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I will be in Jaco from October 15 to the 20th. I just have a question about exchanging US currency! Is there a guideline or a rule of thumb as to how much to convert right away and how much to leave in US dollars! Is it best to exchange maybe a couple days worth and exchange more later! I would assume it is better to pay for drinks and food ect.in Colones! Any thought would be appreciated

Really only key to it is you don't want to be stuck changing a bunch of colones back into dollars.

Never heard of that. The cash I bring is for the trip, and if anything goes home, it goes in colones for the next trip. Hell, this October trip is being paid for by the colones I brought home from my Labor Day trip.

Some people feel safer having a wad of dollars in their safes. I prefer to have the local currency. On my first trip I got stuck with US dollars at a very inopportune moment, where the only place to convert was a late-night rip-off joint.

I am quite anal in my money handling. I convert most to colones (I usually keep an emergency US fund handy), and I bring bank envelopes for each day of the trip. I separate the colones among the envelopes, and each day, I take whatever cash is in my pockets (leftovers from the previous day), stick it into an overflow envelope, and take that day's envelope and pocket it. This way I start every day having exactly the same amount of cash, and if I have a crazy night planned, I grab the overflow (or dip into the next days cash). If necessary, I can hit the US dollar fund, but it will be at my leisure, and not under pressure.

Too many newbies fret in the evening because they only have X colones, and not sure if they can afford to go do Y. Don't add stress to your vacation. Make sure you have the necessary colones at hand when you need it. Very few newbies know in the morning what the evening will hold for them.

Also, as a serious point of important information: do not walk around with the day & night's money in your pockets. If you do get pickpocketed, you want to lose as little as possible. It is an easy thing to walk back to the hotel for the evenings cash.

This works for those that travel often to CR. The country changes the currency about every 3 yrs and you have limited time to convert the old currency to the new bills. ATM machines work with almost every type of card now. You can pull dollars or colonies. When you leave you should get rid of all the colonies that you do not want to keep as a souvenir. You can pay out last minute items in colonies (exit tax, hotel bill, taxi, airport purchases....) to utilize extra Colonies. It also eliminates conversion problems.

Never heard of that. The cash I bring is for the trip, and if anything goes home, it goes in colones for the next trip. Hell, this October trip is being paid for by the colones I brought home from my Labor Day trip.

Some people feel safer having a wad of dollars in their safes. I prefer to have the local currency. On my first trip I got stuck with US dollars at a very inopportune moment, where the only place to convert was a late-night rip-off joint.

I am quite anal in my money handling. I convert most to colones (I usually keep an emergency US fund handy), and I bring bank envelopes for each day of the trip. I separate the colones among the envelopes, and each day, I take whatever cash is in my pockets (leftovers from the previous day), stick it into an overflow envelope, and take that day's envelope and pocket it. This way I start every day having exactly the same amount of cash, and if I have a crazy night planned, I grab the overflow (or dip into the next days cash). If necessary, I can hit the US dollar fund, but it will be at my leisure, and not under pressure.

Too many newbies fret in the evening because they only have X colones, and not sure if they can afford to go do Y. Don't add stress to your vacation. Make sure you have the necessary colones at hand when you need it. Very few newbies know in the morning what the evening will hold for them.

Also, as a serious point of important information: do not walk around with the day & night's money in your pockets. If you do get pickpocketed, you want to lose as little as possible. It is an easy thing to walk back to the hotel for the evenings cash.

I'm sure you didn't, BD <-- I don't get the joke!

Not everyone goes 3- 5 times a year like we do - and they don't wanna be stuck with a bunch of colonies that they don't know when they might use.

Solution is either

Convert the colonies back to dollars when you leave at the airport bank (and take the <small> hit on the transaction - lets face it - in most cases, the vast majority, we are not talking huge sums of money)

Don't convert so much in the first place - I use a combo of dollars and colonies, and it always seems to work out (frankly, like you, if I have $100 - 200 in colonies "left over" not the end of the world - I use 'em on my next trip - and again, if I colonies left over, not the end of the world - I'm not dealing with so much that I worry about the value of what I "brought back")

ATM machines work with almost every type of card now.

I still think the menial transaction hit when leaving is small potatoes to getting stuck with USD when you really need colones.

Some guys I know keep USD and convert each day. It works for them. And that's the key: find what works for you.

Frankly, I think its "mental" with some guys; they don't know when their next trip is going to be; they see the colonie fluctuating against the dollar - and they worry over $75 worth of colonies