How safe is Costa Rica???

[abju]

My boyfriend and I are planning to go to our first trip far away, we’ve got the tickets to Costa Rica, there we want to travel as much as possible. We were thinking to hire a car and travel around staying in different places, but how safe is it??? Maybe somebody been there, lives there??

Please let us know.

Thank you,
Eve

[jbroste]

I was in Costa Rica a few summers ago for a Study Abroad program at my university. It was an incredible experience for the four weeks the I was there. Then again I was all over the country seeing just about everything there is to see. Spent the first few day in San Hose getting in touch with the people, the early morning market hours, thrift shops, many of the different meusiums, and so on. After we left the city we spent four or five days up near Aerenal, the city 12 miles from the active valcono “Aerenal”. We also checked out Mt. Irazu, which is also a volcano and the highest point in Costa Rica. I found it interesting, but I am not sure what you are into. They have several natural whirlpools that you can go to around that area. We spent one night one the east coast. Perhaps it was a good thing considering how much it rained the day we left. That day we came in Green Sea Turtles were on shore laying their eggs. Normally, people are allowed to stay on the beach for only 15 min. if you find a turtle that is laying on the beach or not. The turtles are strongly during nesting season. We were on a private beach so we could stay as long as we wanted and got a much better view. It is funny, you could do almost anything to the turtles within reason and she would just keep on laying her eggs as if nothing ever happened. We went through many other places along the way including La Paz Waterfall, some amazing national parks that I can’t remember by name, and snorkaling. We spent our last official week in the city of Montezuma, which is nothing more than a small beach comunity. It was very humid though. We did spend a few extra days on this small tourist city, which seemed to be very popular with surfers. Now you were not exactly specific when you refered to why you were asking so I told you everything I know. The experience from the colder environment to the warmest, the verious tropical environments, to many experiences that I didn’t even get around to tell you about. So hopefully my anthusiasm answers your question. You have a great trip.

Jamison

[Dave]

Hope you had a good trip to Costa Rica – as you are probably back by now. I’ve been to Costa Rica several times – and have been wowed by the friendlyness of the people. Parts of San Jose can be a little creepy esp at night – but most areas in Costa Rica are pretty safe. Compared to the other Central American countries Costa Rica is more middle class and on a whole there is less poverty.

Great beaches, rain and cloudforests, volcanoes (Arenal), and National Parks – also be sure to check out the excellent gold museum in San Jose (Museo de Oro) http://www.museosdelbancocentral.org/inicio_eng.html

I also enjoyed my time at the Monteverde Cloud Forest and went on many hikes. I even saw the colorful Quetzal.

Regards,

~ Dave

[Author]

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