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 Post subject: Stay in Hostel?
PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:20 am 
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Hey Friends --

I'm new to the forum, and will be traveling to CR in about a week. I'm only 30, and will be traveling solo, so thought I'd stay in hostels to meet other folks to adventure with.

I'm planning on staying in San Jose for a few days before heading up to Arenal and then maybe over to a pacific beach town like mal pais. While in San Jose, I'm planning on stopping into a few of the MP's, and checking out the Del Rey and Sportsmans Lodge. I know that the MP's come with a room for the hour, but if I decide to scoop a lady out of the HDR, is there an easy and cheap place to take her for the hour?

Thanks!


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:56 am 
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Yes.

Hotel Asia for starters; not far from the Del Rey and the vendors will all know short time hotels for you....several others....use the search engine.

Too, there is a "hidden hostel" across the street from Hotel St. Thomas and just doors down from Muses; it has a swimming pool; private bar and small eatery.....it's behind massive steel plated sliding doors....the hostel that it....forgot the name......as well.....there are hostels all about Barrio Amon. However, I will say you don't get much for what you end up paying. Truth be told, you can get a room at Hotel Castillo for about the same amount of money.....

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:36 am 
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you can get a room at a Tico joint for the whole day for about the same rate as a short term/hour charge...

Nuevo Johnson was one of my favs...the Asia also...just rent the room for the whole day

$15?...how much they want for a short term?

http://www.hotelnuevojohnson.com/

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:59 pm 
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Location: NFM--Geezers, cowpokes and the working poor--yeeha!
The hostel Brother Steven1 mentioned is Hostel Pangea. There's a good mixed Tico/Gringo bar with good food on that street as well--Harry's Bar Poas--which is a CRT Sponsor.

www.hostelpangea.com
www.barpoas.com
Lastly, there's a lot of good hostels in SJ and elsewhere in CR--Google for details.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:28 pm 
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Hostel Pangea is actually where I had made my reservation! Great, sounds like I wont be far from the action. Although it's close, do you recommend taking cabs to/from the hostel? Not sure how that part of town is...


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:31 pm 
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You need to read the good book … read this;
https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16357

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:35 pm 
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beconn reconn wrote:
Hostel Pangea is actually where I had made my reservation! Great, sounds like I wont be far from the action. Although it's close, do you recommend taking cabs to/from the hostel? Not sure how that part of town is...
.....always at night take a cab but it is a perfect location for Walking in the day.....You can walk to m.p.'s..muses,jetset,hlh,new fantasy in about five minutes,delrey hotel ten minutes......

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:21 pm 
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Location: NFM--Geezers, cowpokes and the working poor--yeeha!
...And, Hey! You're young enough and Pangea has a large and diverse enough clientele, that you may get lucky there. Stranger things have happened. Also read on J0sie's link--Brother Orange has the most important piece ever for rookies and even a refresher for the Old Sweats.
Finally, I don't know Pangea's "guest" policy but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:02 pm 
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WOW! That link was fantastic, nearly everything I needed to know all right there.

So I arrive on Thursday, figure i'll spend my first couple of nights in San Jose to partake in the festivities. After that, I really want to see the "sights" too -- maybe do the zipline thing in Monteverde, maybe see the volcano Arenal for a little hiking, or maybe go down to Manuel Antonio to get a rainforest/beach combo.

Any advice? I only have 7 days, so I know I can't travel around TOO much, but I wouldnt mind seeing some of the non-female natural beauty the country has to offer! Always wanted to see some monkeys or toucan/parrots :)


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:16 pm 
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it's true about hooking up with some hot touristsa...

I remember one time Circus showed up with some smoking hot tourista from new zealand or something....she had a set too!


anyway, she was so intent on getting laid that even Circus almost got some...whoa now, i said 'almost'....

she was ready to do it right on the cafe table...well maybe a new tablecloth or something first.

one good tip is to always carry around some extra napkins for insurance...a good place to get them is the news cafe at the hotel presidente...just ask...free with any order of a chicken sandwich!

by the way, just curious, how much is that hostel charging per day?

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:28 pm 
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The Hostel Pangea is charging $13 a night, but no deposit I just pay when I get there, so dont need to give them a credit card (incase plans change). It seems like they are part of an affiliation with other hostels, which I like so I can talk to them once i get there about other spots to go and best way to get there. Here's their website

http://hostelpangea.com/

Will definitely look into the touristas as well -- might save me a few bucks!


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:58 am 
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well, guess 13 dollars ain't bad....but for two bucks more, you get your own room at the nuevo johnson...the bar looks interesting for finding touristas....(if you're not a broken down old Phuck like me)

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:16 am 
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Seeing as how it appears you prefer to count your money rather than spend it ( :D :D :D ); and seeing as how the hostel has a charge of $18.00 to get to and from the airport, strongly suggest you obtain a shuttle using this outfit:

http://www.shuttlebus.co.cr as it goes right to that very hostel for $9.50 each way. Up to you...... but http://www.shuttlebus.co.cr is USA based and you can pay via PayPal. While they do contract with a very well known shuttle service in Costa Rica, InterBus, you're dealing with a very small company in the USA and the operator of the very small company was once the CFO for InterBus and maintains a very positive relationship with them. Screw the hostel's $18.00 charge for a shuttle.

Know, too, that Gray Line offers a one week UNLIMITED bus pass......well worth the expense IF you're going to be traveling a bunch.....quite a discount too.... http://www.graylinecostarica.com/grayli ... stbus.html $132.00 for one week......and don't let the office in San Jose give you any jive about the discount....it's real and does exist....just keep on 'em.... However, the cost of bus transport via the public bus system in Costa Rica simply cannot be beat.....and while it does take more time an patience, you'll certainly be mixing with the locals far more than any other mode of transport. Just be wary of the pickpocket and getting your stuff taken.....don't use the overhead rack if you're going to sleep and be certain to NOT assist someone in picking up their coins if they drop them in front of you.....it's quite possibly an infamous ploy.... 8)

Man them hostels is gross though....for this fat old guy.....dealing with other people; dealing with their "noises" whilst attempting to sleep; blah, blah, blah; worse than an Air Force accomodation....and that's being kind....however, it's all up to you; you can't "do" Costa Rica wrong, etc. Don't get overly excited, however, about the "swimming pool" at the hostel. Can you say Cryptosporidiosis? But then I don't get in any public pools, hot tubs, or any of that jive. Been there, done that. It is very uncool

Watch out for the pickpockets.....left front pocket and right rear pocket are the primary targets....


beconn reconn wrote:
The Hostel Pangea is charging $13 a night, but no deposit I just pay when I get there, so dont need to give them a credit card (incase plans change). It seems like they are part of an affiliation with other hostels, which I like so I can talk to them once i get there about other spots to go and best way to get there. Here's their website

http://hostelpangea.com/

Will definitely look into the touristas as well -- might save me a few bucks!

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:11 pm 
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That other thread that was mentioned can't be beat for general advice and the others around here have added a lot of good advice specific to your situation but, as usual, I have my own take on it.

First of all, you can ask your hostel about their "guest policy" if you want, as brother JB suggested, but I seriously doubt they'll look too favorably upon it if they even know right away what you're talking about. Hostel-type places just aren't the sort of places where guests normally bring back working girls. Beyond that, I'd imagine that for that $13 you're probably not getting a private room so, unless you're into putting on a show for your bunkmates, you probably wouldn't want to bring a chica back there with you even if it were allowed.

That leaves you with having to get a second room, either a ST one or a second room for all the day if it is cheap enough, IF you're going to be doing anything other than MP's. Now we're talking $13 for the Pangea and another $15 for the ST or cheapie tico hotel or $28/nt and at that point you're really not talking about that much less than a room at the Castillo or perhaps the Morazon. And for that little bit of extra money you'll get to sleep in your own room without having to worry about snoring bunkmates (or theiving ones), you'll have a much more pleasant environment to do the deed with your chica and as an added bonus you'll find like-minded gentlemen around for comradery and guidance in your P4P endeavors. Of course, you can always get that last part by just leaving your hostel and walking over to the the Hotel Little Havana, Sportsmans or Blue Marlin, but these more "monger-oriented" hotels will have it right on the premises as well as being much closer to those other spots. Personally, if I were you, I'd pay the little extra for these "monger-hotels" while you're in SJ doing the monger thing, and save the hostel-experience for when you're elsewhere in the country doing the eco-tourist/backpacker thing. Or maybe, if you want to save a little money, do the hostel thing for ONE of your 2 nights in SJ and just do the MP's that day and then spring for a room at one of the aforementioned "monger hotels" for the other night when you do your bar pick-up thing.

A word about Cali's fear of Cryptosporidiosis, IMHO that might be a little overstated, but I wouldn't be too impressed with Pangeas listing of a pool feature as one of its amenities for other reasons. It can get damn cold in SJ at this time of year, at least at night. Even if it gets warm during the day, that pool is probably gonna feel like ice-water. There is a reason most hotels in SJ don't have pools (or, for that matter, a/c). Despite the extreme southern latitude, the city's altitude keeps the area a lot cooler than most northern visitors would expect. I expect that few if any locals would go in pools at this time of year and not even that many northern visitors either. OTOH, the Pangea pool area may not be such a bad place for scoping out young gringas sunning themselves in their bikinis :)

Regarding Steven1's advice on transportation, using the shuttlebus company he listed is much more advisable than paying the bigger bucks for a taxi or the Pangea's shuttle service and if you want a no fuss way of getting into town that is certainly the way to go. OTOH, if you're a little more adventurous and want to save even more money, that might be the time to try out CR's public bus system. For ~75 cents and not that much more time or difficulty, you can catch a bus from in front of the airport (leaving every 10 minutes) into town (transit time 30 minutes) and then for just one more buck grab a cab from the bus stop downtown to your hotel. For more info, see my posts in this thread: http://www.costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=218330. For some people going this route may seem cheap just to save $8. Personally, I do it as much for the grass-roots experience as anything else.

Regarding the Grayline Bus Pass mentioned by Steven1, even for one who expects to do a lot of travel while in CR that is not always the deal it seems. First of all, even if you plan on traveling between locations every day you are there, IMHO, you'd be much better advised to reduce your itinerary, relax and enjoy a few less places better rather than spend 3-4 hours per day practically every day driving around in a shuttlebus. That means spending at least 2 nights on average at each destination if not more. So for a week long visit that would probably mean you'd only be to comfortably fit in 2 locations other than SJ or 3 travel legs (SJ>Dest#1, Dest#1>Dest#2 and Dest#2>SJ). This is even more so the case for you since you already said that the first 2 of your 7 days will be spent in SJ, leaving just 5 days to visit the rest of CR and use your Bus Pass. At the usual $30-40 per individual travel leg, at best you'd probably only be breaking even on the Bus Pass.

Lastly, regarding your itinerary, there is no way that you'll be able to spend 2 days in SJ and also see all the places you mentioned in one week. Don't feel too bad about that though because, after you go to CR one time, you'll probably want to come back any way. Of the places you mentioned the easiest ones to get to would be Arenal/Fortuna and Manuel Antonio/Quepos.

I suppose it can be done for just one night but traveling to Monteverde requires a bus ride up a rough dirt road and the arduousness of the journey itself IMHO makes it not really worth it unless you're planning to spend at least 2 nights there. If you do decide to make this one of your destinations, I highly recommend you use the taxi-boat-taxi or the horse-boat-taxi tour to take you to Arenal next. For more info on this area as well as those 2 onward transportation options go to http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/

Similarly, Mal Pais is a great beach destination but requires a combination of bus, ferry and bus to get there, making it a longer harder trip than to say Jaco or Manuel Antonio. Grayline doesn't even cover the Montezuma/Mal Pais area so you wouldn't be able to use their Bus Pass for that. Shuttlebus/Interbus has a shuttle to Montezuma leaving every day at 8AM for $37-39 or you can take the public bus/ferry combination for $10 but either way you're looking at a 5-6 hour trip to get there, thereby taking up most of one of your limited days. Worse yet, there are no direct shuttles from Montezuma to anywhere else other than back to SJ, so you'd probably have to take some combination of buses and shuttles to travel anywhere else. There are direct shuttles from MA to Montezuma, but are you going to limit your 2 non-SJ destinations just to the beach. And there is a direct shuttle from Monteverde to Montezuma. Frankly, as nice as this area is, I'd save it for another trip when you weren't trying to see so much. For more info on the Mal Pais/Montezuma area, I recommend you go to http://www.nicoyapeninsula.com

That brings us back to the 2 "easier" destinations I mentioned earlier. Grayline has 2 shuttles/day to MA for $35 or you can take the public bus which leaves SJ every couple of hours for <$7. From there to anywhere but back to SJ by public bus becomes problematic but the daily Grayline shuttle to Arenal is another $35 ($45 for the shuttle from MA to Monteverde). We're now up to $70-80 in shuttle fares. Even if you take the shuttle back to SJ from Arenal for $35, you'd still be $17-27 ahead of the cost for their weeklong pass. However, I think a much more interesting way to go (and a great way to wind up your trip) is to use https://www.exploradoresoutdoors.com/ to get back to SJ. Their Pacuare rafting trip costs $100 but you'd probably want to take that or some similar rafting trip at some point during your visit anyway so it would almost be like you're getting free transportation back to SJ. Another possible way to do this in the opposite direction is to take either the rafting trip or the Grayline Arenal tour ($99 including meals, tour stops along the way and hot springs admittance) to get to Arenal (staying there rather than returning to SJ if you go with the Grayline tour), then shuttle to MA and shuttle or bus back from MA to SJ or the airport.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:41 pm 
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Well, truth be told, Pro....it was I who remarked about cryptosporidiosis; as much for jocular purposes as "food" for thought (poor pun)....it's something of a joke to me which comes from two long stories about public pools and shared hot tubs. I'll never get in either is my conclusion. People are simply uncivilized is all I'll say....men and women.....

I concur with your conclusion about Gray Line....but I thought I would mention it just in case the guy was a go, go, go type with no sleep, sleep, sleep. I do recall your "math" from a previous post about the "value" of the weekly pass. Still, it worked quite well for me and I believe I pumped the thing for every thing it was worth going to different places all week long....it was "luxury sight seeing" for me.....I wasn't so much interested in the destinations as I was in the trips themselves.....while I enjoy the public transports to the countryside, I also enjoy the Gray Line comfort, space, room, less concern about pickpockets, blah, blah, blah....

Too, you are 100% correct about the particular hostel in question "frowning" on "guests". While it is a Lonely Planet highly rated joint, there are several more not far from it that from what I could see when I toured them make them better. However, the hostile being discussed DOES have a "scene" inside which the others did not.

Concluding, Castillo is far more value to me as a place to call home....but I'm not 30 and I'm not backpacking anywhere.....not ever again as long as I live....except maybe to AM or MasXMenos for aqua purificado......

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- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16


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