www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I always stay at the NJ, the last 3 trips I stayed there by myself, the place is secure and the people are nice and they recognize me every time. I walk to the DR on central as late as 11PM and I always cab it home. I usually stay 1 or 2 days and then leave for one coast or the other, when I return from the beach I stay at the NJ and then take the bus to the airport in the morning. The bus stop is 2 blocks away and the fare to the airport is like a dollar. The central mercado is across the street and you can get ice for your cooler there for 200 colonges and some really good tico food. To make it even better, my favorite tica works in the mercado at a lunch counter and I do enjoy beauty with my sea bass. I come to CR for the immersion in to the local culture, I don't need luxury accommodations and I don't need to pay 6 or 7 times what the NJ costs to stay at gringo central. So for me the NJ is the perfect fit.

Thank you for saying what needed to be said as IMHO, some of these CR naturalists who stay at these fleabags are in greater danger of having a "Authentic Tico Experience" that includes getting beaten and robbed while saving a few pesos. Some additional experience might also be had at the National hospital while awaiting having their gourd stitched up. Bottom-line is that Gringos will be victimized by thieves in CR because "that's where the money is" The better hotels that we frequent provide real service and security that these low end hotels just will not or cannot supply and I think anyone that stays in such a place should do so knowing that. Why tempt fate?

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“Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” And we are the guys that keep them in Eggs & Grits