Thanks for advice, I’ll be back with dentist today and found some part-time relief via “Red Cross Toothache Kit” which includes a liquid salve similar to turpentine. I am desperate for pain relief.
As for Costa Rica, my experience there were many years ago and now I recommend that people do NOT travel there…
without me.
I guess that’s no different.
I would recommend that your friends get out of San Jose (the capitol, and their likely arrival point) as soon as possible. The West is Best in CR and I more specifically recommend the Guanacaste region on the west side, because it’s dryer than the rest. That still means glorious greens, rainforests, cloud canopys, non-active volcanos, coffee bean fields, howling monkeys, etc. Do they want to be near the ocean? (yes!)
When in Costa Rica, why not live on the Pacific Ocean?
I spent almost all my 10 weeks in Playa Flamingo, a very small and affluent town known for its deep sea fishing, rich ex-pat population, and big marina. That marina is gone and with it, the lifeblood of the area. One of my then local friends, in Colombia now, went back after the marina closed and told me that I wouldn’t recognize the place.
A bigger, beachside town is Tamarillo — it even has a short, grass-field runway. Tamarillo has plenty of real estate for rent, restaurants, grocery stores, night clubs and most of the tourist amenities that you might need, but it’s known geographically for great surfing. So the town is lousy with lazy, pot-smoking surfers who shuffle around in long, flowery shorts and thread bare flip flops (“Pick up your feet!”). Surfer-hippies don’t work and are opposed to capitalistic greed, so they will sell their hand-crafted jewelry for low, low prices. I got a great necklace for $6 that was a favorite for years. But surfer-hippies and loud young people can get very annoying very quickly, so I wouldn’t recommend Tamarillo except as a day trip.
Since my departure from CR, there’s been a lot of development further north of Playa Flamingo, and what was created (I heard) is beautiful, with high-end luxury resorts; there’s even a Four Seasons Resort at Penisula Papagayo. I’ve seen promotional materials and those hotels and resorts are gorgeous and you know that I love an Asian theme. But Costa Rica is drop-dead gorgeous on its own, and even if a resort “blurs the lines between indoor and outdoors” or “brings nature to your balcony”, why pay $700/night to sit outside?
Your friends could rent a private house for $700 a month and get to live like (or better than) the local “Ticos” – as Costa Ricans call themselves.
There are good listings on Craigslist and rental realtors promote themselves online, too. I did have a friend in Playa Flamingo who owned a Century 21 branch office (right on the beach). If you’d like to put your friends into contact with me, I could contact him on their regard.
And, with these types of thoughts, I’m now feeling all wanderlusty again…
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