Costa Rica was simply a blast. The parts of the country we saw are beautiful. The people are very friendly, and very helpful.
We had only one reservations for any hotel we stayed at in Costa Rica. There are plenty of places to stay in all areas. The only place we could not stay at was Arenal Observatory which is about as close as you can get to the volcano.
If you are looking to do a trip, email me and I will give you some ideas. With the Web as it is now, research is quite easy and up to date. If you are traveling around Costa Rica, the single best guide is this Costa Rica Map. It has everything in it to plan a trip. Their web site is very thorough and the map has hotels, restaurants, activities, parks, and detail inserts of key areas. You could easily use only this map. I also used Trip Advisor which was great for itinerary planning , general information, and great local advisors monitoring the site. I also used 4 other books, which I will list in order of usefulness:
• Sleeping with the Toucans
• Fodor’s Costa Rica 2010
• Rough Guide to Costa Rica
• The New Key to Costa Rica
We will be returning soon to explore some new areas, and revisiting favorite spots.
Thanks are in order for Gary, Jenny, Scot, D’ava, Matt, Crickett, and Elaine for helping make this trip a great adventure.