My mom needs to use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea and that requires distilled water to work - not spring water, but distilled water. She can travel with a small amount, but for our whole trip (11 days) she'll need at least a gallon. We won't be in CR until July, but she'd like me to get this item figured out before we go....

Does anyone know if distilled water is readily available in CR? If so - where? Here we just buy it at the supermarket....

I emailed our driver to see where we could stop to pick some up and they weren't sure. He's supposed to get back to us. I would think if not the grocery store maybe a pharmacy.

I seem to remember some other posters saying they've used the CPAP machines while travelling, so maybe someone can shed some light on buying distilled water in Costa Rica!

Thanks!!

Almost every website now states that you should use distilled water in the humidifier. One, CPAP.com states that "...If you can't get distilled water where you live, use bottled water. You will need to rinse your tank out each morning and do not leave standing water in your tank between uses." For travel, I would follow CPAP.com's advice. Do not use mineral water, but plain filtered bottled water should do just fine. If your humidifier is of the "pass-over" type where the air simply passes over the water, the likelihood of getting minerals, or anything else in your nose is less than breathing just plain air. Rinsing out the container in the morning, will prevent the formation of scale. However, if your humidifier has a small reservoir and you really warm up the air, there might be some scaling and crud buildup eventually. I used CPAP for about four years, traveling widely, and never used anything but tap water, with no problem at all. However, I would not use tap water in Costa Rica for this purpose.

Thanks kinkazote! I'll let my mom know about the bottled water - I have a feeling it's going to be tough to convince her she doesn't need distilled water though - she's a stickler!

Anyone else have any idea where to get distilled water in CR?

There's about 16 Pharmacias in every little town. You could probably buy it at Mas X Menos or other large markets as well.
There is nothing that we have avaiable for us that Costa Rica doesn't have.
Have a good trip.