The questions below will be answered and revised through the upcoming months. Check back to see what’s changed on a regular basis.

Dates:

What dates are we picking?

See Dates outlined above.

For how long?

11 days from Colorado to Colorado – unless you decide to extend on your own.

Costs:

For 10 days in Costa Rica, how much will the total trip cost be per person (including airfare)?

~$1600 based on available airfare today.

For 7 days in Costa Rica, how much will the total trip cost be per person (including airfare)?

Different trip than I’ve researched.

What is a typical cost per day per person?

How much are typical car rentals?

How much are typical hotels?

$10-$60/day/person depending on whether you have AC, bath in room, geography etc.

How much is airfare from Colorado Springs to Costa Rica?

Approx. $600

How much money should we bring?

For the group trip Dave researched - $20 + souvenir, booze, spending money.

Cash, How much and do we have to convert currency when we get there?

Frommer’s says convert at airport – currently defined trip requires no cash other than what you might want to spend on your own.

If converting currency, is it best to do it through a bank there?

Frommer’s says airport

What to do before the trip:

Do we need a passport?

Yes (OR a birth certificate AND current driver’s license)

How do I get a passport and how much does it cost?

You will need 2 passport photos (Chapter One on 206 E. Pikes Peak 634-6534). Chapter One is right across the street from the Colorado Springs Passport Office. They will take pictures (2 for $8.00 total) quickly without an appointment. Photos come out best if you wear a dark shirt (because background is white). Then walk across the street to the Passport Office (Rm. 102 on 201 E. Pikes Peak 570-5332, in the post office building) and fill out paperwork. Bring a certified copy of your birth certificate (needs raised state seal on it) and current driver’s license. Wait period (before you get your passport) is 4-6 weeks and the Passport costs $60.00 (checks [you will need 2] or money order only, cash or credit cards are not accepted). Get your passport well in advance of the trip. Passport Office will mail passport to your home. Passport is good for 10 years.

Passport information Note: You will need to know birthdate and place of both parents or adoptive parents. Also, know your social security number but you don’t need to bring card.

Do we need a Visa?

No

Do we need to get special vaccinations to go to Costa Rica?

I (rafting outfitter) personally don't feel that any special vaccinations are needed. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) always advises certain precautions when traveling in any developing countries so Costa Rica would be under the regional recommendations. However the water is safe to drink and there are no recommendations not to eat fruit or use ice or any of the other typical warnings. As a company we do not recommend that people that travel with us get shots. So far we have never had a guest get ill while traveling in Costa Rica. In the area of health matters, Costa Rica rivals the health standards of the US and Canada and is far ahead of the rest of Latin America. If people wish to get vaccines they should be aware that some of these must be loaded into your system in time intervals. With malaria and Hepatitis B the drugs must be taken every three months or so till three doses have been taken. 

Do we have a travel agent that will help us?

Several to choose from above.

What clothes should we bring?

Gear list: Mark your gear. NO MORE THAN 2 CARRY-ON SIZE BAGS. Rain is likely. A SMALL waterproof bag to be taken on the boats may be nice. Clothing is personal preference. Most paddlers wear polypropylene, footwear, possibly gloves and possibly a splash jacket.

Off-river Gear: walking shorts, tee shirts, walking/hiking shoes, socks, underwear, bandanna, hat, raingear, polypro or jacket. Towel, extra batteries, camera, film, insect repellant, sunscreen, sunglasses and retainer strap, personal toiletries.

Travel:

Where do we initially fly in to?

San Jose, Costa Rica (the capital)

How long of a flight is it?

Can we use small planes in Costa Rica to get from one area to another?

Yes

About Costa Rica:

What is the weather like in Costa Rica?

Weather in Costa Rica during Nov.- Dec. is generally good. That time period is what is considered the end of the rainy season , May-Nov. ( Costa Ricans refer to this as winter though the average temperature only varies by about 2 degrees along the Pacific Coast side and 4-5 degrees year round in the inland areas). Even in the rainy season it is typical to have warm clear mornings and then cooler drizzly afternoons. Temperature varies by location and elevation primarily. Generally I've found that most people find Costa Rica to be more mountainous and cooler than they expected. The temperature is usually 68-75 degrees in most of the river areas (depending on elevation), around 85-90 usually at the beach. Essential things to pack are a good rain jacket (something like Gore-Tex or a similar product) and a light fleece jacket or pullover. My "guesstimate"  of the weather will be that you'll see some rain on the rivers and days on the eastern side of the mountains and warm sunny weather on the western side at the beach. 

What language do they speak in Costa Rica?

Spanish

Do I have to know Spanish to communicate?

Rudimentary Spanish is helpful but not an absolute necessity. You will usually though not always find someone at the hotels and restaurants that speak at least some English. The guides that we use are bilingual and the trip is priced to include at least one guide that will be available at all times even on non-river days.

Can locals generally speak or understand English?

See above question

What are some good books to read about Costa Rica?

Costa Rica Handbook by Christopher P. Baker (Moon Travel Handbooks)

Costa Rica (Lonely Planet)

Explore Costa Rica by Harry Pariser

Trip Plans:

Note: Why have you narrowed down the trip to 11 days and 6 days of rafting? See trip information at beginning outlining the question of a shorter trip:

My (Dave) research says that it is not easy to get around the Costa Rican roads. I like the idea of having someone knowledgeable about that stuff taking care of that for us. I think it is very possible that a planned river could be unrunnable and these guys (outfitters) can get us to another river without us gringos having to figure out alternate plans. Another way to do this is to stay in San Jose and have an outfitter pick us up every day. I believe this will mean more hours on vans and less hours in the countryside. My goal was to get lots of rafting in but also have a few days of tourist stuff.

Who is going on this trip?

13 people have expressed good interest – Won’t know until we get deposits

Is this a group trip?

Current plan – yes

If we participate in the group trip, who do we pay?

Dave Sample

Is a deposit required and how much? And, by what date?

Yes, $525 deposit, by March 8, 2001

When will the balance be due? How much will the balance be?

Balance of $525 due by August 1, 2001

Are we traveling together as a group?

For the 11 days – pretty much

Are we traveling together as a group in a van and on the plane?

Yes while in CR, not necessarily on the plane – unless the trip plans change

Do we need to rent cars?

Not unless the trip plans change

Rivers:

Or just doing the boating part together?

For 11 days we will spend LOTS of time together.

What rivers do we want to run? And what are they rated?

Lower Pacuare (Cl. III-IV), Pascua Section of Rio Reventazon (IV), lower Huacas, Pascua (solid IV).

The rivers that we are likely to run and their relative classifications are as follows. It is important to realize that (in my opinion) Costa Ricans tend to underrate the relative difficulty of rapids in Costa Rica. The only guidebook on the rivers of Costa Rica is very out of date.

The rivers are the Pacuare (Class III/IV) at low to medium water (Class IV/V)  at high runnable levels.  The trip includes two sections of the Reventazon, both of which have water releases. The Powerhouse run Class IV for the first 4 miles and III-IV for the lower 8 miles. The Pascua section is (Class IV+) featuring 18 miles of big volume fast moving water. Some Costa Rican outfitters call the Pascua a V but most call it IV+. In my opinion the water on the Reventazon will be the most familiar to you. All these rivers will be run using the town of Turrialba as a base.

The other major boating area will be in the area of Chilimate. There are two runs available on the Sarapiqui. The Lower Sarapiqui is a Class III+ run with about 3 rapids in the Class III-IV range. The Upper Sarapiqui (Class IV) is a long steep technical run that is pretty continuous and has some pretty large rapids. The call will depend on the group and the water level. The Upper Sarapiqui is too bony with insufficient water. The most challenging run will be on the Rio Toro (Class IV+/V). The Toro gets water from a powerhouse but is also affected by stream inflow as well. Probably only one rapid taken by itself would be a true class V but the first 8 miles are continuous. The 6th river will be dependent on whether or not the Penas Blancas (Class III-IV at the top and mellowing out to a Class III) is accessible to put on. There is a powerhouse construction that made it unavailable this winter. If it is not available we should be able to paddle the Savegre or the Naranjo while at stay at Jaco ( both are free flow Class IV's that are tight and technical). Either is a fairly long day as they are south of the beach at Jaco.

What dates do we want to run particular rivers?

Current plan is the outfitter (Ocoee Adventure Center) will set this up for us.

Overnight trips on rivers?

None planned – e.g. we will do an 18-mile section in one days Vs 2 days and stay in the only EXPENSIVE hotel on the river.

What equipment do we bring?

Just river clothes and a small dry-bag – see "stuff to bring"

Do we hire an outfitter?

That is the plan

How much are day river trips?

$60-$80+

Are we renting equipment and boatmen?

Sort of – we will have 1 boatman and one rescue kayaker

Do we have to guide rental boats?

No – we get to guide them

Can we have an experienced Costa Rica boatman guiding our boat?

Just one boat will

Do they usually run paddle or oar boats?

Paddle boats almost exclusively

What outfitter should we use?

I (Dave) checked several – Ocoee was the best for fitting my goals – lots of rivers, reasonable hotels, no fuss trip.

Other Attractions:

What places should we visit when not boating?

Arenal Volcano Area, Tobacon Hot Springs, La Paz waterfall, Carara Biological Reserve, Rincon de la Vieja (horseback ride to mudbaths), Tortuguero National Park, Punta Coral.

This is the current planned trip:

Currently option 1 - Arenal Volcano area, we can either go to the La Catarara waterfall park or allow people some time to hike around the base of Arenal or do some optional activity such as horseback riding. We will travel by the La Paz waterfall and have a short stop there. If time and daylight allows we will stop for a short hike in the Brauilo Carrillo National Park which is a cloud forest environment. We will do a short stop at the Basilica in Cartago, great photo stop. We will also take a guided hike in a private biological reserve in the La Selva area. We can do some short hikes in the Carara Biological Reserve on the way to Jaco Beach. The only beach area for Option 1 would be Jaco ( a beautiful beach area on the Pacific southwest of San Jose).

The Option 2 trip is pretty similar ( with the exception of one inland hotel) except we would fly to Quepos in small planes and stay in the area of the Manuel Antonio National Park. Manuel Antonio is a spectacular place and Quepos is a fun little town. Food and everything else is better at this beach area but it is a couple of hours south of Jaco. The good thing is that this area is much closer to the rivers than Jaco. 

The other Volcano Park would be a short trip up to the Irazu Volcano if we catch a spectacularly clear morning while you are in the Turrialba area. This is hard to catch because it is usually clouded in but worth the trip up to it if weather permits.

Are there hiking opportunities?

Some – lots if you want to stay a few extra days ON YOUR OWN

Which beaches are best?

Is snorkeling or scuba diving an option?

Some – lots if you want to stay a few extra days ON YOUR OWN

Future Planning Sessions:

Will this group meet again? If so, when and where?

Check for Costa Rica News updates at meetings on Club website Calendar .

Who is coordinating the information on this trip?

Dave Sample, 719-481-2317 (home)

Where will information be posted?

Pikes Peak River Runners club website

Has anyone in this group gone to Costa Rica before and are they willing to be a resource for questions?

How can I help?