Post: #1

As per my tradition of travelling to a new country each year to celebrate my birthday, this time around I decided to visit Costa Rica. I've searched the forum and seen that the last dedicated thread on the city is quite antiquated so here's a fresh one with oversight and some analysis.
Obviously this is all relative to my own experience visiting over 2 weeks and if there's any natives on the forum who wish to correct any of the information I was given, please feel free to do so.

Travelling To and From
CR isn't a popular tourist destination in the UK so there's no flights direct from Heathrow or Gatwick - I had to catch a connecting flight from the states.
I checked the tourist visa requirements for the country and saw there were none so assumed that 'd be able to travel without incident. But I was almost denied entry onto my flight because apparently I needed an ESTA for my connecting flight in the states.
So protip - check the visa requirements for your transit country as well.
It was my first time flying with American Airlines and it was about what I expected - butch women and queer flight attendants. Go figure. On the pus side, since I was travelling off-peak I got 3 seats to myself for napping during the trans-Atlantic flight.

The City Proper
It takes about half an hour to get from the Airport to San Jose by cab and the fares are pretty reasonable. They operate by distance and not time.
I arrived in the evening so didn't see the city until the next morning after I'd eaten. And my first impression was......well, judge for yourself.
   
   
Having never visited the States proper, I understand that the layout of the cities there uses a numbered and named block system as opposed to the meandering streets of the UK.
The same principle seems to have been adopted in San Jose with a block system that uses avenues and streets so it isn't especially difficult to navigate. The central part of the city has various interesting locales for tourists such as the National Theatre, the Cathedral, The National Post Office, Museums, Zoos and so forth. As a result, those parts of the city are well-maintained.
However, it only lasts for about maybe 20 square blocks. Outside of there, you really begin to get an idea of just how impoverished the country is.
           
I used to work in construction so while I was there I spoke to some builders to try and get an idea of what the financial situation is like. In the UK, the average wage of an apprentice contractor is around £8/hour. In Costa Rica, it's around £2.50/hour.
To a visitor like me then things seems really cheap. For example, you can get a 2-course lunch for around £5, shots of spirits are less than £2 and you can ride the bus for about 50p a turn.
That speak volumes and of course there's broader economic implications.
For example, real estate is a bargain. You can purchase a hectare of land (~2.5 acres) for just under £25,000. The country's also a popular destination for North American retirees, not least of all because of the climate. There's also a lot of foreign property investors and holiday homes. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a place there.

As a result, you can easily begin to see the divide between the have and have nots. I was warned by locals not to venture into certain parts of the city by myself for want of not getting mugged.
Side note, there's still a lot of beggars and people trying to flog tatty merchandise in broken English.

Countryside
Here's where the duality of the country really began to show itself. While the towns and cities and quite poor, the natural parts of the country are astonishingly beautiful. For example, here's a couple of shots I took of the Irazú Volcano, The Orosi Valley and The Lankester Botanical Gardens.
           

Continued

Post: #2

While I was there, I took a couple of tours to some of these places because I wanted to garter as much information as I could about the locales as well as the county at large. I like to learn about different cultures and methods of operating like that.
For example, I wondered why it was that virtually every house I saw had bars and barbed wire outside. Apparently it's because of really bad crime waves over the last 30 odd years and because most people aren't wealthy enough to afford home security systems. I also learned about how approximately 95% of the country's energy comes from renewable sources like hydroelectric in the rainy season and geothermal from Costa Rica's hundreds of volcanoes. Other useless of tidbits like how the Costa Rican flag was designed that way because the creator was a big fan of the French fag, about the country's recurring earthquakes because of it's location close to the central American fault lines and other things like that.

Climate and Geography
Being from the UK, I'm used to having pretty crap weather all year round. While I was in Costa Rica however, it never dropped below 15 degrees, even when it was pouring it down with rain. That was a very welcome change of pace, especially for this time of year. There's a lot of humidity in the atmosphere owing to the country's rainforests.
One of the cool things about CR is that you can travel from the Pacific to the Caribbean in about 5 hours. For example, you can hop on a bus in San Jose that goes to Limón or to Punterenas, the former being a major harbor for the Caribbean side. However, I was once again struck by just how poor these towns were. Street vendors everywhere, corrugated roofing as far as the eye could see and general dis-repair of roads. Lots of stray dogs too.

Wildlife
Over 50% of the country's mammalian population constitutes bats but there's still a lot of diverse wildlife to see in the country. Here's a shot of the 'Croc Bridge' I took. These things were over 6 feet long each.
   
There's also a lot of animals that have acclimated to human presence because of tourists. The cappuccino monkey is a good example.
   
There's plenty of tours that go on nature hikes to visit different parts of the country if you're into that kind of stuff. I took a few while I was there and didn't regret it. It certainly made for a nice change of pace from just seeing pigeons, squirrels and foxes every day.

Culture
As you may have gather from some of the previous images, Costa Rica has a serious problem with Globalization. They have Starbucks and Taco Bell with giant billboards for Pizza hut. And I saw this little gem on my 2nd day:
   
I mean, that says it all really. Here on the RVF we discuss encroaching liberal values disseminating throughout the world and Costa Rica is apparently no exception. I even ran into a few chicks with dicks on Tinder.
And unfortunately, it isn't an isolated issue. Catholicism used to be the prevailing Religion but the percentage is rapidly diminishing as more and more people are becoming Evangelists. Obviously that has ramifications as far as the moral and familial structures go.

Game
While I was in San Jose, I had the feelers out on all fronts. I was doing several day game street approaches, swiping on tinder and checking craigslist (though the last one was filled with hookers that that was a non-starter)
The language barrier was still there which was a real surprise as well as a hindrance. You see, I learned Spanish in school - Castillian Spanish which is primarily used in Eurpoe. I thought then that I'd be okay in Latin America but this was far from the case. While I could speak and be understood, it was difficult for me to understand what people were saying.
As a result, this limited my options to English-speaking girls which constituted tourists from the States and local girls who could fathom me.
Surprisingly, most were rather feminine and pleasant. I managed to get an insta-date one afternoon with a few number closes and a bang on my final day there (elaborated on in the Player's Log thread)
There's more traces of traditional women there than in other Western countries but it's still a challenge to find them. Luckily there's more occasions of pretty women by themselves in the centre of the city so you don't have to worry as much about disarming the fat friend or queen bee.
I can't comment too much on the night game since I didn't stay out after dark by myself.

Side-story
Not a pleasant one this but I feel I should state for the record that I suffered an attempted mugging at knife-point on the plaza outside the National Theatre. Luckily he didn't speak German so I didn't lose anything owing to my spouting the lyrics of Rammstein back at him (You'd better believe I gave them some patronage when I got back) That took some solid frame to not panic. Apparently muggers give up when they can't intimidate or even communicate with their targets.

Conclusion
I'd recommend a visit for a week to see the landscapes and natural sights of the country. The weather was definitely a nice change of pace and the food was delicious so long as you put up with usual couple of days of digestive acclimation.
If you travel there, don't go alone as I did.
I think that about covers everything. If there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask.

Post: #3

Nice report, it seems like a good place for a short trip.

Post: #4

Quote:I suffered an attempted mugging at knife-point on the plaza outside the National Theatre. Luckily he didn't speak German so I didn't lose anything owing to my spouting the lyrics of Rammstein back at him

This is epic. How I imagine this interaction:

Mugger: "Gees me your phoooone"

HD: "eins... hier kommt die Sonne"