Visiting countries in Central America was on our bucket list for a long time.. Also since travelling in and out of the US got lot easier due to receiving our GC, the time was right for this adventure..
When I started out writing this blog, I thought I could cover everything in one blog, but I had to split it into 2 parts due to the length of the details involved..
Let me get the finance part of the trip out of the way before we get to the much exiting portion of the trip
1) Get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees. This is very important.. There are many cards out there with great offers.. Inform your credit card company that you would be travelling to that country so that the card does not get blocked for fraud.
2) The local currency is Colones.. At the time of writing this blog the exchange rate is 1 Dollar = 565 Colones. This does not mean that you are going to get things cheap over there.. For example if you are going to pay 8$ for a Chipotle burrito, you would pay 4520 Colones over there.. So be prepared for the same otherwise you would get a sticker shock when you see restaurant menus, and prices.. 500 colones is like the minimum currency they trade it and that is considered equivalent to 1$, even though smaller denominations do exist but rarely used..
3) As a rule of thumb always transact your credit card in Colones.. The reason being most places offer bad exchange rates like 1$ = 480 - 520 Colones.. Your credit card company would give you close to the going rate which is 565 Colones..
For example, in a gift shop / restaurant you buy stuff for like 50000 colones.. If the shopkeeper bills your credit card in dollars based on a 1 : 500 rate, you would pay 100$.. Rather request the shopkeeper to perform the transaction in colones.. You Credit card company would use the going rate or close to it.. and you would end up paying 50000/570 = 87.7$. So basically you would only see 87$ on your credit card statement, saving 13$.
That being said, its always good to ask the exchange rate.. If you get a exchange rate of 1:570 then bill in dollars
4) When paying for Taxis, pay in colones and cash. Only taxis in the city accept credit cards, most tourist location taxis accept only cash. As they always go by the 1:500 rate..
5) This brings up the question, where do you exchange dollars for local currency.. Do NOT exchange at the airport.. I got a very low rate of 1$ - 485 colones.. Luckily I had exchanged only 10$.. It's like I paid them 2$ extra for exchanging the same.. Best option is either the local Bank / Hotel. For the latter, query the exchange rate..
6) When carrying cash from the US, carry in lower denominations like 1$, 5$ and 10$.. More 1$ notes the better.. Most places when you tip, you can tip them in multiples of 1$
7) Tips : Costa Ricans do not tip..The reason being by law, a 10% tip/service tax is added on every restaurant bill accompanied by a 13% tax. If your waiter has given you exceptional service, then you can tip them 5-10% extra but do the math on the base rate before the service tax and local tax is added.. If not you would end up tipping them 22 to 25% more. We used to just check the receipt to see if the service tax was listed separately and then just divide that by 2 if we were provided really good service..
8) Who to tip :
Drivers on short trips less than an hour do not really mandate a tip.. Longer trips you can probably tip them 1 or 2$. If the driver has provided a good service like pointed out landmarks, stopped at tourist spots along the way to your destinations, pointed out wildlife / different types of trees, fruits etc.. You can probably given them 3 - 5$.
The room keeper can be tipped at the end at about 1$ a day. They have envelopes in the room to place the tip.. If not probably leave it on the side table so that it's visible..
Tour Guides : If you feel you got a good tour and the guide was very informative, gave you enough time at photo spots, pointed out wildlife etc.. then probably tip 2 - 5$. If not, it's not required..
9) Passports / cash : We always kept our passports in the hotel lockers and carried copies around to be on the safe side.. Cash also we just took how much we would require on that particular day or trip..
10) Debit cards : Carry 1 or 2 debit cards with you on the trip. You never know which one works.. since some parks / beaches accept only cash. You can check how much would be billed per transaction.. Normally it would be close to 5 to 10$ per transaction as its out of country.
11) Be careful and have a sense of surroundings always and keep bags / purses close and out of plain sight.. People are kind and nice wherever we went, but you never know when you would be pick-pocketed.. This does not mean that you have to be very cautious, but be your self and some extra attention to these details.. If you are walking around in the city, it's going to be very crowded and its always to be extra careful with your belongings..
12) Cashback : We had read online that we could get cashback at all places, but we found this not to be true at least in the tourist spots.. We did not try the major super markets in the city as we never went there.. None of the vendors in tourist spots gave cashback.. The hotels also do not give cashback.. So if you need cash use your debit card or carry cash with you..
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