> * How safe is it?...
San José has gotten to be a bit of a high crime area, but there's no
reason to stay there except perhaps when arriving or departing.
Definitely avoid the area around the "Coca Cola" bus station. If going
to the station, take a cab; it's cheap. However, most of the time I
rode the local buses, and I never had a problem.
>...is it manageable...
Even in the rainy season, no one can tell you exactly what the weather
will be like. Costa Rica does even experience droughts from time to
timeBut when it is raining, it's normally pouring, so I doubt you'll
be hiking.
>...Travelers Checks or cache?...credit card...
I can only tell you that *I* never had a problem. I normally carry
*some* travelers check just in case the credit card stops working, but
that I normally pay in cash by going to an ATM and drawing out money
every couple of days. On my two trips to Costa Rica (one month each),
I was never ripped off by a machine.
> * Any vaccines we need to ...
On my first trip (dry season), I took all the recommended shots and
was careful about what I ate (or so I thought)...and both myself and
my traveling companion got sicker than either of us has been before or
since. In fact, I thought I was actually going to have to hospitalize
my partner, something I didn't want to do where we were (Limón)
because of the poor facilities. On my second trip, I took no
prophylactics, lived rough in countryside with the locals, eating and
drinking exactly what they did, and I wasn't sick a day, although on
the second trip (which was during the begining of the rainy season) I
did learn how to avoid mosquitoes. It's kind of depends on your
philosophy of prophylactic medicines.
On both trips, I landed at the airport, caught the local bus to town,
and stayed in budget accomodations (the youth hostel was pretty good
and at the time, 1996, was in a relatively good part of town). I kind
of doubt you'll need reservations during the wet season though. |