Frommer's Costa Rica 2006

From the Publisher
Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer's Costa Rica features gorgeous color photos of the lush rain forest, the amazing array of wildlife, and the spectacular beaches that await you. Personally researched by a longtime resident, it's the only truly up-to-date guide that gives you such in-depth coverage of this fast-changing country, with recommended accommodations in every price category. You'll visit rugged wilderness preserves and sleepy beach towns, spectacular orchid gardens and mineral hot springs at the foot of a steaming volcano. There are adventures here to suit all ages and abilities: swooping from treetop platform to treetop platform on a canopy tour, taking a dip in a jungle swimming hole, spotting playful spider monkeys as you hike through lush foliage, windsurfing on Lake Arenal, or watching endangered sea turtles nest on the beach. With Frommer's in hand, you'll experience the wonder of Costa Rica's amazing biodiversity, as we point out the best places to see hundreds of unique, colorful species of animals and plants. You'll even get a color fold-out map!

 

Fodor's Costa Rica

From the Publisher
Share Caribbean sands with giant turtles, zip through the treetops on a canopy tour, or peer into the steaming crater of an active volcano. Whatever you choose to do, planning a trip to Costa Rica has never been this much fun, or this easy!

Comprehensive, up-to-date, and easy to use, Fodor's Costa Rica 2006 remains the best resource for organizing your trip to this exotic country. Now, our 2006 edition also flaunts exclusive, new features including indispensable, customized tools for planning your trip, in addition to rich photography that illustrates the distinctive culture of the country. Plus, not only will you read the expert advice of our professional travel writers, but you'll also review recommendations from everyday travelers like yourself, in our new "Word of Mouth" features throughout the book. Fodor's Costa Rica 2006 is designed so that you spend less time researching and more time relishing what lies ahead on your dream vacation.

 

Explore Costa Rica

From the Publisher
Travel with award-winning travel guide author Harry S. Pariser around Costa Rica and experience its wonders! Dive and snorkel off the coast of the remote Osa Peninsula. Experience the Caribbean coast with its rich Jamaican culture. Visit the small hotels of the Pacific Coast and the Nicoya Peninsula and remote lodges in the heart of the rainforest. Dine everywhere from gourmet restaurants to local sodas. Ascend by rope and pulley into the rainforest canopy, explore caves, surf, kayak, canoe, bungee jump, mountain bike, trek, or just lay back on a beach, relax, and watch the monkeys at play. Internal air flights, bus travel, ferry schedules, what to do, what to avoid. Studying Spanish, volunteer programs, and sustainable tourism. Maps, photos, web sites, useful tips. Humorous, informative, educational, detailed. There's no other guide quite like it!

 

Lonely Planet Travel Guide Series

A. Wilson (meadowzephyr@gmail.com), on my way to California in August, June 13, 2005,
Be a Savy Traveler...
I'm somewhat obsessive about pre-travel preparation. It doesn't stem from fear or trepidation about the destination, but a genuine fascination with learning about a place before venturing there. It’s something about seeing words on a printed page come to life before your eyes. I received this experience when going to Costa Rica in December of 2004. Lonely Planet is not only an invaluable source on hotels, restaurants and museums. But it provides those little tidbits that make the country go from a pink outlined mass on a map to a living breathing locale. It also includes those little tid bits that make you the savvy and educated traveler. For example I was able to explain to some of my fellow tourists one day on a tour why there were black Costa Ricans speaking English in a certain area. I also found out that Costa Ricans don't rely on street names and numbers to give directions. Instead they use landmarks, many of which are no longer there! I knew in advance how the bus system works and that used toilet tissue is disposed of in the (gulp) trashcan. It’s these little details that step Lonely Planet up a notch. As I meandered through the streets of San Jose and Heredia, lines from the Lonely Planet Guide came to life before my eyes. I was very pleased with this guide book.

 

New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica

Synopsis
Live in a beautiful tropical paradise for less than $30 a day, make money, enjoy the good life and even find romance. We've been doing it for years! Find out how in The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica.

Confronted with the spiraling cost of living in the United States, people from all walks of life (including baby boomers and seniors) are searching for an affordable place to live or retire without sacrificing their current lifestyles. Costa Rica, Latin America's best-kept secret, just might be the country these people are seeking.

The updated and expanded 1999 -2000 10th edition of The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica offers invaluable assistance to anyone looking for a safe, affordable place to live outside of the United States. This useful book contains all the ins and outs and do's and don'ts and much more indespensable insider information about all areas of living in Costa Rica.

 

Living Overseas Costa Rica: Follow Your Dreams to Afford Living

Synopsis
A Reference Book this guidebook addresses just about every issue newcomers must know before making the step to live full- or part-time in Costa Rica. You will learn about the cost of living ($1200 for a couple), residency requirements, places to live, banking issues, finding a job, starting a small business, and our new self-guided tour to expatriate hot spots, and much, much more.

You'll meet important contacts to make your move smoother, and learn about 14 people just like yourself who've made the move and are currently living a successful life in Costa Rica. There are over 30 photos of everyday life, so you can see for yourself things like what a $30,000 Costa Rican home looks like.

 

Costa Rica

From Our Editors
Well-researched and impeccably written, the Rough Guides are a great choice for anyone seeking to be an informed, prepared traveler. Due to the fantastic essays, the Rough Guides are as much fun for armchair travelers as they are for those actually on the road. Each edition comes with detailed maps, in-depth essays on the history and culture of each destination, a wide range of lodging options, and recommendations for off-the-beaten-path places to visit. The special attention paid to the writing is a boon for travelers, most of whom find themselves reading the guide cover to cover instead of just looking up their specific itineraries.

 

Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica

From The Critics
This is a superior field guide to a country with one of the richest assortments of bird life anywhere. Written and illustrated by top experts, this book has it all: 52 excellent color plates, detailed species accounts, brief write-ups of 70 birding localities, and extensive introductory materials, often skimped on in books of this genre, on geography, climate, habitats, and conservation, accompanied by helpful photographs. Costa Rica has a fine park system and has long been the most popular Central American country for visiting naturalists. Since the destruction of natural areas in the Neotropics is finally receiving the publicity it deserves, books such as this are urgently needed. It is the first Costa Rican bird book since Paul Slud's The Birds of Costa Rica (1964. o.p.), a respected but unillustrated monograph. A splendid job. Highly recommended.-- Henry T. Armistead, Thomas Jefferson Univ. Lib., Philadelphia

 

Costa Rica (Moon Handbooks Series)

From the Publisher
From exploring mist-shrouded Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve marveling at Arenal Volcano's spectacular eruptions to visiting artisan cooperatives and Indian reserves, Moon Handbooks Costa Rica is the guide to the best this country has to offer, both on and off the beaten path. Suggested travel strategies and lists of must-see sights provide you with real judgments so you can decide where you should go, stay, and eat-without hassles or regrets. Practical information includes maps, photographs, illustrations, and suggested travel strategies and lists of must-see sights, plus essentials on dining, transportation, and accommodations for a range of budgets. Complete with details for enjoying an array of outdoor adventures, such as bicycling, bungee jumping, surfing, sport fishing, wildlife viewing, and off-road driving, Moon Handbooks Costa Rica gives you the tools you need to create a personal and memorable experience.

 

Costa Rica 2004

From the Publisher
FlexiMaps are innovative maps that combine durabilityand convenience with accuracy, utility, and readability. With state-of-the-art technology, FlexiMaps feature detailed city street and road maps clearly marked with all the sites and services of particular interest to travelers. Text and photographs offer a wealth of valuable tourist information including 10 sights you shouldn't miss, plus information on transportation, visas, currency, important telephone numbers, emergency services, and more. A variety of domestic and international destinations are available.

 

Living Abroad in Costa Rica

From the Publisher
Imagine yourself living in Costa Rica. You stroll home past lush rainforest after a long day at the beach. You know your neighbors and speak Spanish with ease. You show visiting friends around with the confidence of one who belongs. Author Erin Van Rheenen shows you how to make your dream take shape. She left her life as an editor in the San Francisco Bay Area to make a home abroad in Costa Rica. With Erin's expertise, you'll receive the information you need on visas, money, jobs, housing, health, language, culture, and history. There's a place that matches your budget, needs, and dreams: Perhaps it's a condo in the San Jose suburb of Escazu, a wooden house in coastal Tortuguero, or a mountain retreat with a view of Arenal Volcano. With Living Abroad in Costa Rica, it's easier than you think.

 

Traveller's Wildlife Guides: Costa Rica

From the Publisher
Most travellers to Costa Rica want to experience its lush tropical forests and catch glimpses of exotic wildlife; toucans and parrots, hummingbirds and hawks, monkeys and big cats, frogs and toads, crocodiles, and (yes) snakes. Here is all the information you will need to find, identify and learn about Costa Rica’s magnificent wildlife. The author, himself a wildlife biologist and experienced ecotraveller, visited national parks, reserves, and other ecological sites, discussed wildlife with local and international experts and veteran tour leaders, and then selected, for new color illustrations, nearly 350 of Costa Rica’s most common amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—the species you are actually likely to see. Also pictured are some animals of special biological significance—for instance, some highly endangered species. Easy-to-carry, entertainingly written, beautifully illustrated—you will want to have this book as constant companion on your journey.

Identification, distribution, and conservation information on Costa Rica’s frequently spotted animals.
Up-to-date information on the ecology, behavior, and conservation of the families of animals to which the pictured species belong.
Information on habitats and on the most common plants you will encounter.
Brief descriptions of Costa Rica’s most frequently visited parks and reserves.
Information on ecotourism in general and on conservation in Costa Rica.

Author Description
Les Beletsky is a professional wildlife biologist and university zoology teacher. Prior to taking up writing wildlife guides, he conducted many years of field research into the ecology and behavior of birds, along the way publishing many scientific reports and writing two books. An avid ecotraveller, he visits the Americas, Africa, and Australia often. His basic view of life is that he’d rather be travelling and visiting new places and exotic locales than be doing anything else. Costa Rica, he now says, is his favorite spot on the planet. Currently he makes his home in Seattle, Washington, USA.

 

Costa Rica: A Traveler's Literary Companion, Vol. 1

From the Publisher
Northern Zone:
Carmen Naranjo "Believe It or Not"
Jose Leon Sanchez "The Girl Who Came from the Moon"
Mario Gonzalez Feo "Bucho Vargas, Healer and Medicine Man"
San Jose and the Central Valley:
Yolanda Oreamuno "The Lizard with the White Belly"
Rima de Vallbona "The Chumico Tree"
Fabian Dobles "The Tagua Tree"
Samuel Rovinski "The Adventure"
Fernando Duran Ayanegui "Monday"
Alfonso Chase "Faust in Hatillo"
Guanacaste:
Rima de Vallbona "Mystery Stone"

Southern Pacific Coast
Carlos Salazar Herrera "The Bongo"
Alfonso Chase "She Wore a Bikini"
Southern Zone:
Carlos Salazar Herrera "The Carbonero"

Atlantic Zone:
Fabian Dobles "The Diary"
Carlos Luis Fallas "In the Shadow of the Banana Tree"
Quince Duncan "The Oropendolas"
Abel Pacheco From "Deeper Than Skin"
Julieta Pinto "The Blue Fish"

Costa Rica:
Yolanda Oreamuno "The Spirit of My Land"
Carmen Lyra "Pastor's Ten Little Old Men"
Joaquin Gutierrez "A Leaf of Air"
Max Jimenez "The Palmitero"
Louis Ducoudray "Here"
Uriel Quesada "We Have Brought You the Sea"
Alfredo Aguilar "Mint Flowers"
Carmen Naranjo "When New Flowers Bloomed"

Costa Rica For Dummies

From the Publisher
Personally researched by a longtime resident, Costa Rica For Dummiesis an easy-to-follow, down-to-earth guide for planning and enjoying a terrific trip to a fascinating country. With Costa Rica for Dummiesin hand, you'll discover rugged wilderness preserves and sleepy beach towns, spectacular orchid gardens and mineral hot springs at the foot of a steaming volcano. Our author reviews restaurants and hotels in every price category and recommends adventures to suit all ages and abilities: swooping from treetop platform to treetop platform on a canopy tour, taking a dip in a jungle swimming hole, or spotting playful spider monkeys as you hike through lush foliage. Costa Rica For Dummiesallows you to experience the wonder of Costa Rica's amazing biodiversity, as we point out the best places to see hundreds of unique, colorful species of animals and plants.

 

Costa Rica Travel Map

From the Publisher
This map is completely user-friendly. Designed for visitors, this map contains practical and informative information about the area. More than just a map, it includes detailed street plans of the major cities and large scale projections of popular tourist destinations. There is also information provided on hotels and national parks. 5' x 10' folded / 28' x 39' unfolded, 5 climate charts, 6 area maps, 6 city/town plans, 15-20 color photographs.

 

Monkeys Are Made of Chocolate: Exotic and Unseen Costa Rica

From the Publisher
Discover the mysterious and fascinating ways in which animals and plants - and people - interact with one another in the rainforests of Costa Rica, home to some of the most prolific and diverse ecosystems on Earth. More than just a simple collection of essays, Monkeys Are Made of Chocolate is a testament to the wonder of life in all its countless guises, as seen through the eyes of a man with a gift for subtle discernment and a natural flair for storytelling.