours. Everyone here was great too. The lunch was delicious. Plenty of food and beverages. It was 40.00 a person. Saw families of monkeys on premise a couple of times. Our neighbor saw a 7 ft snake- believe it came out as they were digging trenches on the grounds-stirring up wildlife. Temp here, had to 95-100F.
Last night, we stayed closer to the airport, at Vista del Valle. A nice place with fantastic views. Some people wrote in the room book about bugs, bugs, bugs (well it is CR)- comments were from Dec- Feb...we only saw 1. Food here was great too.

Other comments- Airport- must pay cash for the exit fee of 26.00 a person.
flashlight came in useful when walking into town(s) and at night if you got up. Do be smart about not flashing $. Use this sight for invaluable information. No make up, it will slide off with the heat. You wont need l/s shirts, rain jacket or dressy clothing-at least not where we went. Umbrella perhaps. bring the basic flip flops for beaches-they wash off easily and there's no rubbing like tevas/merrills can if sand gets caught. bring wash clothes. bring enough sunscreen (its expensive in CR)and with higher SPF thank you think, especially for face, shoulders, and upper chest. do not drink the water/brush your teeth, no matter if they so its okay.

think thats it. i'll check back in to see if any questions. CR is great place.
jill and bob

You have to pay an "exit fee" at the airport?!?!?!

travelpair - great report. Thanks and I am glad that you loved it. Soon it will be two yrs. since our family went to Tamarindo. We so want to go back to see the rest of the country.

Yes hipvirgochick, you do have to pay an exit tax.
As you walk in the door into the main area of the airport there is a place to the right and to the left where you can pay it. It can also be purchased when you arrive in the immigration area. It can be purchased at some banks and some of the hotels are selling it as well now. Keep in mind, if you do buy the exit paper ahead of time, that you will have to pay for another one if you loose it.

Great report travelpair and very good advice about taking pictures of the car. We rented a car once in Oregon but had to pick it up at night. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see a small windshield ding that caused us to have to buy a whole new windshield after we turned it in. We didn't notice it until sometime the next day when we were well on the road.

Thanks for posting your report. I was wondering if any fodors travelers got caught up in the ferry strike.

To hvc - ditto on what Sue said but a hint...when you walk in to the airport, go to exit fee line to your left, there is rarely anyone in that one for some reason. You can pay in cash, but also by credit card or atm/visa debit card.

Credit card is also taken for exit fee in CR.

travelpair - Excuse my comment above, I didn't even say great trip report! Anyway, it's always good to read how easy/difficult the driving is. It is sometimes encouraging to go for renting a car. We won't be this trip...maybe next time. However, we too are staying first night at Don Carlos and then heading to PV. Thanks for the tips!

Regarding exit fees, after my post I did remember I think we had exit fees in Asia, but not nearly as much, and I don't think we did in Europe either. I guess it's different everywhere.

I learned also that if you book a roundtrip ticket on Sansa, that you have to pay a change fee for each leg, not per roundtrip, if you want to make schedule changes.

You can use a credit card to pay the exit fee, but if I remember right, they add some kind of surcharge on it for using the card.