www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Any thoughts as to Cartago as a place to live. Transportation by bus and train to San Jose looks reasonable.

Any MPs or pick up girls there?
any input?

Buses run every 5-10 minutes all day and night (fewer at night). Cost is about c530 each way and takes, depending on time of day and traffic, 30 minutes to an hour!! It is about 20kl from Cartago to San Pedro. Some buses go via the pista and others, the Calla Viejo (Old Highway) which goes thru Tres Rios and takes longer. I am not sure about the train-not sure it is running all the way to Cartago yet.

Cartago is, IMHO, a very nice medium size city and not a bad place to live at all--have often thought about moving there. Lower costs for just about everything, cleaner, less crime (my impression not a known fact), and a lot of pretty chicas!!

As for working chicas, it is a smaller city (than San Jose) where everyone seems to know everyone. For this reason many (most) of the local chicas come to SJ to work. There are 4-5 MPs now in Cartago and there is one or two clubs with chicas at night. The one club I know can be dangerous at night and I would not recommend going there alone. The other one I have just heard about and do not know much about it. Most of the chicas in the MPs there are from SJ. I have talked to a lot of the chicas from there who work in SJ and all say they "discreetly" visit regulars that live in Cartago and in between the two cities. Almost all also say they have "friends" who live in Cartago that only "work" part time who they can and will introduce guys to!! Maybe not as many chicas nor as easy to find, but my impression is that there is NO shortage of hot, available "working chicas" in Cartago!!

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

I just had my first visit to Cartago last weekend. Double everything BB57 wrote. A (Saturday morning) cab ride from the west-most edge to Zona 2 (round-trip) cost 32k. The bus ride in afternoon traffic takes over an hour, but was comfortable.

There is an MP across the train tracks from the central market, but it was reminicent of Calle Seis.

I only walked the central downtown area a bit (between the church ruins and the cathedral), and found it to be cleaner than the gulch area. There was also a store set up selling nothing but umbrellas. Seriously, 3 walls covered in at least 100 different styles. I take it to be a sign of the weather there, though the one day I was in town was beautiful.

I'll be back in February and I will look into rental prices and see what local info I can gather regarding cost of living.

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bypassin' kinky, and usin' the whole chicken!!!

If I were considering living in that general area of CR, I probably would move a little further east and settle in Turrialba on the Caribbean slope. It is an even smaller town than Cartago, and with the exception of occasional activity from Volcan Turrialba, it is a nice, tranquil town with lower costs of living than in greater San Jose. (Cartago has its own volcano, Irazu to deal with.) Buses to and from the Pacific bus station in San Jose run frequently.

Well it sounds great. Small town, cleaner, relatively easy access to SJ, and presence of chicas. BD please update after your February visit there.

Thanks everybody.

Prepare to be cold by CR standards. Much cooler and more rain there than most anywhere in CR.

Thanks seabreeze. Good to know. I will packe accordingly.

I've looked at property in Cartago/Orosi Valley because for me personally I think it would be a great place to live. Cool climate, beautiful nature settings and affordable. I'm leaving for CR tonight again and will be staying in Cartago from Sunday through Wednesday at a vacation rental property. I'll be looking at more property options there. As far as "girl action" from what I've gathered not much available but then again not too far away from SJ so all still good in my opinion.