You’re staring at the National Theater’s ornate façade, enjoying the marimba music from the Grand Hotel’s outdoor café and energized by the buzz of Central America’s most sophisticated capital city.
A gentleman approaches and says that you’ve got some chocolate on your shoulder. Your own eyes confirm it. He offers to wipe it off. You shank him, and as he walks off you decide to sit down for a coffee at the café. But you find that your wallet is gone.

Distraction is a pretty thief’s best friend. Opportunists generally take advantage of a tourist’s carelessness, preying on wide-eyed Latin American neonates marveling at the region’s vivid street life. These people, with cameras hanging from their necks and bulging backpacks behind them, sometimes find themselves relieved of their gear. Other good targets are snoozing bus riders with bags in the overhead rack and love-struck couples cooing over each other.

Professional crooks have more elaborate scams. Once again, distraction is the name of the game, and more polished thieves will stage street fights that will make you slow down and look, or do something else to distract you, like offer to wipe off the chocolate on your shoulder. “If anything feels out of the ordinary, you should instantly put your guard up” says Dan Cunnigham, an ex-cop and experienced world traveler.
“Thieves around the world will cause scene in which people bunch around you, like dropping their glasses on the bus or subway,” he said. “At these times, you should keep a hand on your valuables.”
Additionally, police officials cite unattended vehicles, items left on the beach and hotel thefts as other common scenarios that allow thieves to take advantage. “Tempting luggage full imported goodies sitting on the sear of your rental vehicle or your wallet stuck in you shoe on the beach are easy targets,” Cunningham said.

The Costa Rican Tourism Board offers this advice:

• Keep your passport in your hotel’s safe, along with other valuable items. You’ll only need your original passport to change money; most other procedures only require a copy of your passport.

• Use ATMs in well-lighted public places. Don’t accept help or company from strangers when using it.

• Keep all of you belongings in site and withinreach.

• If you are lost and need to consultant your map, look for a safe public place or ask police for help.

• Keep your doors locked and windows up when driving or parking. Don’t leave valuables in your vehicle.

• If you get a flat tire, if anyone says you have a problem with the vehicle, if you get suspiciously hit from behind or if you’re being followed, don’t stop until you can get help from the police.

“In the end, thieves look for the easiest target. Remember that you’re not in your home city, and that in itself makes you more vulnerable. If you’re smart you won’t stick out too much, making you an unattractive target,” Cunningham concluded.

Age-adequate, fun activities are top priorities for any parent planning to travel with their children. To help give you an idea of what’s available, Costa Rica Traveler has compiled a list of the best places where juniors and seniors can learn about and enjoy the best that this diverse country has to offer.

INBioparque
Located twenty minutes outside of downtown San Jose in Santo Domingo de Heredia, the National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) has created this biology-focused theme park that brings visitors into direct contact with nature’s most interesting inhabitants.
Its missions are the preservation and sustainable use of the region’s Biodiversity. From Tuesday through Sunday the park opens its doors to the public offering activities and open spaces in which to learn about plants and animals, and the value of these fragile, resilient resources.

On permanent display are live boas, bromeliads, heliconians, orchids, frogs, tarantulas, giant bullet ants and alligators. A maze of paths joins various recreated ecosystems that thrive in Costa Rica. There are iguanas, sloths, deer and other native species around every corner. The butterfly farm produces fifteen native species of butterfly.

On weekends The Farm is open to all. Guides dressed as typical Costa Rican farmers host activities that teach local farming techniques and customs in a real barnyard with pigs, cows, goats and chickens.

GENERAL SERVICES: Guided tours in Spanish or English, baby strollers and wheelchairs, spacious parking, bus service to most hotels in the metro area and fine dining at Heliconia Restaurant with a menu catering to both sophisticated and young tastes.

HOW TO GET THERE: From the Cruz Roja Costarricense in Santo Domingo de Heredia, 500 meters south y 250 east.

Museo de los Niños
The Children’s Museum in downtown San Jose has a fascinating history. Once a feared prison, its walls witnessed the sadness of captivity and criminals. Today, the opposite occurs. Now the old castle’s mission is to promote social development, well-being and culture through child’s play.
Named a National Historic Landmark, the museum’s stately architecture by itself would make for an interesting visit. Inside its doors you’ll find an art gallery, café and an extremely well-done museum whose philosophy is “Learn by playing.” The varied exhibits are all interactive.
Costa Rican national historic figures come to life, rare plants flourish, and animals show their brightest colors. Theater groups liven up the courtyards with dramatizations about legends and ghost stories. There is even a room that simulates of being in a earthquake.

GENERAL SERVICES: Gift shop, cafeteria, guarded parking, coat check, all-inclusive service.

HOW TO GET THERE: In downtown in San Jose, Fourth street and Ninth Avenue.
Parque de Diversiones

All proceeds from this theme park go to the National  Children’s Hospital.
Rides and entertainment for all sizes include waterslides, free-falls, roller coasters, go-carts, train rides and much more. One of its main attractions is Old Town, a quaint recreation of the building and spaces that were typical to rural Costa Rica at the beginning of the 20th century.
This picturesque place with farm animals and parks can be explored on foot or by horse-drawn carriage. Its restaurant offers a great menu for all ages.

Old Town also has a night tour those recreants the origins of Costa Rican culture and folklore with marimbas, typical dances and a tasty traditional supper.

GENERAL SERVICES: Ample parking, baby strollers, wheel chairs, coast-check, gift shops, several fast food and typical restaurants. Entrance to the park is free, and tickets for rides or all access passes are sold separately.

HOW TO GET THERE: La Uruca, San Jose, 2 Kilometers west of the Hospital Mexico.

Fossil Land
Ancient history is the cire of this theme park where discovering the past is an adventure of children two years and older.
The whole family can enjoy walks along beautiful paths that border a wild river, mountains and caves. There’s a fossil museum, camping facilities, canopy walks, cliff rappelling, horseback riding, paint-ball and other fun activities.

GENERAL SERVICES: Fast food, group meals, parking, showers and locker rooms. During the week reservations must be made at least two days beforehand for groups of 5 to 8 people. The park recommends wearing comfortable clothes and bringing a change of clothes.

HOW TO GET THERE: Desamparados, Patarrá, 12 Km south of the Central Park.

Rain Forest Aerial Tram
Floating over the rain forest canopy on an aerial tram is the best way to see exotic and rarely seen wildlife up close and over all. The Rain Forest Aerial Tram offers two locations to view the majesty of Costa Rica’s richest primary forests: the Atlantic tram, only 50 minutes from the center of San Jose, or the Pacific tram just minutes from Jaco.

The latter of these covers the transition between rainforests and dry primary forests.
Under the trams, paths have been made to accommodate baby-strollers and wheel chairs. These paths intersect flower, frog and butterfly farms. Zip-line tours are also available.

RFAT offers workshops that teach the technique of using natural dyes from plant extracts and natural fibers, as well as art workshops where children can describe what they’ve experienced through painting. The snake farm has over 20 types of reptiles in glass dioramas. If a day outing seems short, the park offers one-night stays in a forest refuge.

Overall this memorable place is a hands on experience that sends visitors away with a renewed and exciting perception of nature’s wonders and how to preserve them.
The park recommends that visitors bring comfortable shoes and clothes, a change of clothing, binoculars and cameras. For walks they recommend a light backpack, hat, bathing suit and insect-repellent.

SERVICES: Both parks offer a cafeteria, souvenir shop, transportation and parking. The Atlantic park has a small lodge, and the Pacific park boasts extensive gardens.

Cataratas de la Paz
The Peace Waterfalls run through countryside of incredible beauty only an hour and twenty minutes from San Jose. Located in Vara Blanca de Heredia, this is an excellent place for the whole family to enjoy.

It’s main attraction, the five majestic waterfalls, can be enjoyed close-up from special walkways built along cliff sides that border the Paz River. The White Magic Waterfall drops of 37 meters and can be observed from several angles, platforms and bridges.

But  the falls are only one of the park’s many attractions. The butterfly farm has 26 species for butterfly; the snake farm has over 27 species including the rare sea snake. There’s a splendid orchid garden where the tiny birds, accustomed to human contact, fly right up to visitors’ eyes before buzzing madly off in pursuit of more honey.

The park has two souvenir shops and two buffet restaurants with dishes that include traditional Costa Rican food, children’s menu and dishes prepared especially for vegetarians. With the ticket price visitors are invited to enjoy a snack and a hot beverage along the path in a typical house. Visitors can fish for their own trout in the lake and have it prepared to their taste or swim in the pool or Jacuzzi. The park’s Peace Lodge offers beautiful and comfortable rooms for those wishing to spend the night.
The Park recommends visitors bring comfortable shoes, clothes that dry quickly or a change of clothing. Rain slickers are sold at the stores.

Rafting with Costa Rica Nature Adventures
Costa Rica Nature Adventures offers two guided whitewater tours: the Sarapiqui and Pacuare rivers. Both tours come with the help of highly trained professionals and all the necessary safety equipment. If you are a beginner and your children are between 10 and 12 years old, we recommend the Sarapiqui. This class III runs travels through a low volume, narrow River with plenty of peaceful stretches. Its banks are full of the rainforest where the vegetation and wildlife will show you their best side. You might even see toucans, hummingbirds, woodpeckers and many more birds.

Lunch is served on the Sarapiqui’s banks, where the gurgling of the calm waters and nature’s symphony in this land of “eternal spring.” If your children are older than twelve and they want a more daring adventure, the rafting trip down the Pacuare is the way to go. This gorgeous river is class III and IV.

Located on Costa Rica’s Atlantic slope, this river descends from the Talamanca Mountains, passing through tropical rainforest that will offer you their biodiversity and splendor. You’ll be able to see refreshing waterfalls, a variety of birds, butterflies and vegetation.
Just as on the Sarapiqui, you’ll enjoy a well earned lunch on the Pacuare’s banks.

SERVICES: Round-trip transportation from San Jose, breakfast, lunch, use of safety equipment, guides.

Turu ba ri Nature Park
You little ones will love this park. The entrance and exit is by gondola, and once in the park you’ll find a canopy tour and other adventures for all ages. The canopy tour is recommended for children over six years old, and has twelve platforms, three towers, seven cables and two hanging bridges that will safely take you into the treetops. This tour has a special braking system that allows the user of guides to activate it immediately when needed.

You can also visit the iguana farm and the butterfly garden. Don’t miss the country farm, where oxen pull a trapiche, which is a small, traditional sugar mill. More than one will be domestic animals possess. To top it all off, children can play in a maze-garden.
The horseback ride is safe and recommended for children over four years old. The approximately one-hour ride is over flat paths on trained, tame horses. The guide will illustrate the forest, flora and fauna, making this not only enjoyable, but educational.

SERVICES: They have two restaurants serving delicious traditional cuisine. They also plenty or parking and several activities.

LOCATION: Seven kilometers outside of Orotina, on the banks of the Tarcoles River.

 

Five fortunate leatherback turtle females will now be able to nest in safety with the creation of the new Caletas-Ario Wildlife Refuge on the Nicoya Peninsula in the northern Pacific. Covering 774 acres of land and 49,000 acres of ocean, including the highly endangered hawksbill.

“Playa Caletas is the third most important nesting site for leatherbacks in the country, and since there are only five, you can see just how serious their numbers are worldwide,” commented Noah Anderson of the non-profit Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA).
Protecting the marine are means drag netting for shrimp and other invasive fishing techniques are now outlawed. Other initiatives will include protection of the nests from predators and educating local fishermen on responsible fishing strategies.

The huge leatherback – reaching over six and a half feet in length and weighing in at nearly 2000 pounds - undertakes its perilous migration between Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica. Numbers of the seafaring reptiles have dropped drastically since the 1980s. The refuge “Is  a total success,” says PRETOMA president Randall Arauz. “We have to protect down to the last turtle.”

What Goes Up…?
The hardcore won’t have it on their annual itinerary of must-do crags for the season and there’s no guide book. After all, it’s not exactly what jumps to mind when you think of Costa Rica, is it? Here is where you come for sun, surf, wildlife and fishing; upscale resorts, homey B&Bs – but rock climbing?

Well, watch our aficionados of California’s Yosemite or France’s Ceuse, because there are undiscovered  formations here that a few are beginning to clean off, bolt up and plot out new routes on.
While Costa Rica’s impressive terrain already lures hikers to scale the volcanoes and mountains that provide its watershed backbone from Nicaragua to Panama, some intrepid devotees are searching out pure rock faces that, while not having the exposure and technical challenge of the huge multi-pitch routes up north or in Europe, still promise to provide a good adrenalin rush, plus the buzz of knowing they are breaking new ground. In these days – when it is increasingly difficult to be the “first” at anything, having a few “new routes” under your belt can only feel good, and you get to think up one of the more than idiosyncratic names often given new lines. How can one not compete to outdo such monikers as “My Pink Half of the Drainpipe,” “Conffin Nail,” or “Born Under a Bad Sign”*?

Some informal climbing went on in the mid 1980s, but the main areas have only been consistently worked since 2002, and very patchy information can be gleaned from weblogs and Internet sites. Most is word of mouth from the few resident climbers in Costa Rica itself. Victor Gallos of Tropical Bungee is an active guide and offers one-day trips around the Central Valley and beyond.
However, one of the most committed promoters of rock climbing among the young adventures is Singapore-born Anuar Hassan, who manages the indoor climbing wall, Racodromo, in San Jose at Mundo Aventura’sadventure center. Besides providing a central community hangout for budding “rock stars,” the variety of routes at all levels of complexity are ideal for building muscle and practicing moves before heading outdoors . Routes are charged every couple of months and groups head outside most weekends.

Anuar is passionate about getting people out on the rocks and putting climbing on the Costa Rica map; he even successfully coached  a national team to compete in the Pan-American Champioships in Mexico in 2003 with two Tico team members winning in their categories. Although this hi-tech  sport needs quality gear, and raising money for equipment is a permanent challenge, this hasn’t stopped Rocodromo groups from tracing the country for hot climbing spots to bolt. Always struggling from a lack of funds, Anuar is philosophical: “I just spend all my days climbing,  sometimes without money in my pocket… but with climbing, I’m happy.” Rocodromo also offers regular instruction in climbing techniques  and will rent out gear; the adjacent Mundo Aventura shop stocks the most comprehensive range of climbing gear in the country.

So far, the main climbing locations are located in river ravines or outcrops within easy accessof San Jose, purely because that is where the main core of route-finding climbers live. But other areas have been checked out, perhaps most spectacularly on the high-elevation plateau of Chirripo, where the looming basalt fingers of Los Crestones have attracted a few hardy local and international rock exporers to scale its classic lines. The Pacific coast also offers several route-worthy crags, mostly around Malpais and Jaco, with the advantage in these areas being if the ride is not tight or you don’t want to lug equipment around, there’s plenty of low-level bouldering, and of course world-class surfing if you really insist.

The main are being currently opened up is an imposing basalt cliff downstream from the Cachi Dam wall an hour and a half from San Jose. Having easy road access and an amenable landowner, some dozen routes have been bolted and other slabs are being cleaned off. Good bouldering is found down for its rafting and kayaking, although climbers must jeep a keen eye out of regular water releases from the dam that can send water bores crashing  down and add an extra hazard to anyone experimenting on the shore-level boulders.
The Cachi cliffs lie on famer Vidal Quiros’ land, and with typical Tico hospitality, he welcomes climbers and campers to visit and stay by the crag. For a very moderate sum, he’s even set up some rustic amenities with a roofed campsite, shower and toilet.

A pure-water upwelling by the river below the climbs is both the source of drinkable water and relaxing a pool with picnic tables nearby for the end a day’s vertical exertions.
It can be a tad daunting to enter an enclave of climbing groupies such as at Rocodromo. I grew up in a climbing and mountaineering family, so wasn’t too fazed at the sight of seemingly immensely strong, exceedingly young, super chilled guys and girls clambering like upside-down spiders along the holds, jugs and pinch-grips. But to be honest ¡, for non-fanatics, there is a definite element of intimating “uber-cool” in the more youthful climbing fraternity similar to surfing or perhaps any sporting subculture that involves skill, potential risk and its own confusing jargon. Anxious to dispel this impression, Anuar is quick to emphasize that everyone is welcome, particularly families wanting to practice the sport in almost guaranteed safety, and certainly there’s pleasant laid-back atmosphere to the place that shares space with juggling and aerial-silk acrobatics classes.

Aimed at a more traditional – and probably more tentative – set of possible fans, adventure tour company EcoGiras invited me to join a one-day basic technique session at an outdoor artificial wall owned by the Costa Rica Scouts & Guides Association, located high above Ochomogo off the main San Jose to Cartago highway. Catering to groups of up to 16 participants, complete novices learn the basics of technique and equipment.
The group’s instructor,  Rolando Coto spilled out a bewildering array of harnesses, loopsm carabiners and rappelling fear at the bottom of the 10 tower while. EcoGiras guides set up belays and top ropes for the afternoon’s practical session. Rolando, an engineering university professor in his more down to earth moments, kept a close eye on participant’s efforts to gear up and ready themselves for their  first attempt at putting hands on holds, albeit polyester resin ones. With backgrounds ranging from advertiser, farmer, a father and son combo and even the tour bus driver, the overall impression was slight apprehension followed by a great sense of achievement as ach paor made it to the top handhold and rappelled amid applause back to the ground. How soon before 11 year old Fernando Hernandez is bugging his dad for a lift to the steeper faces at Cachi?

It’s doubtful that a rock-climbing boom is coming any time soon to Costa Rica, but with the promise of a first guide book to be published by Anuar Hassan early in 2007, plus continued expansion of bolted climbs , this is becoming an increasingly viable adventure options.

Think about it: if you are anywhere from 41 to 59 years in age, you are a baby boomer. Today one in seven to ten seconds. The baby boomer generation currently makes up about one third of the U.S population but it controls three fourths of the wealth. If will wield $107 trillion in annual buying power.
The baby boomer generation is a demographic term of the American population born between 1946 and 1964.

Data  from the 2000  US Census estimates that this group that holds the “boomer” is made up of a least 82,826,479 individuals.
The members of this group range from 41 to 59 years old, which means some, will start leaving the workforce within six years.

This exit from the workforce within has many real estate developers in Costa Rica banking on boomers coming down and buying second homes, or retiring in the next ten years. Up and down the central Pacific coast we have seen tremendous growth of real estate development projects.

Many boomers realize they can retire for far less than if they did in the states. As the traditional retirement areas such as Florida, Southern California, Arizona and Texas have become overcrowded and overpriced, a new breed of retiree is venturing beyond America’s borders. The Association of American Residents Overseas estimates than 4.1 million Americans are living in Costa Rica.

Real Estate development projects are cashing in on reaching boomers by advertising heavily online and in international travel magazines, which is bringing them to Costa Rica to invest in real estate. These investments are playing a more prominent role in their investment planning because of their memories of the stock market declines.

Reasonable prices and lush landscapes are luring more baby boomers south to Costa Rica. Baby boomers are far wealthier than previous generations of retirees and they appreciate the finer products and lifestyles. Retiring in Costa Rica gives them the opportunity to be extravagant and build custom dream homes that still fall way within their budget.