We spent the first 10 days of November 2013in Costa Rica on a Caravan tour. (www.caravan.com). We had a wonderful time and it was well worth the price. There is no way you could do this trip on your own for twice the price. This is NOT a trip for a serious photographer! We had 44 on our bus, and most of the wildlife viewing was from one of the six 1.5 to 2 hour boat rides. There was very little time to set up a tripod, and the bus rarely stopped along the way except at the scheduled stops for lunch or the plantation tours. Therefore, only a few of the pictures are razor sharp. However, this is a good tour for any serious nature photographer to take to mark the places and make the contacts for a return trip where you will have the time to set up properly.

Costa Rica is a beautiful Country. It is about the size of West Virginia. The Government is a Social Democracy. It is very hot and humid --- even in the mountains. It does cool into the high sixties and low seventies at night, but most days are in the 90's. At 10 degrees latitude, the sun is very intense and you will burn quickly so take plenty of sun block. This is NOT a cheap place to live. We do not understand the attraction, but we are frugal mountain lovers for cooler and drier climates. It is a very poor country and rarely do you see any house or business that is not covered with burglar bars, high fences and razor wire. There is no military force, but each city and province has a police force, but you rarely see them. You will see armed security at every hotel/motel and major business. Ghetto's are sprinkled though out the larger cities. We never felt unsafe, but we never went out into the large cities at night alone --- it is not very smart to do so. The people of Costa Rica are friendly and come from a diverse heritage. Only 1% of the 4.5 million population is aboriginal. Three million live in the Central Valley with the Capital (San Jose) and surrounding major cities in the middle of the Central Valley. The Atlantic east coast has a strong population of Jamaican heritage. The West Pacific coast is a mixture of Spanish and Indian heritage, and the Central Valley is a diverse mixture of all influences.

The local currency is the Colones and the ratio to the US Dollar is 500 to 1. Severe inflation hit the Country when the Communists took over in the late 70's. After suffering through food rationing into the early 80's, the Communists were voted out, but the exchange rate for their currency has remained high.

Most housing is small. Our tour director, who has three degrees (Biology, Zoology and Botany) lives in a 600 square foot home on a 2,000 square foot lot. The average worker makes $300 to $400 per month. The Pineapple plantation workers are paid $300 per month and are provided room and a free school for their children. They work 10 hour days in stoop labor, planting up to 10,000 starts per day per person. Many come down from Nicaragua to man the plantations. Tourism is the #1 industry followed by computer chip manufacturing for the US Government, then coffee, pineapple and banana production. The number two came as a surprise to all of us.


A typical house costs $40,000 to $60,000 .... for a typical 600 square foot house. If you want a secure condominium of a decent size, you will pay $300,000 and up. You can get studio sized condo's staring at $115,000. For a 2,000 square foot home in a gated community, expect to pay $400,000 and up. Electricity is very expensive. It is cheap for most residents who have no A/C, cook over charcoal or propane, and pay only $8 for the first 200KW (4 cents per KW up to 200). From 201 to 300 it jumps to 23 cents per KW and above 300 it is 33 cents per KW. To put that in perspective, for our modest 2,100 sq. ft. home, and the hottest month this year, which matched CR temps, the 1,310KW we used would have been $364.30 vs the $117 we paid, and it was that low only because we have a new high efficiency heat pump, and lots of extra insulation including all windows and doors. Most house we saw in CR did not appear to be insulated at all! I would suspect that the electric bill for a house you would want to live in there would run $500 to $600 per month year round ---or, you'd pay big bucks for a very well insulated home.

The tax structure there is equally as horrible. While our Tour Director very proudly asserted that they have no income tax, in the very next breath he said that every one pays 9% of their income for their national health care. That sure sounds like a flat 9% income tax to me!!!. The sales tax is 13% but it is included in all the marked prices on consumer goods. The sale tax only applies to purchased property (land and homes) that cost in excess of $500,000. Then, there is the LUXURY TAX. ALL factory new imported goods have a 100% tax. That is, every new good, including cars and building materials, that come into the County automatically cost you double what you will pay for it here in the good ole USA!!! As a result, very few brand new cars come into the Country --- almost every one drives a USED car! So, if you love heat and humidity and have the big bucks, this is a true paradise for you. Both coasts have very warm, 84+ degree ocean water. They are blessed with plenty of fresh water, so, you can drink the tap water there.

Costa Rica has two parallel mountain ranges. The West range is tectonic limestone pushed up by the Pacific Plate. The East range, which is higher, is volcanic. There are over 200 volcanoes in this small country with seven that are active. They also have earthquakes --- the last major, in 2005 a 7.4. They do not have hurricanes or tornadoes.

The tour was grand and we covered both coasts and the interior. Our Guide, Aaron Salazar was very knowledgeable and helpful at all times. He is 36 years old and single. He makes good tip money --- real good! ($5 to $8 per day per person. You do the math). Marcus was a excellent bus driver. The bus is over-sized and comfortable, except for the seats that would not lock in place. It had plenty of cold A/C. We spent a lot of time on the bus. There are very few four lane controlled access highways. Even the Pan-Am is two lane in most places. Roads are narrow and twisted. Passing another bus or 18 wheeler in a curve is an added thrill! Many of the roads were bumpy, and we traveled on about 30 miles of gravel to get to the East coast Tortuguero area. All of the Hotels we stayed in were high dollar affairs. The Laguna Lodge at Tortuguero is NOT air conditioned. The pools were a welcome relief. You can not safely swim in the ocean there as the currents are very strong. It was a very special treat to actually experience a Leatherback Turtle hatching. Dozens of baby turtles bubbled up from the sand around 4:30 PM on the beach on our last day there. We all were so excited we forgot to turn on the video mode of our cameras. The little ones are in constant movement and are very determined to reach the water across 25 to 30 yards of sand as quickly as there tiny arms and legs will push them.

If you did this trip on your own, the Hotel prices would run from $125 to $500 per night with the Marriott being the most expensive. Food was good but not great. It was pretty much the same everyday. Beans and rice every meal. Eggs, cereal and fresh fruit for breakfast with a variety of juices, coffee and milk, but very little bacon or sausage as we know it. Lunches were usually full meals with fish, chicken or pork. Dinners were the same. Vegetables were usually potatoes, carrots', and broccoli. The fresh fruit and juices were the real treat. Coming home to a real hamburger and a good roast of beef was very welcome!!!

The only real complaint any of us had was the first day in Tortuguero which can only be reached by a 1.5 to 2 hour boat ride or small plane. No roads. No cars. There is a small village about a 5 minute boat ride from the Lodge and we were taken there late in the afternoon for a 45 minute shopping spree. Yes, that was not enough time. It was a very quaint village with many shops and decent prices. Every one knew what time to be back to the boat, but three women decided that did not apply to them. Instead of leaving them there where they could have caught and paid for the local water taxi, our Guide Aaron left 40 of us in the hot sun for 15 minutes while he went and rounded up the miscreants. He should have sent our tour boat back to the lodge after waiting 3 to 5 minutes maximum. It is not as if the three would have been stranded had he done so. He placed his tip money from the three above what he would have gained extra from the 40. Speaking of tips, except for our Guide Aaron and bus driver Marcus, Caravan gives Aaron a $6,000 tip budget for every one else. So, your tips are included in the tour package except for the Guide and the Bus driver's. This showed up in the fact that at all of the hotels, the food servers were very lackadaisical. You had to ask multiple times for drinks and refills, and some times, the refill never came. It was the worst at the Marriott where the service should have been the very best. Also, at every location, the omelet person spoke little or no English. As long as you wanted something common you could point at, no problem, but forget about asking for something different in your omelet. This is inexcusable and Caravan, who has up to four tours a day going on in any one location, should make it clear that they expect better service at the food lines. All included food is buffet style. You will not go hungry. Most of the "ride" days were 4 to 5 hours on the bus and up to 2 hours on a boat. Just so you know.

We had several wonderful "Caravan Surprises"--- all of which were native dancers depicting cultural dances from the earliest times to the modern. Our going away dinner, which was quite good, featured a very good dance performance of Tango, Salsa and other Caribbean dances.

The only disappointment was the expectation of seeing a lot more wildlife other than shore birds, monkeys and crocodiles. We expected dozens of humming birds but saw only a few, and none of the hotels had feeders up to attract them. We saw only a couple of Toucans from a very far distance. Aaron was kind enough to share his Toucan pictures with me. We did see one Blue and Gold Macaw and four Scarlett Macaws. We expected much more. We had very little rain. The first day and next morning were cloudy, but sunshine ruled the rest of the trip. Sunsets and sunrises were spectacular! Some of the best I have seen.

We will travel with Caravan again as the price can not be beat. We will probably do Panama with them in 2015 or 2016. We will be a month in Australia and New Zealand next year, and another month on a road trip to Seattle. We want to do a African Safari in 2016 and hopefully, the World will be a calmer place by then. Of course, there is the North Seas to Russia cruise, Iceland, and my dream of Antarctica to round out the seven Continents.

We hope you will enjoy these pictures of our Costa Rica vacation.

Updated November 2014.