www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Me and my wingman used Gustavo Bega Pena who works out of the
Sportsman's Lodge to drive to Tamarindo. I know it was our fault for not asking in advance how much he was going to charge so I am only writing this to warn other mongers of his excess charges and bad driving.

When I asked if he would drive us he said he would give us a good deal, I figured around $300.00 round trip at the most. Well when we got back to the Sportsman's Lodge from the trip he said it was $550.00 with a $50.00 discount. We about shit our pants but we paid him as it was our fault that we didn't get a quote in advance. We did however decide to advise other future mongers of what he did to us.

He is not a safe driver in our opinion and we almost hit a few people and vehicles and by the Grace of God didn't have an accident. He drives too fast and is not cautious.

It seems to me I would ask in advance regardless of what country I was in. I defend Gustavo, he's a great guy. As far as driving, if you haven't noticed pretty much everybody drives like that.

Too bad you had a bad experience but now you know to ask in advance. Next time just stay in San Jose

Cujo

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"Pain is the fuel that fans the flames of my pyre. A battle plan is only as good as the general carrying it out on the field. This is my war son, and I have the biggest bombs and the smallest conscience"...

I suppose that next, he will have sex with a chica and ask how much afterwards.

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

Actually, a $50 discount indicates $600, or about $300 each way. Since it's about a 5 hour drive each way, I assume you stayed there at least one day, so he likely would have had to find lodging. Even if he slept in his car, a realistic fare would include lodging. Considering gas costs have not gone down here like they have in the US (the price is set by the government, so there is no competition) and the cost is about $5 a gallon let's do some math.

A tank of gas in an SUV costs about $100, i don't know if your driver drove you in a van or not, if so it likely gets much worse gas milage than an SUV, so let's say it takes $150 to fill a tank, and it takes a tank of gas each way. That's $300 in gas costs alone.

$600 seems quite fair for his time for at least a day, plus driving, plus maintenance costs on the vehicle, etc..

As for poor driving, get used to it. That's the way everyone in Costa Rica drives. Most people that come from the US find even conservative CR drivers to be "poor drivers".

i met gustavo the last time down and found him very helpful and courteous.

I think you probably could have taken a tour including transportation, lodging and meals for the same price. What the heck, live and learn. Not just down here, but everywhere, you should always address the financial agreement up front. It is one of those things I learned in Business 101.

Agreed with the others that $550 was a pretty good deal. I drove that ONCE myself from SJO to Tamarindo...blechhh. I won't ever drive that again. As for the driving, it would have taken 6 hours or more if he DIDN'T drive that way

Tip for your next trip to Tamarindo....check out Nature Air...you can fly fro SJ to Tamarindo for pretty cheap and it takes like 40 something minutes. www.natureair.com

That settles it. Here is an opportunity for a CRT board member to have a job in CR. Buy a van, deal exclusively with Gringos for cash and WahLah.....instant success. Yes, driving is a nightmare in CR. I have driven extensively to almost every area in the country. It matters not, for that matter, if you are the driver or the passenger. If there is gonna be a wreck, well then "wake up Leroy"....." cause he ain't never seen a wreck like we're gonna have before". Spin it as you like, but the bottem line is; make your business deal BEFORE you take delivery on the product.

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

tHERE IS AN OLD SAYING " TAKE WHAT YOU CAN USE AND THROW THE REST AWAY" I SHARED MY EXPERIENCE TO MAYBE HELP SOMEONE ELSE OUT IN THE FUTURE.

THE RIDE WAS ONLY ABOUT 3 1/2 HRS. WE NEVER HAD TO STOP FOR FUEL. WE PAID FOR HIM TO PICK UP HIS SISTER AND HER DAUGHTER AND DROPING HER OFF IN HEREDIA. HE BROUGHT HIS SON ALONG AND HAD NEVER ASKED OUR PERMISSION FOR ANY OF IT. I HAVE BEEN TO CR ABOUT 30 TIMES AND ALL THE DRIVERS DO NOT DRIVE LIKE THAT. WE ALMOST HIT A MAN ON A BIKE BECAUSE HE SPED UP AND INTIMIDATED THE PERSON INSTEAD OF SLOWING DOWN. I KNOW UNSAFE DRIVING WHEN I SEE IT. ALSO WE TOOK THE FERRY ON THE WAY BACK WHICH ALSO SAVED HIM FUEL COSTS AS WE ALSO PAID FOR THAT.

REMEMBER OPINIONS ARE LIKE A_SH___S EVERYONE HAS ONE AND APPARENTLY THIS SITE HAS BOTH!

CR-Miko,

You really can't put forward a story like that and not expect people to react. By your own admission not asking the price in advance was a big mistake. Others have harped on that but there is really no need for anyone to belabor that point since it is so self-apparent. None of us were in the vehicle with you so it is really impossible for anyone besides you to say truly bad this guy's driving really was. Others are right that virtually everyone in CR seems to drive horribly, but I'd be willing to allow that you could be right that this guy's driving on this trip was even worse than that already poor average. But that still leaves the issue of how much he charged you which you yourself brought up. Are you saying that if it weren't for the bad driving you would not have any complaints?

So lets put aside the issue of how bad his driving really was or was not and like at the price issue. You were expecting $300 round-trip? I've never personally used any private driver myself but I do have some idea what they charge and even I know that would be an incredibly (impossibly) low price. I think the MadGerman's math is a little off. It is 307kms from SJ to Tamarindo or just under 200 miles. Let's call it 200 with the various side stops in Heredia and such. An average passenger van still gets about 15mpg (or more hwy) but lets say he gets only 12.5mpg. That comes out to 16 gallons each way. At $5/gal, that comes out to $160 for gas alone roundtrip which is a far cry from the $300 that MG came up with. The typical tico makes only $25/day but lets say an experienced (and safe?) driver makes twice that or $100 for 2 days. Now we're up to $260 and when you factor in maintenance, depreciation and insurance(? ) your initial $300 estimate does not seem so unreasonable. The problem is that reason has nothing to do with how they price things for gringo tourists in CR and typical driver prices are often double what reason says they should be. That is just how the market works.

Personally, I've never understood why ANYBODY even bothers with these guys particularly given the ridiculously high amounts that they charge. Even at the $300 rate that you estimated, you could have instead flown with Nature Air in less than 1/4 the time you SAID it took you for $190/rt (or even as little as $156 for their special fares that are usually sold out) and still had more than enough money for all the local cabs you could possibly have needed in Tamarindo. Oh, but you say there were 2 of you? At $380 for 2 people, it is still much less than the $550 normal market price you paid and you wouldn't have had to spend 7 scary hours on the road. Oh but you say you wouldn't have been able to leave when you wanted? For $170 savings I'd be more than willing to work my itinerary around the usual flight schedules. After all, does it really matter that much if I go to the MP in the morning or the afternoon or whether I sleep in or get up early and take a nap later in the day?

But I'm not even one for flying. For ~$133 ($110 if you took their afternoon departures) the BOTH of you could have used Interbus which (even with local cabs) is less than half of even your $300 estimate and less than 1/4 of what you ultimately paid. For that sort of savings I could definitely adjust my schedule and make a few stops along the way to pick up other passengers (which is what you did anyway).

I won't even go into how much you could have saved by simply taking the bus, which is my own preferred mode of travel within CR, because I know it comes with trade-offs that many if not most guys aren't willing to make, but the savings from that would have been about 95% off of what you paid. So I really don't think you have much basis to complain since you chose the method you did. And I'm not even convinced that your experience with this particular driver is appreciably different than what you might have had with someone else.

I agree with Prolijo that flying would have been better in this case. Flying is also the safest method of travel within CR in my opinion. Nature Air has flights as cheap as $29 each way, plus taxes (~$50 total). It takes under an hour total. Even the more expensive flight would have saved you almost 50%.

Another CRT and I took a van from Tamarindo to Sportsmens when we couldn't get a flight in May 2006 and we paid $200 ONE-WAY. That was 2 years ago when gas prices were much lower. These days $300 each way would not be an outrageous price.

For future reference, Interbus charges $29/person each way. It is very comfortable and makes a bathroom/snack stop along the way or when requested. Round trip for 2 people costs $116.

http://www.interbusonline.com/

Just to clarify Orange's slightly different numbers.

That $29 fare on Interbus is actually their current fare on their AFTERNOON departure if booked through their website. Their morning departure costs $6 more per person each way and after the end of this month their fares to/from Tamarindo will go to $35 and $39. Also, you're better off using this website http://www.searchcostarica.com to book with them instead. Doing it that will tou'll save a few dollars on all of their trips (and still wind up on the exact same shuttle van).

Also, as Orange already pointed out, the current "loco" fare on Nature Air is $29 o/w fare ($49 after taxes). However, those fares are often sold out and unavailable. The current regular fare both ways for 2 guys would be $328 PLUS cabfare to/from the airports, a savings over what CR_MIKO paid to be sure but more like 40%. Also, for future reference, like everything else, those rates are going up significantly at the end of this month (not sure if that is peak season talking or higher jet fuel prices). The new "loco" fare including taxes will be $78/pp o/w (a 60% increase) and their more commonly available regular o/w fare will increase to $95. That is where the numbers in my analysis came from so I did overstate what CR_MIKO would have paid back when he took his trip but I also think describing the soon to disappear often sold out one way one person "loco" fare as $29 makes the savings appear much more dramatic then they really are, as you have to include most likely actual fare, taxes, both ways, two guys, local cabs to/from the airports, etc.

Either way, regardless of which exact numbers we use, the central point remains the same. Also, whether you think the rates that these drivers is justified or not, there are much more cost-effective ways of travelling in CR than by using them.

BTW, the numbers in all of our analyses are for SJ-Tamarindo but a lot of the same factors could be applied for driving vs flying vs shuttle to other parts of the country.

February 2003:

I came into San Jose Costa Rica pretty much cold, and solo. After about 2 night at the Hotel Presidente I’m thinking – this city is phucking crazy get me hell outta here (Del Rey I did like though . I walked out front and found the ‘tourismo’ van and I asked how much to drive me to Flamingo. “$150” “Let’s go I say!” Back then a buck got you like 335 clonys.

Am I glad I made that trip? Sure. Would I ever do it again? No Way. I had to get to Flamingo anyway to find my late Dad’s property, and I was so overwhelmed by San Jose I had to get phuck outta there, before I figured out the busses etc.

In the end I learned a ton about the country, got to see it eye level, knew the Tico name for the buzzards, made a bunch a contacts and ended up flying back. I don’t care who is driving, that road trip is a hairy ordeal.

I too know Gustavo and will defend him. I have used him for transportation around town several times. In five years sure shit has doubled. He got you back safe and sound Both Ways, Priceless. Still as everyone else says I would determine up front the costs. BTW Van is my favorite way to go anywhere in CR – cars are too small and get smushed; Busses are a hassle and get robbed but my second choice. No on second thought fly it like Orange says: it is over fast, and the view is great! Local trips I will pick a van over a car any day.

I have used Gustavo for around town trips and once to Jaco, I like him and his brother it's a little more money than I want to spend but what the hell. I also feel safer with him than most random cabs.

He even took my wingman to one of his hangouts one Friday with his family, no charge and he said he had a blast.

I am planning on flying on the beach trips but for road stuff I'm still using Gustavo.

Whenever I am in San Jose and decide to leave town I always rent a car and drive myself. This way you can travel at your own pace. Also car rental is not that expensive.