Costa Rica, Central America is definitely a “must see” place in one’s lifetime.  Most travelers arrive in San Jose, the capital of the country.  This massive city with a McDonald’s to an opera house, has all the appearance of a modern metro area.   That is deceiving, since the one way streets change direction with the spray of paint making an arrow on the street (literally) giving the traffic their direction, and can change from week-to-week.  Most of the town is measured from “where the Coca-Cola” bottling plant used to be, or another landmark.  It is still Central America’s most lovely city.  At 3,750 feet above sea level, the population enjoys spring weather most of the year.

This is coffee country.  The lush green mountains are planted with coffee and it is a perfect climate for growing the “money maker” that the government has taxed exports on to pay for the National Theater, a university, education and culture in general.  Don’t forget to take plenty of Costa Rica coffee back home!  Makes great gifts.

One will find this an inexpensive country to visit.  The city of San Jose has free museums (or costing very little), very cheap public buses, and taxies.  In town foot traffic as well as vehicular traffic is crowded.   Take a bus tour of the city before leaving out for the beach. 

From the airport in San Jose, Jaco is the closest surf town - a drive of less than two hours through the mountains. It has every type of lodging, from $10 cabanas with the beach out back to the Los Suenos Marriot, with its own golf course and "private beach."  What is nice is that from Isla Damas to Boca Barranca, it's well paved and wide open. The views are also fantastic, so enjoy the ride.

Costa Rica offers the traveler relaxing and scenic beaches,  (some of the finest surfing in the world at the right time of the year is at Jaco).  Jaco (Ha-co, no J in Spanish… after I had asked directions of about half a dozen people walking the highway within a twenty mile area and receiving only ‘n-----------o?  no Ja-co’,” did I figure this out) is the first beach on the Pacific Coast and quickly becoming a place for Canadian tourist to “winter-in.”   Jaco is much like Key West in the 50’s… still very primitive.   Very enjoyable.  The beautiful beaches offer plenty of “sitting and watching surfing.” 

The massive waves come in (if you are there at the right time of the year), lovely  with such force that it seems it would be impossible for a surfer to stay on the board, but many of them do.

I recommend renting your own car from San Jose and driving to Jaco.  If you desire, there are taxies and buses.   The buses arrive and depart from the plaza across from the Best Western resort, located at the  West end of town. When you are in front of the Pizza Hut you will see a tower/sign that says "Jaco Plaza" hidden behind in a crevice of the building is a woman selling the bus tickets. She speaks English fine.  Purchase tickets to San Jose early because they sell out on weekends. San Jose buses have a stop at the airport. It’s about $3 per person each way. Taxies around town are cheap 600 colones. Prices are 300-400 colones and 400 more for each additional km. Only use the official red taxies with yellow writing. It's dangerous to use the others.  Cheaper is not better when it comes to “non official” taxies!
 

The Tarcoles River has a very large population of crocks to visit and some very large crocks.  There are trips every  day to the river from Jaco.  A review from:

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Caribbean_and_Central_America/Costa_Rica/Provincia_de_Puntarenas/Jaco-1649814/Things_To_Do-Jaco-BR-1.html written BEETLE_VERTE on March 8, 2005  “A sunset cruise on the Rio Grande Tarcoles. An amazing encounter with the avifauna and large crocodile population of this impressive but calm river. The sunset sets the mood for the gorgeous colors and animation of the mangrove and banks. Really something to see and experience. This is a 2  hours boat ride (one guide, one driver, about 20 seated places, covered boat), 30 minutes from Jaco. They can pick you up at your hotel. $40 per person including transport.  You will see  crocodiles by the dozen. At some point, the captain even  feeds one of their residents with a dead chicken.  The trip  is a photo even -  one will see  numerous birds:  Pelicans, herons, egrets, ducks, stilts, whimpers, sandpipers, vultures, hawks, area Macao, parrots, kingfishers, marmots, kingbirds, wrens, orioles, tanagers and so on.  Try to stay for  an amazing view over the area  at  sunset. Address: Tarcoles River Phone: 506-236-6473 385-6591 637-0338  Directions: 30 minutes north of Jaco, entrance in front of the Hotel Villa Lapas
Website:  www.costaricanaturetour.com Other Contact: fax 506-241-1853

Safety:  Jaco has a number of young people coming there to party (some are Americans there with their family, others away from school for the summer), and they do what many youth do in resorts South of the border – party hard.  Use the usual precautions:  Keep a copy of your passport in another place from your real passport (they can get stolen), don’t trust hotel safes in general, if out late at night don’t carry much money or valuables, and take all jewelry off.  If using a taxi, jot down the license number just in case there is a problem of any kind.  If you take a car, never leave any valuables in it - however,  you should bring your passport and drivers license - since there are plenty of places where the police are waiting to check your travel papers.  If this sounds like what I advise in most Central American, South American countries – that is right!  It is!  Pretty good advice in most countries in the world!

Recommended dining can be found at:  http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Caribbean_and_Central_America/Costa_Rica/Provincia_de_Puntarenas/Jaco-1649814/Restaurants-Jaco-BR-1.html  online.  Most of the dining is “open air,” and seafood is fresh as the ocean right in front of the patio you are dining on.  Usual safety, don’t drink local water.   Meals are presently running around $5 for breakfast, $10 lunch, and over $10 for diner. 

There are plenty of places to dine and watch one of the world’s most beautiful sunsets.

Accommodations:  Some of the more popular Hotels and Accommodations in Jacó:   Best Western Jaco Beach Resort,  Terraza Del Pacifico,  Hotel Fuego Del Sol, Canciones Del Mar.  There are plenty of places for back packers to hang a hammock or pitch a tent that are well within budget. 

What to bring:  A rain jacket is a must along with Teva type river shoes. Take plenty of sun screen batteries for your digital cameras.  Twice as much as you expect to need!.   As with any tropical location, there are insects that bite, eat, chew or sting. 100% Deet is pretty much required as in any jungle/tropical area. Check the labels.  Swim suits, wraps, shorts, flops, is about all you will need in Jaco!  No one cares!

Nightlife:  You won’t find any until after midnight or 1:00 a.m. and then the disco places start up and last until about sunrise.  It is best to take a taxi even if going a short distance at night.  The disco places usually  all have their drugs, local young prostitutes trying to pick up some spending money, and  the usual undesirables, but they don’t seem to bother the tourist unless they want to be “bothered,”  and the atmosphere is usually a “no pressure” scene. 

This is sufer country!  Beach bum country!  With resorts woven in! Get the current surf report: http://www.crsurf.com/   Happy Traveling.