Guest Contribution: Crocs, Dirt Bikes, Sportfishing and More

Alright, we've got a special guest contribution for this post.

I spoke with a classmate of mine and he agreed to share his experience and thoughts on Costa Rica.  He went there over winter break with some other classmates and had a blast.  Here are his thoughts:

Who: 10 guys in grad school

What: 7 days in Central America

When: Mid-December

Where: Costa Rica, specifically San Jose, La Fortuna, & Jaco

Day 1: We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica around nine in the evening. After some negotiation, the ten of us loaded up into a passenger van and headed to the hostel in San Jose, about a thirty minute drive. We checked into Hostel Casa Del Parque, dropped our bags and walked to the local casino. The locals seemed to be welcoming, most spoke some broken English. The city felt safe, probably because we were rolling around with 10 guys but regardless, we never felt in danger.

Day 2: After a quick local breakfast, we headed back to the airport to pick up the two rental cars. We grabbed some road sodas and proceeded on the 3 hour, windy road to La Fortuna. The roads were in decent shape, most of them 1 lane, 2 way mountain roads. Checked into Hostel La Fortuna “Backpackers Inn” and was greeted by an ex-pat American. He set us up with a group rate for a zipline jungle tour for the following morning. We then headed to the local hot-springs. La Fortuna is a beautiful place.

Day 3: Woke up, went ziplining in the jungle. After the 2 hour tour, we packed up and began the drive to Jaco. We broke up the drive with good music, road sodas and a pitstop for lunch. Jaco is the Las Vegas of Costa Rica. We rented a house on AirBnb close to town. It was perfect, nice host family, cool pool and plenty of room. Dinner in town, early night.

Day 4: Early morning, 10 minute drive to Los Suenos where we met our 2 fishing guides and divided on two boats.  We ran 50 miles off the coast to chase sailfish and mahi mahi. The seas were calm, no one got sick. We were a little early in the season but our boat landed 5 sails and 1 mahi mahi. The other boat caught zero. The deckhand cleaned the fish on the boat and we enjoyed fresh sushi on the long boat ride back to the dock. If you enjoy sportfishing, Costa Rica has some great waters. We were exhausted after a long day of fishing and drinking. Our house family prepared our freshly caught fish in a traditional Costa Rican fashion, I think it was the best meal of the trip.

Fish meals can be a nice bonus during a trip to Costa Rica!

Day 5: Met with the local dirt bike/atv rental shop and guide service. We signed up for a 5 hour mountain tour with 2 guides. It was amazing, beautiful riding country. We stopped at a hidden waterfall and tiny mountain town for a beer and a snack. This adventure was one of my favorite of the entire trip, ripping motorcycles through the countryside was worth every penny.

Day 6: Packed up our bags and began the drive back to San Jose. On the way, we stopped and took the Crocodile Man tour. It was cool to see the monster crocs and pleasant scenery. We got back on the road but stopped again for a late lunch before finally arriving back in San Jose. We checked into Hotel Urbano, which was not well suited for our group. It turns out there was a huge city wide festival, similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, that Saturday night. The group split up, half of us stayed in, the rest of us went out. After a great local dinner, we picked up some beer and watched the parade. Costa Rica has no open container laws, which was a plus. The festival was wild, we got back to the hostel around 6 am.

Day 7: Headed to the airport to return the rental cars around 6:30 am. Got through security and landed at DFW around noon.

Do: travel through the mountain area of the country, some sort of off-road tour, fishing or surfing, ziplines and hot springs. The more Spanish you know, the better so do try to learn some basic phrases, this will help getting around. Enjoy the beautiful natural resources Costa Rica has to offer.

Suggestions for Hostels: Do your research, read current reviews and select hostels based on your preference.

Don’t: buy groceries/alcohol on main strips, or really tiny towns, buy that stuff at the bigger grocery store chains. That will ensure quality and reduce costs. Don’t stay out past 2 am. Don’t draw too much attention to yourself.

What I would do differently: For little or no extra cost, I would ditch the rental cars and hire a personal driver. Driving in Costa Rica can be dangerous and stressful. Having a driver would have helped us get around more efficiently and act as a translator and tour guide. I would have spent another day in the mountains and done a white water rafting trip, we just ran out of time.