Hello from Costa Rica

Bienvenidos, Brian. Mi cuñada es de Cartago, Costa Rica.

 

Colorado and next Saturday.

 

Jim, I like your lifestyle..... Esposa Tica! Oregon! Alaska! Fishing!~

Where are you located in Oregon?

That is one BIG salmon in your picture. We don't have Salmon here but we do have the best sportfishing here for lots of other fish. The Costa Ricans don't like tuna, which is great for me. I can go to the supermarket and buy fresh sushi grade yellow fin tuna for $5 per pound! What does it go for now in the U.S?

Podemos conocernos cuando esta visitando su cuñada!

Pura Vida!

 

Will, I assume you are here in Costa Rica today? Welcome. Is this your first visit?

If you get here and need help or want to visit, call me 824-7780!

Brian

 

You have FULL permission to post your pictures of the swim suit competition on this thread! Hurry up!

 

Residual, we're in Eugene, Oregon. Three of our four adult children live there. The fourth lives near Portland. All four, plus spouses and our beloved grandson, were here at the house yesterday. Yes, life is good!

My Tica sister-in-law actually lives in Tucson, AZ, where she is the Honorary Consul for Costa Rica. She speaks very, very highly of her country.

The salmon in the avatar is a 62-pound king (chinook) salmon I caught last July in Alaska's Kenai River. At a market rate of about $15/pound for fresh king, dressed out it was probably 40 pounds X $15 = a $600 fish!

We're off for Alaska in June, committed to staying 15 months (or longer) in our beloved home city of Anchorage.

Best wishes.

 

I apologize, I am one Saturday off. I'll be in Costa Rica next Saturday. Today I am still recovering from Saint Patricks Day.

This is our first visit to Costa Rica. My wife set the schedule, so I'm not sure where we're going. If we're nearby, I'll look you up.

 

Nice intro bro. My best wishes with you in achieving your goals !! Welcome to DP !!

 

I enjoyed Tamarindo. Big waves....nice hotels....what's wrong w/ that?

 

I believe we're planning to spend a lot of time in Tamarindo.

Blogmaster, how far from Tamarindo are you now?

 

Honestly, I wouldn't spend more than a few days there. There are definitely better, less populated places to go. (IMO)

 

It wud be nice if u can post some photos of ur surrounding nature. I never knew how nice it wud be there in costa rica.

 

I hope you get out of the TOURIST TRAP areas! I too often see people plan a trip to Costa Rica and the travel agent (most know nothing about Costa Rica) send people for a week to Jaco or somewhere in Guanacaste.

Jaco is the worst representation of Costa Rica. You need to go south into the real green jungle areas. I highly recommend an early morning flight to Golfito and venture out from there. When you are landing in Golfito and then get out of the plane, you must be thinking, "where is that midget that was saying, 'de plane, de plane?'" Yep, your are in tropical paradise!

This time of the year Guanacaste is hot, windy and there is not a leaf on a tree. (Post atomic bomb scene) But it is beautiful, nonetheless!

Be sure to try to get to the volcanos, Monteverde cloud forest, the beaches where you are the only one there for miles and miles, and spend some time in the small pueblos.

Don't hesitate to get in the car and go for a long drive. Just remember, distance is not the meter to judge how long to get there. In Costa Rica, often times, places only a few miles away can take an hour to get there!

Have fun! Enjoy your trip!

 

CONFIRMED. Don't waste time in Tamarindo.

Don't buy real estate unless you contact me first.

The real treasures are in the Nicoya, south of Tamarindo, and the mid Pacific to southern zone.

If you go the the carribean side, visit Puerto Viejo (south near Panama).

Brian

 

300KM = 7 hour drive!

 

Did you go anywhere else?

Tamarindo is beautiful except in the summer (March to August). It is HOT and windy in the summer. It is a sad story about a town that got out of control by greedy real estate developers and agents.

When the new international airport went into Liberia about 4 years ago, the whole world had access to northern Costa Rica. In just a few years, the prices of land in Tamarindo skyrocketed. NUTS in fact! The city developed without a master plan approved. Developers went ahead and developed on protected beach land. They developed without permits. They sold to unaware buyers who now own the problems.

Traffic is horrible and the over development is criminal.

Long story short, there are so many better places and experiences in Costa Rica than Tamarindo. The surf is better in Mal Pais/Santa Teresa/Playa Hermosa and Pavones. The most beautiful parts of Costa Rica are in the southern Pacific zone. Go south, the prices are a fraction of those in Tamarindo.

The airport and real estate speculation is the reason Tamarindo is a failing success story!

 

Okay, I will, but give me a little time!

 

Yeah, I was there for a month so I pretty much saw the entire country.