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jimk · 12-02-2004, 09:59 AM

we spent the first 3 nights at that peace lodge place, which was awesome. the rooms were great, and they had a cool waterfall trail & butterfly garden & hummingbird garden all on the property. daily trips to the arenal volcano were $80 a person. white water rafting, horseback riding, and "zip line" forest canopy tours were also easily bookable.

i understand your concern about organized trips......worried they'll be cheesy, right? because of costa rica's rep as an "eco-tourism" spot, there are plenty of action-guy type day trips that are very exciting and/or physically challenging. you will see scads of surfer & crunchy types there for these more adventurous tours. there are also bird & butterfly-watching tours for the bluehairs, so you can pick your own speed.

the rest of the week we were midway down the pacific coast, near quepos & the manuel antonio national park. makanda was an absolutely stunning place to stay, kind of pricey - my wife & i used frequent flier miles, so that freed us up to pay up for accomodations. as many collegiate types as i saw there, though, there must be plenty of budget friendlier places to stay.

with what i heard from other people, we were in one of the more touristy spots in the country (manuel antonio), and it was still pretty cool. on the southern edge of the pacific coast and most of the carribbean coast it's supposed to be a bit less populated & more rugged.

i definitely recommend the $50 airplane hops from region to region if you're going to see a few different areas in the country. the roads are horrendous. i usually like to drive in foreign countries, but i am SO glad i didn't rent a car there!

12-02-2004, 09:59 AM	#7 (permalink)
jimk Addict Location: Chicago	we spent the first 3 nights at that peace lodge place, which was awesome. the rooms were great, and they had a cool waterfall trail & butterfly garden & hummingbird garden all on the property. daily trips to the arenal volcano were $80 a person. white water rafting, horseback riding, and "zip line" forest canopy tours were also easily bookable. i understand your concern about organized trips......worried they'll be cheesy, right? because of costa rica's rep as an "eco-tourism" spot, there are plenty of action-guy type day trips that are very exciting and/or physically challenging. you will see scads of surfer & crunchy types there for these more adventurous tours. there are also bird & butterfly-watching tours for the bluehairs, so you can pick your own speed. the rest of the week we were midway down the pacific coast, near quepos & the manuel antonio national park. makanda was an absolutely stunning place to stay, kind of pricey - my wife & i used frequent flier miles, so that freed us up to pay up for accomodations. as many collegiate types as i saw there, though, there must be plenty of budget friendlier places to stay. with what i heard from other people, we were in one of the more touristy spots in the country (manuel antonio), and it was still pretty cool. on the southern edge of the pacific coast and most of the carribbean coast it's supposed to be a bit less populated & more rugged. i definitely recommend the $50 airplane hops from region to region if you're going to see a few different areas in the country. the roads are horrendous. i usually like to drive in foreign countries, but i am SO glad i didn't rent a car there! __________________ raw power is a guaranteed o.d. raw power is a laughin' at you & me -iggy Last edited by jimk; 12-02-2004 at 10:02 AM..