Hi Laurie, I know you went to Costa Rica in November. I'm curious as to where you visited. I am trying to determine where to stay on the North West Pacific Coast - did you spend some of your time there?

hi went to c.r in sept(fab) stayed at hotel flamingo on flamingo beach in guanacaste area, 60.00 per nite low season its like 140. now it's a best western and REALLY NICE. ALSO log onto hotel@brasilito.com they are a budget hotel that looks great 30.00 per nite we went by and it looked ok and had a nice beach.. john_denver hope this helps

Hi Gela: I went for 10 days in November over the Thanksgiving holiday. It rained a lot (well, the entire country is just about rainforest), but it was very warm and so beautiful. Never seen so many rivers and waterfalls! I did not hit the Pacific side - went to Zarceras, Fortuna (a very cool town), Arenal Volcano, Tabacon Hot Springs, which was one the the most beautiful places I have ever seen! (north central part), then over to the Caribbean Coast, through Limon and down to Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. I was lucky to have my own private tour guide, a friend that lives down there.

The food is good and it is cheap to travel there. I bought so many cool things (gifts and things for myself) and still brought home a bunch of money. The coffee cannot be beat. I loved the local beer, Imperial. And, I saw a lot of wildlife. Really, it was like Jungle Book!

I heard that Puntarenas is a place to avoid, but on the Nicoya Peninsula, Samara Beach is supposed to be beautiful and does not have the touristy feel, such as Jaco. So, I guess I would have to say (from talking with lots of people down there) to try to get to Nicoya Penisula.

Brush up on your Espanol. I found a lot of people do not speak English there, at least where I was. If you have any other questions, you can always e-mail me at LaurieMar@msn.com!

Hey, I heard you just recently went to Maui. Where did you stay?

John, thanks for the recommendation.

Laurie, it sounds like you had a fabulous trip! Your comments earlier on this board made me wonder about your adventure - will email you to get the whole scoop. I was thinking on going early May as the "green season" begins. And then primarily staying Pacific north with day trips to see the volcano and do the canopy tour. I work with a guy who is from Costa Rica and he too recommends Samara area. I note that AA flies into Liberia from Miami which would be my preference.

Anyway, I'll email you later today.

I went to Maui the week before Thanksgiving and stayed at the Sands of Kahana in Kahana (in between Kaanapali and Napili) - it was a timeshare swap. I had a huge 2 bedroom 2 bath condo all to myself :-(.

Thanks again for the info on Costa Rica. I still plan to make it back to AC some time this year