TORTUGUERO TAMARINDO ARENAL MONTEZUMA JACO ZANCUDO
STATS
Sandra and I visited Costa Rica in 2011 from January 28 - March 25 and this is what we did and what we thought of it. We had reservations for all accommodations for the first month, but did not reserve anything for the second month. We left March wide open so we could revisit places we went to in February if we wanted, or to explore new places we might have heard about during our February travels. This isn't everyone's style of travel, but it worked out great for us. This was my fourth time to CR, and my second time to CR with Sandra, so we were both experienced CR travellers. Sandra has virtually no Spanish and I have very limited Espanol malo but this was never a barrier and we always got what we needed using my terrible Spanish and a Tico's limited English. Driving directions were not needed this time round because we had a Garmin Nuvi GPS with CR map from navsatcr.com which performed flawlessly.
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We love Zancudo! But Zancudo isn't for everybody. Zancudo is for the truly laid back person. A lot of people claim to be laid back but find out that they ain't so laid back once they get to Zancudo. We spent about a month down here and saw many people come and go. Some people made us happy when they came while others made us happy when they left. Nobody in Zancudo is ever in a hurry and a unfortunately some gringos try to get the village to adjust to them rather then adjust to the village. Only a truly uptight tourist would complain about the FREE internet service!
There isn't a whole lot to do in Zancudo so a car is almost a necessity to go exploring. We stayed at Sol y Mar and will only stay here. It is the social hub of the area and there's always a friendly person at the bar no matter what time of day or night. Fishing is probably the biggest attraction here but the beach is huge and one of the better ones I've seen in CR and is empty most of the time. On the other side is the Rio Coto, a pleasant river that many crocodiles call home and if you goto the Zancudo Lodge in the afternoon when the fishermen are cleaning their catch, the crocs are there for a good feeding of fish racks.
Here's what we've spotted from bed at Sol Y Mar:
sloth
capuchin monkeys
howler monkeys
spider monkeys
several lizards
A car is very handy here. One of our favourite things is to drive over to Playa Pavones, the second longest wave in the world and one of the few surfable left breaks in the world. Whilst watching the surfers we have spotted dolphins and whales from the beach. Probably the best thing we've done in this area is take a walk up the Rio Claro. Take lunch with you. Up here if you stay still long enough the toucans will come out to play right overhead. This river is one of the most beautiful sights I've seen.
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