This is information passed along by the 2008 Tour Director, Gerardo Lopez:
1- Please bring an inexpensive towel for our aquatic activities like the visit to the waterfall, kayaking, Hot Springs visit etc.
Hotels do not want us to use theirs in our activities, they get lost, get dirty and sandy. They strongly believe that sand destroys their washing machines, so bring yours. An inexpensive towel is a good idea because maybe at the end of the tour, you will not want to bring it back home.
2-Please bring a small flashlight. Rarely but sometimes we have blackouts, and some gardens at hotels have areas not well illuminated.
3-As part of the itinerary we are going to visit a school. So if you want, you may bring some basic school gift for the kids - a suggestion. Besides that there might be some extra time that day to organize some kind of short activity with the children at school. It would be great if it is connected with your traditions or culture. Local kids will love it and that would be a learning experience for all. They are children from an elementary school and ages go from 6 to 15 or so and they are about 20 in average.
4-Most of our activities are during the day - not much after 6 p.m., so you may want to bring some good reading (adults may appreciate that more than the kids). If you do then bring some kind of inexpensive reading light. Some hotels do not have decent reading lights. For kids - some kind of table games, for them to entretain themselves after dark.
5- Bring an inexpensive poncho for the rain besides the regular rain gear (jacket). Remember that our rainy season starts in April. It may rain any time, trust me. It rains mostly during afternoons.
6-Carry with you in your day pack (not inside the big suitcase) some extra DRY CLOTHING (such as pants, blouse, shirt, socks, shoes, underwear etc). Let me explain: Big suitcases go stuffed all together in the lower compartment on bus transfers. And THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE, it could happen that we do an activity "on transfer," (horseback riding for example or hiking), and if it rains you will need some dry clothing. Believe me, if you are in that situation you will be badly be needing some dry clothing, so please have some extra clothing in the hand bags or back packs the entire trip.
7- DAY PACK:It should include: regular rain jacket, a poncho, sunglasses, bug spray, sun block, extra dry clothing, some water, camera.
8- About water: you can buy a bottle here; water is potable everywhere, right from the faucet, but bottles are more convenient because you can carry them on hikes. And you guys need more water in the tropics. For that you can buy a bottle of water here and refill it any time at hotels or places we stop.
9- Bring an inexpensive alarm clock (for them to wake up and be on time). Some hotels don't have a telephone in the room, only at reception, so there are no wake up calls.
10- For your calls home, it is better that you buy a $10.00 telephone card in Costa Rica, that will give you 15 minutes. Because SPRINT and other cards including E.F. telephone cards, sometimes DO NOT WORK. If not, inform your relatives that you will be doing collect calls because long distance calls made from hotels in Costa Rica are very (obscene) expensive...
11- Bring inexpensive water shoes. NO FLIP FLOPS at all. Any kind of untied sandals are not safe for most of the activities; those ones are good for taking a shower only. Well tied water shoes or similar will be perfect for hot springs, kayaking, beach, extra shoes in case of a pair of soaked shoes after the downpour etc. Bring some regular sandals if you want but bring also WATER SHOES or Sandals that are tied somehow. Tevas style is an example.
12- Bring a hat for head protection, and bring some serious sun block. Here it could be cloudy but still you could get a severe sunburn. Do not forget that you are coming to the tropics, and here the sun will burn your (most of times) white and pale American skin.
13- Money: Most Credit Cards are accepted at any place. So it is cash dollars, but it is very important that you bring small denominations. The biggest is $20.00 because here people are afraid of accepting bigger bills. YOU DO NOT NEED TO EXCHANGE DOLLARS INTO COLONES at the airport or so. NO NEED, because as soon as you pay something along the trip with your dollars it is very likely they will give you change in COLONES. Besides that, you would like to get out of the airport A.S.A.P. when you arrive to Costa Rica. Rate of exchange: 1 US dollar equals 520 of our devaluated currency the "colones".
1- Please bring an inexpensive towel for our aquatic activities like the visit to the waterfall, kayaking, Hot Springs visit etc.
Hotels do not want us to use theirs in our activities, they get lost, get dirty and sandy. They strongly believe that sand destroys their washing machines, so bring yours. An inexpensive towel is a good idea because maybe at the end of the tour, you will not want to bring it back home.
2-Please bring a small flashlight. Rarely but sometimes we have blackouts, and some gardens at hotels have areas not well illuminated.
3-As part of the itinerary we are going to visit a school. So if you want, you may bring some basic school gift for the kids - a suggestion. Besides that there might be some extra time that day to organize some kind of short activity with the children at school. It would be great if it is connected with your traditions or culture. Local kids will love it and that would be a learning experience for all. They are children from an elementary school and ages go from 6 to 15 or so and they are about 20 in average.
4-Most of our activities are during the day - not much after 6 p.m., so you may want to bring some good reading (adults may appreciate that more than the kids). If you do then bring some kind of inexpensive reading light. Some hotels do not have decent reading lights. For kids - some kind of table games, for them to entretain themselves after dark.
5- Bring an inexpensive poncho for the rain besides the regular rain gear (jacket). Remember that our rainy season starts in April. It may rain any time, trust me. It rains mostly during afternoons.
6-Carry with you in your day pack (not inside the big suitcase) some extra DRY CLOTHING (such as pants, blouse, shirt, socks, shoes, underwear etc). Let me explain: Big suitcases go stuffed all together in the lower compartment on bus transfers. And THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE, it could happen that we do an activity "on transfer," (horseback riding for example or hiking), and if it rains you will need some dry clothing. Believe me, if you are in that situation you will be badly be needing some dry clothing, so please have some extra clothing in the hand bags or back packs the entire trip.
7- DAY PACK:It should include: regular rain jacket, a poncho, sunglasses, bug spray, sun block, extra dry clothing, some water, camera.
8- About water: you can buy a bottle here; water is potable everywhere, right from the faucet, but bottles are more convenient because you can carry them on hikes. And you guys need more water in the tropics. For that you can buy a bottle of water here and refill it any time at hotels or places we stop.
9- Bring an inexpensive alarm clock (for them to wake up and be on time). Some hotels don't have a telephone in the room, only at reception, so there are no wake up calls.
10- For your calls home, it is better that you buy a $10.00 telephone card in Costa Rica, that will give you 15 minutes. Because SPRINT and other cards including E.F. telephone cards, sometimes DO NOT WORK. If not, inform your relatives that you will be doing collect calls because long distance calls made from hotels in Costa Rica are very (obscene) expensive...
11- Bring inexpensive water shoes. NO FLIP FLOPS at all. Any kind of untied sandals are not safe for most of the activities; those ones are good for taking a shower only. Well tied water shoes or similar will be perfect for hot springs, kayaking, beach, extra shoes in case of a pair of soaked shoes after the downpour etc. Bring some regular sandals if you want but bring also WATER SHOES or Sandals that are tied somehow. Tevas style is an example.
12- Bring a hat for head protection, and bring some serious sun block. Here it could be cloudy but still you could get a severe sunburn. Do not forget that you are coming to the tropics, and here the sun will burn your (most of times) white and pale American skin.
13- Money: Most Credit Cards are accepted at any place. So it is cash dollars, but it is very important that you bring small denominations. The biggest is $20.00 because here people are afraid of accepting bigger bills. YOU DO NOT NEED TO EXCHANGE DOLLARS INTO COLONES at the airport or so. NO NEED, because as soon as you pay something along the trip with your dollars it is very likely they will give you change in COLONES. Besides that, you would like to get out of the airport A.S.A.P. when you arrive to Costa Rica. Rate of exchange: 1 US dollar equals 520 of our devaluated currency the "colones".
Everyone please take note of the stop at the school (#3). It is a very poor school and they appreciate ANY supplies we can donate. Maybe you can make a run to Wal-mart and get some pencils, erasers, crayons, etc.
ReplyDeleteStephanie