I'm thinking of a nice 1 week vaca somewhere to usher in the spring. Would really love to go somewere in south or central america since i've never been. ideally, it would be somewhere which was has both beaches and culture - so somewhere along the coast. Any suggestions? Cheap lodging and food and, if possible, flight too, would be more than ideal.
Belize offers a wonderful mix of Central American and Caribbean cultures, with beautiful beaches and rain forests. If you decide to go there I can make some specific recommendations.
For those of you interested in S. America - Archinect will begin operating Peru tours in 2009, in partnership with Aventours, focusing on the rich architecture, food, culture, and urban/natural environments.
Costa Rica hands down. The flight is cheap depending where you fly out of from the states, I flew out of Miami and it was about $300 and this was mid august. When in CR I went to Volcan Arenal, which is an active volcano about 4 hours away from the capital. It's cheap if you go with a group. There's an agency that'll pick you up from the airport and drive you to Arenal in a good car, no mickey mouse type stuff. At arenal I went water fall rappelling with a few friends of mine. Throughout the trip you'll meet foreigners who have been backpacking C. America for weeks or even months. Very interesting people. Lots of americans, swedish, israelis and canadians. From there we went across Arenal Lake and on a 3 hour car ride to a cloud forest called Monteverde. What an amazing place to be! It's damp and kind of cold most of the time but you'll be in the middle of a lush tropical jungle high up in the mountains. There we went zip lining which was by far full of surprises and up to date the riskiest thing I've ever done, but very worth while. At night we had dinner at this place called Morphosis. Excellent food and service, I do recommend calling in ahead for reservation as we had wait about 45 minutes to be seated. Everyone speaks english so don't worry. From what I gathered during my research prior to the trip, Costa Ricans are the highest educated individuals in any central american country and you can tell. The literacy rate is really low. After monteverde we headed down to a surf town called Mal Pais / Santa Teresa to meet up with a friend that had also flown in with us. The trip took us from high up in the mountains to the pacific coast where we had to hop on a ferry for a 1 hour ride across the Nicoya peninsula. There a bus will take you from the ferry to mal pais / santa teresa for about $10. This is a real bus, like greyhound bus type vehicle. Mal Pais and Santa Teresa are two sleepy little towns on the pacific coast where a lot of surfers go to hang out for weeks. i would recommend staying in santa teresa since its a bit more accessible than Mal Pais. the group i was with did not surf and neither did I. So we just hung out for a few days soaking in the solitude and laid back life style. Everyday it rains at around 3pm. Where we stayed (Mal Pais) the energy was cut off during a strong gust of wind at about 8pm. Of course we did not know this and freaked out in our cabin when we started hearing screams coming up from the mountain. Ours was the only cabin for miles and walking to the town center was not an option. We all thought we were doomed! Four american kids decapitated in the costa rican jungle was all i can think of the headlines on the newspapers saying. We locked all the windows and doors with the help of the only light source we had, an ipod with low batts and a cell phone with a dim light and poor reception. I slept with a kitchen knife next to me and with my group. It was two girls and two guys, including myself. I was the oldest thus the one who had to defend everyone, or so i thought according to stupid american murder/horror movies. Alas, the energy came back at about 4am. There was no one out to kill us, just faulty electrical work in the town. Santa Teresa hadn't experienced anything, it was just Mal Pais, all in all it made for a great story. We left a day later and headed out to San Jose / Cartago. We spent my birthday at a rock bar getting wasted off a strong costa rican rum called guaro. Needless to say, I become a mad drunk sometimes. Oh well. The stay in San Jose was brief, it's not a city you might want to prolong your stay in. They have no real addresses for any place in particular. yes, amazing isn't it. if you need to get somewhere they just give you directions like "go east 400 yards past the bridge, hang a left for about 700 yards and before the yellow house make a right. continue for 300 yards the the mall will be to your right". After San Jose we rode up to Cartago/Cachi. My good friend who I was with is costa rican and her family owns cabins where we stayed at in cachi. Again, a very sleepy little town with two good bars where you can get completely wasted at and a creepy house full of old dolls that we did not dare enter. lol. cachi is more off the beaten path and you'll run into less tourist but its equally as nice to any other place we went to in CR. Well, to conclude, I believe I spent less then $1000 on the trip, including airfare. We stayed 10 days and were never deprived of food or shelter. beer is ridiculously cheap at about 50 cents per bottle, the best one is Imperial. I've left out a lot of details so just ask away if you have any concerns. i have the information somewhere about the agencies I used to book my stays in these towns. if you want to get away from it all and have had a rough semester in architecture, I would recommend costa rica in a heart beat. I want to go again this summer but i doubt i'll have time to even save up for it. If this is not your cup of tea then I would consider San Andres and Providencia, in Colombia. I've never been but I've heard only good stories. And trust me, Colombia is not as dangerous as they make it out to be. I've been there several times being that I'm originally from there. Hope this helps.
C./S. America Vacation
Hey All-
I'm thinking of a nice 1 week vaca somewhere to usher in the spring. Would really love to go somewere in south or central america since i've never been. ideally, it would be somewhere which was has both beaches and culture - so somewhere along the coast. Any suggestions? Cheap lodging and food and, if possible, flight too, would be more than ideal.
Belize offers a wonderful mix of Central American and Caribbean cultures, with beautiful beaches and rain forests. If you decide to go there I can make some specific recommendations.
For those of you interested in S. America - Archinect will begin operating Peru tours in 2009, in partnership with Aventours, focusing on the rich architecture, food, culture, and urban/natural environments.
I havent had a vacation in 5 years now -
costa rica is phenomenal.
some really nice isolated beaches near guadalajara
I second belize, that country is brilliant
I've never had a vacation
Costa Rica hands down. The flight is cheap depending where you fly out of from the states, I flew out of Miami and it was about $300 and this was mid august. When in CR I went to Volcan Arenal, which is an active volcano about 4 hours away from the capital. It's cheap if you go with a group. There's an agency that'll pick you up from the airport and drive you to Arenal in a good car, no mickey mouse type stuff. At arenal I went water fall rappelling with a few friends of mine. Throughout the trip you'll meet foreigners who have been backpacking C. America for weeks or even months. Very interesting people. Lots of americans, swedish, israelis and canadians. From there we went across Arenal Lake and on a 3 hour car ride to a cloud forest called Monteverde. What an amazing place to be! It's damp and kind of cold most of the time but you'll be in the middle of a lush tropical jungle high up in the mountains. There we went zip lining which was by far full of surprises and up to date the riskiest thing I've ever done, but very worth while. At night we had dinner at this place called Morphosis. Excellent food and service, I do recommend calling in ahead for reservation as we had wait about 45 minutes to be seated. Everyone speaks english so don't worry. From what I gathered during my research prior to the trip, Costa Ricans are the highest educated individuals in any central american country and you can tell. The literacy rate is really low. After monteverde we headed down to a surf town called Mal Pais / Santa Teresa to meet up with a friend that had also flown in with us. The trip took us from high up in the mountains to the pacific coast where we had to hop on a ferry for a 1 hour ride across the Nicoya peninsula. There a bus will take you from the ferry to mal pais / santa teresa for about $10. This is a real bus, like greyhound bus type vehicle. Mal Pais and Santa Teresa are two sleepy little towns on the pacific coast where a lot of surfers go to hang out for weeks. i would recommend staying in santa teresa since its a bit more accessible than Mal Pais. the group i was with did not surf and neither did I. So we just hung out for a few days soaking in the solitude and laid back life style. Everyday it rains at around 3pm. Where we stayed (Mal Pais) the energy was cut off during a strong gust of wind at about 8pm. Of course we did not know this and freaked out in our cabin when we started hearing screams coming up from the mountain. Ours was the only cabin for miles and walking to the town center was not an option. We all thought we were doomed! Four american kids decapitated in the costa rican jungle was all i can think of the headlines on the newspapers saying. We locked all the windows and doors with the help of the only light source we had, an ipod with low batts and a cell phone with a dim light and poor reception. I slept with a kitchen knife next to me and with my group. It was two girls and two guys, including myself. I was the oldest thus the one who had to defend everyone, or so i thought according to stupid american murder/horror movies. Alas, the energy came back at about 4am. There was no one out to kill us, just faulty electrical work in the town. Santa Teresa hadn't experienced anything, it was just Mal Pais, all in all it made for a great story. We left a day later and headed out to San Jose / Cartago. We spent my birthday at a rock bar getting wasted off a strong costa rican rum called guaro. Needless to say, I become a mad drunk sometimes. Oh well. The stay in San Jose was brief, it's not a city you might want to prolong your stay in. They have no real addresses for any place in particular. yes, amazing isn't it. if you need to get somewhere they just give you directions like "go east 400 yards past the bridge, hang a left for about 700 yards and before the yellow house make a right. continue for 300 yards the the mall will be to your right". After San Jose we rode up to Cartago/Cachi. My good friend who I was with is costa rican and her family owns cabins where we stayed at in cachi. Again, a very sleepy little town with two good bars where you can get completely wasted at and a creepy house full of old dolls that we did not dare enter. lol. cachi is more off the beaten path and you'll run into less tourist but its equally as nice to any other place we went to in CR. Well, to conclude, I believe I spent less then $1000 on the trip, including airfare. We stayed 10 days and were never deprived of food or shelter. beer is ridiculously cheap at about 50 cents per bottle, the best one is Imperial. I've left out a lot of details so just ask away if you have any concerns. i have the information somewhere about the agencies I used to book my stays in these towns. if you want to get away from it all and have had a rough semester in architecture, I would recommend costa rica in a heart beat. I want to go again this summer but i doubt i'll have time to even save up for it. If this is not your cup of tea then I would consider San Andres and Providencia, in Colombia. I've never been but I've heard only good stories. And trust me, Colombia is not as dangerous as they make it out to be. I've been there several times being that I'm originally from there. Hope this helps.
cheers!
Cartagena, Santa Marta, San Andres, Colombia. Culture but no beach: Bogota, Medellin, Manizales.
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