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Anyone have advice for non-resort things to do in the area of los Cabos, MX? I am staying at an all inclusive in San Jose del Cabo over Christmas with the wife and 3 year old. We're generally looking to veg out and relax (hence the all inclusive), but I'd like to at least experience some of the area. We speak Spanish and did the Peace Corps in a Latin American country, so we're not as helpless as the resort option might suggest. The main complication is that we have a little kid, so we can't do anything too extreme these days. Are there parts of the cities worth touring? How are the national parks in the area? Any local flavor? Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Dec 7, 2017 |
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Dec 7, 2017 04:27
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Thesaurus posted:Anyone have advice for non-resort things to do in the area of los Cabos, MX? My family has a house out by the Parque Nacional Cabo Pulmo so I am very familiar with the area. With a little kid it is kinda tough. Most of the things I would recommend (snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking) out in that area are not kid-friendly. There are a few day trips that might break up the monotony of lazing on the beach though that you might consider. They would require renting a car but driving down there is really easy. -La Paz. The drive is fun and La Paz is a nice town with a long promenade on the water, good restaurants, etc. You can go snorkeling with whale sharks up there but that probably won't work the the kid. -Cabo Pulmo. Lots of nice quiet beaches out there, boat tours to sea the sea lion colony, great snorkeling/diving/kayaking if one of you wants to go while the other watches the kid, etc. There is also a sea turtle research group there that might have started doing little excursions to the hatchery where you help the baby turtles to the water. My family did that last November and it was cool but I am not sure they have formally started that up yet. But if they have it would be very kid-friendly. -Todos Santos. Gringo town with some good restaurants. There are no national parks other than the marine park at Cabo Pulmo, and there is not really any hiking or anything like that. You could hike up in the mountains but there are no trails and lots of rattlesnakes so I don't suggest it.
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Dec 8, 2017 16:32
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Oakland Martini posted:-La Paz. The drive is fun and La Paz is a nice town with a long promenade on the water, good restaurants, etc. You can go snorkeling with whale sharks up there but that probably won't work the the kid. Snorkeling with the whale sharks is probably my favorite traveling experience If they think the 3 year old would enjoy the boat ride I would suggest going and taking turns snorkeling while one of them watches the kid.
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Dec 8, 2017 22:42
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Mexico is North America, not South America or Central America. 
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Dec 11, 2017 07:52
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i fly airplanes posted:Mexico is North America, not South America or Central America. We use UN nomenclatures here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_geoscheme_for_the_Americas Saladman fucked around with this message at 08:58 on Dec 11, 2017 |
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Dec 11, 2017 08:55
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I've never been to South America before and am possibly interested in going. But I really know nothing about it. I'm not a big outdoors/hiking/etc. person, I'm much more into urban environments and wandering around them, eating local food, etc. I was thinking about Ecuador or Peru. I would probably have 8-10 days for travelling. Any ideas? This would be any time in the spring or summer next year. I would't mind checking out Lima for X days and then going to hang out at some beach resort on the coast or whatever.
actionjackson fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Dec 15, 2017 |
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Dec 15, 2017 06:16
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Based on that info, I'd point you towards Colombia. Argentina or Brazil would be the other great South American countries for city visiting, but it'll be winter there so the beaches won't be great and it's a long/expensive flight for a week-long trip.
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Dec 15, 2017 06:30
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Which areas in Colombia? Is it a safe country to visit? I'm very ignorant about the continent outside of knowing about the turmoil in Venezuela.
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Dec 15, 2017 06:58
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Lima is awesome for food but not much else. They have some weird temple ruins and downtown is maybe vaguely interesting colonially, but otherwise the area a tourist would go looks just like Los Angeles except with incredibly massive cliffs just after the beach instead of immediately city. Seriously it’s crazy how the rich part of the city is like 30 meters above sea level but only like 200m from the sea. Colombia is great for wandering but the food ehhh... I don’t think we even had a single remarkable dinner in 10 days between Santa Marta and Cartagena. Medellin was slightly better and Bogota was good for food but not amazing. Safety is fine in Colombia (nb: by Latin American standards, don’t go drunk wandering st night obviously). You’re not going to go to the ELN parts of the country and anyway they’re pretty spent.
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Dec 15, 2017 09:21
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I was thinking that if I do Peru I was going to do a tour. There's a really highly rated company called Alpaca Expeditions that I was interested in 7 day tour starting in Lima - https://www.alpacaexpeditions.com/machu-picchu-the-7th-wonder-7d7n/ Shorter ones starting in Cusco (under "tours by train") - https://www.alpacaexpeditions.com/cusco-city-tour-sacred-valley-machu-picchu-tour-3d2n/ Here's one from viator that doesn't involve Lima much but goes down to Lake Titicaca after Machu Picchu: https://www.viator.com/tours/Lima/Cusco-Puno-and-Lake-Titicaca-8-Day-Tour-from-Lima/d928-18940P5 Anyone have thoughts on these?
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Dec 16, 2017 20:45
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Any comments on Santiago vs. Buenos Aires? I like urban environments, but am also looking to go on some tours, either overnight or multi-day. Also if I'm in BA is it worth going over to Montevideo for a day? As for Chile, I heard Valparaiso is very nice to visit as well. I was initially looking at some Argentine tours, some of which involved bus rides - are those actually comfortable? What are they like? It's a long time to be on a bus. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Dec 19, 2017 |
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Dec 19, 2017 03:50
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actionjackson posted:Any comments on Santiago vs. Buenos Aires? I like urban environments, but am also looking to go on some tours, either overnight or multi-day. Also if I'm in BA is it worth going over to Montevideo for a day? As for Chile, I heard Valparaiso is very nice to visit as well. Argentine busea are nice, especially if you get the highest class seats (super cama) which are like business class plane flights. The coach seats are like economy plus. We took buses all around and in a do-over id probably fly to Iguazu (we did fly to el calafate and to Tierra del Fuego) but the overnight bus between BA and Córdoba and Cordoba and Mendoza was fine. Montevideo is not a reasonable day trip from BA, overnight maybe if you want to tag another country? Depends how much time you’d have in BA. it’s a bit over a 2 hour boat trip each way and it’ll cost you like $100 just for the boat ticket. We did Colonial Del Sacramento as a day trip (like left home at 7am got back at 10pm) and it was still a loooong day and not really worth it. Partly because Colonia is nice but super boring. BA is more interesting than Santiago for sure. Valparaiso is cool but Santiago itself just feels like going to Houston or Atlanta or any big US/Canadian city. I mean they’re all nice cities but if you’re from the US then BA is probably more novel. Tigre is the only interesting easy day trip I can think of from BA, but the city has a lot to do . Saladman fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Dec 19, 2017 |
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Dec 19, 2017 07:51
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actionjackson posted:Any comments on Santiago vs. Buenos Aires? I like urban environments, but am also looking to go on some tours, either overnight or multi-day. Also if I'm in BA is it worth going over to Montevideo for a day? As for Chile, I heard Valparaiso is very nice to visit as well. I liked Santiago, mainly because of the history, but I would say BA is more varied in terms of its neighbourhoods and has more to do. I was there recently and stayed in three different areas (the busy centre, the posh part, and the trendy part) and enjoyed it all. How long are you there for? I had about 6 days total in BA and didn’t take any day trips out as I found enough to do. Valparaiso is nice but it’s quite small - I went as I was nearby anyway but it’s not the kind of place I would go out of my way to visit.
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Dec 19, 2017 08:28
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Thanks for the feedback. Trip time is flexible probably 8-11 days. I'm trying to figure out one multi-day excursion that would be interesting, like Cordoba, Montevideo, somewhere in Patagonia etc actionjackson fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Dec 19, 2017 |
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Dec 19, 2017 16:24
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Santiago is kinda lame. There are spots, but it's not an exciting city for exploring, imo. Valparaiso is better, if you're coming over.
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Dec 19, 2017 18:32
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actionjackson posted:Thanks for the feedback. Trip time is flexible probably 8-11 days. I spent 5 days in Cordoba and it's kinda boring TBH. We spent 3 in El Calafate and it was awesome, and 3 in Ushuaia and it was more "ehh... this feels exactly like home" (Switzerland). If you go to El Calafate, rent a car as the tours are outrageously expensive and I'm pretty sure there is no public transport, e.g. to get to El Chalten for hiking. Even if there was you'd still want a car. The landscapes around El Calafate were amazing, and the abundant wildlife was fun too. I'd definitely recommend that for a 3-4 days excursion if your budget is not particularly limited.   
Saladman fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Dec 19, 2017 |
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Dec 19, 2017 18:53
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If I went out to Patagonia I'd do a tour since I'm not adventurous at all, and I have no hiking/camping etc experience. And I don't know Spanish. All the tours are super expensive though.
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Dec 19, 2017 22:21
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actionjackson posted:Which areas in Colombia? Is it a safe country to visit? I'm very ignorant about the continent outside of knowing about the turmoil in Venezuela. Bogota Medellin and Cartagena are great cities to visit, each is pretty unique. Plenty safe. Edit: +1 for Super Cama buses in Argentina, holy poo poo Hadlock fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Dec 21, 2017 |
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Dec 21, 2017 23:11
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How's this for a rough Peru itinerary? Am there for first two weeks of September: 1: land in Lima in evening, stay in Miraflores 2: spend day in Lima, get over jet lag and eat awesome food 3: fly to Cusco, spend day acclimatizing 4: see sights in Cusco town and maybe nearby 5: Sacred Valley day trip 6: day trip to rainbow mountain 7: train to Aguas alientes, stay overnight here 8: bus to Huayna + MP, train direct back to Cusco in evening 9: fly to Arequipa, hang out in town 10: Colca canyon trip, stay in canyon 11: finish canyon trip, stay back in Arequipa 12: ?? 13: ?? 14: head back to Lima in evening 15: most of day in Lima before flight back to London in the evening Not sure if I've got enough time in each place - if I have, I've still got two days left to fill. Not so bothered by lake Titicaca (I heard it's just a lake...) or a trip to the Amazon.
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Jan 14, 2018 17:58
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Sounds mildly rushed but probably ok. I spent two weeks there a year and a half ago and spent 3 days in Titicaca (nice but not super unique), 4 in Cusco (too much), 4 doing a MP hike, and 5 in Lima. Lima has like max two days worth of tourist stuff but it was nice for us to hang out in after a month in the highlands of Bolivia and Peru. Miraflores is modern and indistinguishable from a major American city. Eat at La Mar. unfortunately they don’t take reservations and IIRC they are only open from like 10am-17h00 so you will have to wait around an hour for a table, but you can go, get a place in line, walk around the cliffs, then come back and get your table. drat it’s so good.
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Jan 14, 2018 20:50
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Saladman, have you done a road trip in Patagonia (ideally one that included Torres del Paine)? I found your info about driving the interior of Iceland very useful, and I am now planning a Patagonia trip for next December. I will have 2.5 weeks, and I want to do the W trek. I am trying to figure out how much other stuff to cover. One way car rentals (drop off in different location than pick up) seem very expensive, but backtracking really cuts down on the amount of stuff you can see. I would ideally like to do a bit of the Carretera Austral as well as TDP/calafate/etc. My current thinking is to rent a car in Puerto Montt or Coyhaique, do some stuff around there for a few days, then fly to punta arenas and rent a second car. But maybe that is too much for my timeframe... I don't have Platinum, but any insights you can share here would be very welcome!
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Jan 15, 2018 01:04
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I spent a week there but the Argentine side of Patagonia can’t help you much, especially since we also did it as an arranged tour which, even though it was only like 10 people, was annoying and I wish I’d had my own car but we got a ridiculous deal doing it all through Aerolineas Argentinas and it was like a third the price of DIY since we could use the black market exchange rate back then. I did rent a car in Chile for 5 days but around the Atacama desert and it was awesome and super liberating. Went with Europcar and they were awesome and even spent half an hour re-teaching me how to drive stick. Never made it to Chilean Patagonia but as far as I can tell it sounds completely different from the Argentine side in every way except that both are remote and in southern South America.
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Jan 15, 2018 14:51
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Fair enough. I have a friend who works for Torres del Paine park so I'm sure I will be able to figure out the best way to do it.
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Jan 15, 2018 15:50
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Saladman posted:I guess Cuba isn't really Central or South America, but this thread might as well include the Caribbean as well. I've been to Cuba twice, although not recently (2001 and 2006), so bear that in mind when you read my post. It was definitely a rewarding place to visit, but had some strange peculiarities owing to the US embargo, and its retarded command economy. It's relatively expensive for Latin America, and terrible value. The food was execrable - probably the worst of about 70 countries I've visited. The first time I went, I was practically drooling over the prospect of fresh vegetables at the Subway in the Cancun airport on the return home. Seriously. After disembarking the Havana - Cancun flight, I marched to the Subway, and ordered every vegetable from the cold line. After a few weeks in Cuba, all I'd eaten was rice and beans, beans and rice, beans and rice and beans, SALT, overstewed chicken, and the occasional fried plantain. And and egg here and there. Also, I got awful food poisoning from a plate of rice and beans, or maybe beans and rice, and explosively diarrhead all over the place for days. Havana is a spectacular city - one of the most atmospheric you'll ever visit. It's decaying pretty badly. I stayed in a casa particular (excellent) and a tourist hotel (awful). Viñales is really cool. I got a scooter there, tore north and south across the island for a few days. It was the stuff travel dreams are made of. The mogotes (pincushion-like limestone formations) are beautiful. Pinar del Rio is a good place to do the tobacco plantation thing. For beaches, Havana has some awesome ones called Playas del Este - my favorite was Santa Maria. You can access them via public transport, which is a really cool way to rub shoulders with Cubans. They love talking to foreigners, and a lot of them are super educated and polyglot. It was really weird - you'd hang out at a hard-currency bar, or get a ride from a cabbie who'd speak Spanish and English and French and Russian, have an MD or PhD in quantum biomolecular polyshitology, but prefer to work in the hard-currency economy because otherwise they get like $20/month and a ration card. There's great revolutionary history around the country. Habana Vieja has the Museum of the Revolution, Santa Clara has lots to see too. In the past dozen years, they probably have advertising, but the last time I went there was none. You'd see the occasional billboard, but it would be communist agitprop. I never made it all the way to Santiago, which other tourists told me was more hassle than Havana. Never went to Varadero either, which is the Euro- and Canuck-trash beach resort not far from Havana. TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jan 16, 2018 |
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Jan 16, 2018 21:41
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Thanks, interesting how much has changed between now (I just got back 2 weeks ago) and then. Food was quite fine now if you ate in paladares — nothing to write home about but it was good, had plenty of avocado and all sorts of meats and always tomato and lettuce and cucumber everywhere. Rixe&beans was everywhere but it was usually only a few forkfuls. It’s also modernized substantially even in the last two years since my wife went there, eg we had SIM cards with 3G (expensive though) and there were a lot of modern cars on the roads, especially chinese brands like Geely. I guess in another 10 years the old American cars will be overwhelmingly just for tourists; every taxi driver besides those ones who specifically take tourists on joyrides was like « god drat Id like to get a modern car ».
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Jan 17, 2018 09:15
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Going to Costa Rica from the 22nd to 30th of March with my partner. How does this sound for a potential itinerary 22nd Arrive in San Jose 23rd-25th Cahuita (Cahuita National Park, Sloth Reserve) 26th-29th Cloudbank National Park/Chirripo 30th San Jose flight out in the evening We wanted to do a mix of hiking/hanging out and my partner really wanted to go to the sloth reserve near Cahuita so that pushed our trip down the to the south. Other option would be 22nd Arrive in San Jose 23rd-24th Arenal Volcano area 25th-26th Cloud forest Montverde 27-29th Manuel Antonio National Park area 30th San Jose flight This hits some of the bigger more touristy areas but we were not sure about crowds/hititng a lot of tourists or whatever. I guess my question is which route seems better or is there anything that is must do/should do that I am missing?
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Jan 20, 2018 04:08
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Saladman posted:eg we had SIM cards with 3G (expensive though) . You couldn't even bring in a cellphone when I went in 2001. You could access internet at a few of the international hotels (Cubans couldn't) at $10/hour for a 28k connection.
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Jan 22, 2018 21:19
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Swarmin Swedes posted:Going to Costa Rica from the 22nd to 30th of March with my partner. How does this sound for a potential itinerary They both sound like good itineraries. How are you planning on getting around? Manuel Antonio can get really crowded, keep in mind. Arenal draws a lot of people too, but over a wider area. My favorite parts of CR are Cahuita-Puerto Viejo, and Guanacaste (other corner of the country). Then again, I'm a beach person, and it sounds like you're more into the volcanoes and forest. Also, what time are you arriving in San Jose? It's really not worth sticking around in the capital. Chepe, as they call it, isn't a dangerous hellhole like Tegus or San Salvador, but there's not much reason to stick around if you arrive at a reasonable hour. It's ugly, noisy, polluted, and has nothing colonial worth mentioning. If you have a morning flight out on the 30th, definitely stay there the night before, but I wouldn't waste two of nights of a short trip in San Jose.
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Jan 22, 2018 21:29
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TheImmigrant posted:They both sound like good itineraries. How are you planning on getting around? Manuel Antonio can get really crowded, keep in mind. Arenal draws a lot of people too, but over a wider area. My favorite parts of CR are Cahuita-Puerto Viejo, and Guanacaste (other corner of the country). Then again, I'm a beach person, and it sounds like you're more into the volcanoes and forest. Thanks for the help! I think we are leaning strongly to the Cahuita/Puerto Viejo route it seems to have a nice balance without running into the crowds and it also looks like the Cerro Chato hiking route is closed which was one of the attractions for the Arenal area. I wiill definitely look into Guanacaste though. Since we are only hitting two spots would using the bus system make sense or would we be better off renting a car and going that way? quote:Also, what time are you arriving in San Jose? It's really not worth sticking around in the capital. Chepe, as they call it, isn't a dangerous hellhole like Tegus or San Salvador, but there's not much reason to stick around if you arrive at a reasonable hour. It's ugly, noisy, polluted, and has nothing colonial worth mentioning. If you have a morning flight out on the 30th, definitely stay there the night before, but I wouldn't waste two of nights of a short trip in San Jose. We get in around 6:30 PM local time, so while we could try and catch a bus or rent a car I figured it would just be easier to spend the night there and head out first thing in the morning. Also we leave at 10:40 AM so wanted to be safe with getting in on time. Swarmin Swedes fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Jan 23, 2018 |
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Jan 23, 2018 01:46
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Oakland Martini posted:Saladman, have you done a road trip in Patagonia (ideally one that included Torres del Paine)? I found your info about driving the interior of Iceland very useful, and I am now planning a Patagonia trip for next December. I did the W in Torres Del Paine in October, though it wasn't a road trip. We flew to Punta Arenas, and then took a bus to Puerto Natales, and then took a bus to Torres del Paine. I'd probably recommend, if you're going to do the driving thing, looking into at least driving to Puerto Natales, and using that as a sort of pre-and-post base camp for Torres del Paine. Alternatively you could just take a bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales for cheap, too, but that may defeat the purpose of the driving pat. Puerto Natales has restaurants, hostels, and gear to stock up on, and then the Bus will take you to the permitting office, with English language guides (if you need them) helping you fill everything out, and then will drop you off at whichever end of the park you want. In terms of the park, I'd recommend you start on the West end of the park first and go East. The first day's hike is ~4-5 hours or so, as opposed to having your first day's hike be the Torres, which could be ~8 and pretty strenuous at times. Plus, it lets you sorta see the Torres from the other side and in the distance, so when you actually get up to them on the final day, it makes it more worth it. If you decide to do the refugios in Torres Del Paine (i.e., you want to stay in a hostel type thing instead of camping), the Westernmost hostel has fine accomodations but is SUPER BAD AT COMMUNICATING AND ORGANIZING ANYTHING, just heads up. I can go into more detail if that's what you're looking for, happy to chat more.
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Jan 23, 2018 14:56
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SgtScruffy posted:I did the W in Torres Del Paine in October, though it wasn't a road trip. We flew to Punta Arenas, and then took a bus to Puerto Natales, and then took a bus to Torres del Paine. Thanks for the info. We will probably camp the whole time but that is good to know about the hostel. Did you do anything else on the trip aside from the trek that you really liked? I may ask for more details later on if you happen to check the thread from time to time.
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Jan 24, 2018 15:41
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We did half our trip in Santiago, Valparaiso, and the Casablanca Wine Valley. Don't know if you'd get to that part of the country, but Santiago's got a solid day and a half of touristy cool things to do, and same with Valparaiso. My wife and I are wine snobs so I'd recommend taking this as an opportunity to visit many wine regions in a country that has some pretty huge differences climate wise between regions  Happy to provide things to do in Valparaiso and Santiago as well, though honestly they'll probably be pretty similar to whatever's highest rated on trip advisor. There's also a craft brewery in Punta Arenas called Austral - I never went to the brewery but their beer is all over Torres del Paine, and considering it's at the end of the Earth, the beer was surprisingly good and craft-y and not just a Bud light clone. So I'd say check that out.
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Jan 25, 2018 05:03
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Swarmin Swedes posted:Going to Costa Rica from the 22nd to 30th of March with my partner. How does this sound for a potential itinerary The Monte Verde cloud forest is amazing, if you contact the Bosque Eterno de los ninos they can arrange for you to stay at one of the stations deep inside the reserve. Station San Gerado is the best, in my opinion, spectacular views of the Arenal volcano and the rain forest, and amazing insects at night. It's one of my favorite places in the world. Also you should go and get milkshakes at the creamery in Santa Elena where, to my childish delight, they have a tap in the wall that dispenses milk.
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Jan 26, 2018 09:04
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SgtScruffy posted:We did half our trip in Santiago, Valparaiso, and the Casablanca Wine Valley. We don't usually get much out of city tourism so we will probably skip Santiago and Valparaiso. Hiking is pretty much all we like to do on vacations, ha. But thanks for the info!
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Jan 26, 2018 15:32
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Swarmin Swedes posted:Going to Costa Rica from the 22nd to 30th of March with my partner. How does this sound for a potential itinerary Arenal is nice but it is very crowded. Manuel Antonio is even worse, and is really not worth visiting in my opinion. I have not been to Chirripo or Cahuita, but that itineray sounds much more interesting to me. How are you going to get around? Rental car? The only problem I see with that itinerary is that there looks to be no way to drive from Cahuita to Chirripo without backtracking all the way to San Jose. If you could skip the sloths, I would consider trying to get to Osa Peninsula and Chirripo. You are almost certain to see sloths in Corcovado National Park. That, and the more general Drake's Bay area, is far and away my favorite spot in Costa Rica. I was there last April, and about thirty seconds into our guided tour of Corcovado (you have to go with a guide) a taipir moseyed across the path about three feet in front of me. It was pretty incredible. Lots of other great stuff to do there as well, including a spectacular night hike led by an entomologist couple who showed us stuff you only see on BBC shows---trapdoor spiders, massive whip scorpions, plus non-bug stuff like bats, frogs, sloths, etc. The other nice thing about going to Drake's Bay is that you can fly from there back to San Jose, so there is no need to backtrack. You can drive down to Osa and then drop your rental car off since you don't really need one there. I also really liked San Gerardo de Dota/Parque Nacional los Quetzales, which is on the way from San Jose to Chirripo and Drake's Bay. If you do go to Arenal, make sure to do the Cerro Chato hike.
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Jan 26, 2018 15:55
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Got a stupid cheap fare to Puerto Vallarta, so will be heading there by myself in a week. Should I be looking at AirBnB for lodging that's ideally suited to "sleep/shower/store stuff here with low chance of getting stolen" while I spend the days sleeping on a beach or doing other touristy things?
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Jan 29, 2018 11:34
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I'll be in Trinidad & Tobago first week of March - any particular suggestions for me to check out? I'll be staying on Tobago.
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Jan 29, 2018 22:57
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I've been in Rio for the last week and a half and I highly recommend it. Especially now that - as of January 15th - US citizens can apply for an e-visa online for $40 and don't have to do the paperwork / pay $160 like we did. It's been one of the easiest places to travel in SA and I personally think the "danger" aspect is pretty overrated as long as you're not walking around looking like travel dad and staring at your iPhone. People are real chill. Spending another week here and then headed to Manaus for a week, then Florianopolis for 10 days if anyone has any suggestions.
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Jan 29, 2018 23:12
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Oakland Martini posted:
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Jan 31, 2018 02:02
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Swarmin Swedes posted:We actually had our permits for hiking Chirripo fall through so now looking at Corcovado and Drake's Bay/Puerto Jiminez area, we were planning on bussing down there thenf lying back, whic town/area would you recommend staying in? It seems like there are quite a few access points/different areas around the park but I haven't really been able to nail down which is the best for access/cost/getting in and out of. We are definitely interested in doing an overnight hike or multiday/night hike (staying at one of the rangers station) and we were wondering what the guide cost were like (there would be four of us going so we could split cots)? I recommend staying in Drake's Bay rather than Puerto Jimenez. You should be able to take a bus to Sierpe then a boat from there to Drake's Bay (the boat ride is actually pretty fun, you go through a mangrove swamp and stuff). You can arrange for a boat to take you from Drake's Bay to Sirena ranger station, which is where we entered the park from. That is the one that most people stay at overnight as well, so you could boat there/back or hike there/boat back, etc. We did not stay overnight, but we met some people who did at our B&B and it sounded pretty cool; it sounds like you can see some good stuff in the early morning and at night. I am not sure what the cost would be, but I doubt it would be that much more than the cost of staying a hotel or whatever. As a reference point, the all-day tour we did to Sirena cost $80 per person, including the hour-long boat rides there and back as well as lunch. We stayed at Casa Horizontes B&B, which I highly recommend. It is a great value and the food is excellent. If you go to Sirena station overnight, they will watch your stuff for you. They will arrange any tours you want to take for no extra charge. Plus there is a family of red macaws that lives in a tree in the backyard which is pretty cool. I also highly, highly recommend the night hike with Tracy the Bug Lady (which I mentioned in my previous post). It is the best guided hike/tour/whathaveyou that I have done anywhere. It is $40 per person which is an incredible value for the expertise and enthusiasm that the guides bring. Finally, I suggest taking a day and hiking to Playa San Josecito and back. It is a great hike (about 6km each way) to a very nice beach where you can swim or snorkel and eat your lunch. The hike goes along the coast the whole way and you can see lots of the same wildlife that you would find in the national park. We saw lots of basilisk lizards, monkeys, etc. Let me know if you have any other questions. I do not have platinum so just post in this thread. I will post some pictures from the area when I get a chance to dig through them.
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Jan 31, 2018 03:51
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