Costa Rica – Coast to Coast June 2005 and August 2006

Puerto Viejo is our favorite place so far. It reminded us of Montezuma but on a much larger scale. Collin and Roberto from Banana Azul are awesome and we felt like we made new friends with them and can’t wait to go back to visit with them again next year.

While we had a great time in Tamarindo last year, all the changes and development have converted this once funky town into Babylon. We won’t be returning there again.

Nosara is our 2nd favorite palace from this trip. The people at Gilded Iguana and Blew Dogs are awesome. They made us really feel like family and not just another guest. The Ticos there seem to make some pretty good money (for Costa Rican standards). I saw a few locals with iPods. And many owned motorcycles and quads. One of the bartenders at Gilded Iguana told me that in the high season he averages $400-$500/week with salary and tips. I didn’t see any creepy people anywhere in Nosara or Samara in sharp contrast to Puerto Viejo and Tamarindo.

Samara was nice but the town seemed a little boring. Maybe it was just being there in the off season. Shake Joe’s is a really cool place to hang out but strangely, we never saw many people there.

San Jose is awesome! People really give San Jose a bad rap but I thought it was great. I’m glad that we had to extend our trip or else we probably would have never gone there. I guess if you come from small town USA you might be intimidated by all the people but it was a cakewalk compared to NYC. Maybe since I live in a city in a Latino neighborhood I felt pretty comfortable walking around. I’d definitely go back to San José again.

To see all the pictures form our trip click here

Puerto Viejo is our favorite place so far. It reminded us of Montezuma but on a much larger scale. Collin and Roberto from Banana Azul are awesome and we felt like we made new friends with them and can’t wait to go back to visit with them again next year.

While we had a great time in Tamarindo last year, all the changes and development have converted this once funky town into Babylon. We won’t be returning there again.

Nosara is our 2nd favorite palace from this trip. The people at Gilded Iguana and Blew Dogs are awesome. They made us really feel like family and not just another guest. The Ticos there seem to make some pretty good money (for Costa Rican standards). I saw a few locals with iPods. And many owned motorcycles and quads. One of the bartenders at Gilded Iguana told me that in the high season he averages $400-$500/week with salary and tips. I didn’t see any creepy people anywhere in Nosara or Samara in sharp contrast to Puerto Viejo and Tamarindo.

Samara was nice but the town seemed a little boring. Maybe it was just being there in the off season. Shake Joe’s is a really cool place to hang out but strangely, we never saw many people there.

San Jose is awesome! People really give San Jose a bad rap but I thought it was great. I’m glad that we had to extend our trip or else we probably would have never gone there. I guess if you come from small town USA you might be intimidated by all the people but it was a cakewalk compared to NYC. Maybe since I live in a city in a Latino neighborhood I felt pretty comfortable walking around. I’d definitely go back to San José again.

To see all the pictures form our trip click here

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