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Location: Never in one place long | I am planning a celebration trip for my husband and I for when he returns from deployment to Turkey... I am fairly set on Costa Rica but open to other places in and around Central America. Does anyone have suggestions? We don't really like sitting around but love to explore!
I did take a trip to Nicaragua last year and Loved it but would like to go some place new this time.
Thanks for tips and suggestions! I want to surprise him! |
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Expert
Posts: 1956
Location: Ky | DLV - 2017-07-20 9:25 AM I am planning a celebration trip for my husband and I for when he returns from deployment to Turkey... I am fairly set on Costa Rica but open to other places in and around Central America. Does anyone have suggestions? We don't really like sitting around but love to explore! I did take a trip to Nicaragua last year and Loved it but would like to go some place new this time. Thanks for tips and suggestions! I want to surprise him!
Been to most of them including Costa Rica. We were down on the peninsula and could see the suncome up over the Pacific in the morning and set over the Atlantic in the evening. That was the highlight. We did not care for Costa Rica all that much. It just seemed dirty. The beaches even looked dirty. And we were staying at a Four Seasons Resort, so we weren't slumming.
We don't golf but we did take a golf cart tour of the golf course because the monkeys are everywhere. That was fun.
This was a company paid trip. I would not spend my money to go back. |
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Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | jd&ez - 2017-07-20 10:04 AM
DLV - 2017-07-20 9:25 AM I am planning a celebration trip for my husband and I for when he returns from deployment to Turkey... I am fairly set on Costa Rica but open to other places in and around Central America. Does anyone have suggestions? We don't really like sitting around but love to explore! I did take a trip to Nicaragua last year and Loved it but would like to go some place new this time. Thanks for tips and suggestions! I want to surprise him!
Been to most of them including Costa Rica. We were down on the peninsula and could see the suncome up over the Pacific in the morning and set over the Atlantic in the evening. That was the highlight. We did not care for Costa Rica all that much. It just seemed dirty. The beaches even looked dirty. And we were staying at a Four Seasons Resort, so we weren't slumming.
We don't golf but we did take a golf cart tour of the golf course because the monkeys are everywhere. That was fun.
This was a company paid trip. I would not spend my money to go back. Â
Oh wow! I have a few friends that have gone and loved it! Have you been to Nicaragua?? I have heard Costa Rica is WAY cleaner. We went last year and it was one of the prettiest places but trash EVERYWHERE! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 695
Location: Windoming | My brother lived in Costa Rica for 15 years. He moved his family to Florida last year because Costa Rica was getting too dangerous. His wife is a native Costa Rican. He also had a heck of a time getting admitted into the U.S., since he had been gone so long. He had to go through a lot of hoops to come back, including proving he was a veteran, but that's another story.....
They do go back for short visits cause she gets homesick.
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Posts: 1286
Location: Mississippi | We went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon almost 7 years ago. It was just Okay - we stayed at an all inclusive and did some of their day trips - the areas we saw were pretty primative (even the airport we flew in to was outdoors and had no a/c). The highlight was going to a resort near Arenal Volcano that had the hot springs - looking back we would have researched places to stay a little more and probably stayed there. I also enjoyed the river trip we took where you could feed wild monkeys.
Not sure that I would go back though...
Edited by turtleaut 2017-07-20 11:27 AM
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | I went to Costa Rica for Spanish class in high school. It was fun and beautiful but I don't ever want to go back. Maybe it would've been better if we would have been able to do whatever we wanted, but we had a pretty strict schedule. It was a beautiful place and the beaches we went to were beautiful. The food, however, was awful. I felt like I starved myself for the 9 days we were there because I found worms in my salad and a lot of the other food made me sick. I pretty much survived on rice and pineapple. We did get to stay at the bottom of a volcano, visited some hot springs, and did some other stuff. We were able to explore the town that was on the base of a volcano and we saw some people get arrested. San Jose was dirty and there were a lot of homeless people laying around. Our bus had to back around a homeless guy passed out in the hotel driveway in one of the towns. |
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"Heck's Coming With Me"
Posts: 10797
Location: Kansas | My neice's husband is an airline pilot and she went with him to Honduras a couple of years ago. She came home with a terrible cough which lasted for a year and doctors couldn't figure out what it was. A savvy doctor finally asked if she'd been to Central America. Turned out she had a parasite in her lungs picked up in this not so very clean country.
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Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | Wow! this all sound like fun. I think after hearing all this that would go to Hawaii. |
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 Saint Stacey
| My husband went to Costa Rica with a bunch if his sub contractors. They had a great time. But they stayed at a private residence with its own beach. I think that was key to them enjoying it. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I would love to go on a African Safari tour/vacation. Never heard any thing good about going to Costa Rica, sounds a bit scary to me. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 865
| Roatan Honduras! Awesome place. I've been fortunate to travel all over the world and if you are looking for something in Central America definitely checkout Roatan. My suggestion would be to go to vrbo.com and rent a home on the beach.
Happy travels. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 865
| If you decide to go to Costa Rica my suggestion would be Los Suenos. Just google it. Very nice. I've been to Costa Rica many times and that really is the only area I would go back. I would go to Roatan before Costa Rica. |
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Posts: 878
Location: "...way down south in the Everglades..." | Never been to Costa Rica...but I did go to Belize and absolutely loved it! Like anything, you have to be careful traveling in Central America but if you stay at resorts and use common sense it's safe. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| I've had friends who have visited Belize as well. One group had the best time - went mainly for open water fishing and they have been back multiple times.
Second group visited during a cruise stop. They had ARMED GUARDS the entire time they were off the ship. My gf noticed Belize City is like fenced off? With a very high chain type fence...NO thanks. She said she'd never travel there agin. 
I vote Bahamas. Lovely, safe, Sandals Resort :)
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  Expert
Posts: 1584
Location: Central Texas | I've traveled to Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatamala, more than once. El Salvador, in my opinion, is the most beautiful. We wandered aound in a rental car that was not marked as such, for a little bit of safety. In El Salvador, we were checking on some USA aid projects, such as schools and hospitals and went to very off-the-grid kind of locations in the mountains that had lots of armed to the teeth Pancho Villa dudes milling around. Hauled local hitchhikers around and had the BEST coffee at small tin shacks that roast thier own.
In Honduras, we ran across a fellow with amazing "dancing" horses. Hung around for a while and even rode several of them! Stayed in Roatan one night and did not like it, much.
In Guatamala we went to Tikal Mayan ruins. That country is stunning and ruins, well they are incredible. Ate super good food there, most of the time in little ladies front yards as they cooked over an open fire.
Belize was a blast! We were the typical adventure tourists. lol We carried inner tubes through the jungle past guys with machetes to go tubing in a river that runs through a mountain, took canoes into a large Mayan cave with a large creek running through it, hired a small John Boat and went reef fishing, went out on a dive boat for a little SCUBA and snorkeling experience, took a boat to a caye and a plane back. Belize City did have seedy looking places, mostly near the cruise ship docks.
It has been several years since my last trip, and I hope to make another soon! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| Marfan - 2017-07-21 10:00 AM I've traveled to Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatamala, more than once. El Salvador, in my opinion, is the most beautiful. We wandered aound in a rental car that was not marked as such, for a little bit of safety. In El Salvador, we were checking on some USA aid projects, such as schools and hospitals and went to very off-the-grid kind of locations in the mountains that had lots of armed to the teeth Pancho Villa dudes milling around. Hauled local hitchhikers around and had the BEST coffee at small tin shacks that roast thier own.
In Honduras, we ran across a fellow with amazing "dancing" horses. Hung around for a while and even rode several of them! Stayed in Roatan one night and did not like it, much.
In Guatamala we went to Tikal Mayan ruins. That country is stunning and ruins, well they are incredible. Ate super good food there, most of the time in little ladies front yards as they cooked over an open fire.
Belize was a blast! We were the typical adventure tourists. lol We carried inner tubes through the jungle past guys with machetes to go tubing in a river that runs through a mountain, took canoes into a large Mayan cave with a large creek running through it, hired a small John Boat and went reef fishing, went out on a dive boat for a little SCUBA and snorkeling experience, took a boat to a caye and a plane back. Belize City did have seedy looking places, mostly near the cruise ship docks.
It has been several years since my last trip, and I hope to make another soon!
wow! you've had some incredible experiences!
I feel nervous just reading your post. LOL
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Location: Central Texas | star1218 - 2017-07-21 10:07 AM
Marfan - 2017-07-21 10:00 AM I've traveled to Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatamala, more than once. Â El Salvador, in my opinion, is the most beautiful. Â We wandered aound in a rental car that was not marked as such, for a little bit of safety. Â In El Salvador, we were checking on some USA aid projects, such as schools and hospitals and went to very off-the-grid kind of locations in the mountains that had lots of armed to the teeth Pancho Villa dudes milling around. Â Hauled local hitchhikers around and had the BEST coffee at small tin shacks that roast thier own. Â
In Honduras, we ran across a fellow with amazing "dancing" horses. Â Hung around for a while and even rode several of them! Â Stayed in Roatan one night and did not like it, much.
In Guatamala we went to Tikal Mayan ruins. Â That country is stunning and ruins, well they are incredible. Â Ate super good food there, most of the time in little ladies front yards as they cooked over an open fire.
Belize was a blast!  We were the typical adventure tourists. lol  We carried inner tubes through the jungle past guys with machetes to go tubing in a river that runs through a mountain, took canoes into a large Mayan cave with a large creek running through it, hired a small John Boat and went reef fishing, went out on a dive boat for a little SCUBA and snorkeling experience, took a boat to a caye and a plane back. Belize City did have seedy looking places, mostly near the cruise ship docks. Â
It has been several years since my last trip, and I hope to make another soon!
wow! you've had some incredible experiences!
I feel nervous just reading your post. LOLÂ Â
Haha, thanks. Yes, I have. Those were just a few. I worked in Queretero Mexico and lived on the TX Mex border most of my life with lots of stories about that! I worked illegally in Japan with my crew of 12 men from Mexico, 1 token white Texas boy, 1 Japanese, 1 black man from Chicago, 2 men from India and 2 Dutchmen, oh and our cook was a gal from the Philippines. We got arrested twice for being there without work visas (could not get them), but it is all in who you know. We were working for Mitsubishi and even ended up on Japanese tv as a featured segment! Some crazy stuff, when I think about it. |
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Posts: 1584
Location: Central Texas | Whoops, sorry I did not mean to hijack the thread. I have not been to Costa Rica, so no input there . |
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Posts: 224
Location: So Cal | My parents love Costa Rica and are planning their retirement there. They have been taking trips there a couple times per year, actually just got back. They like adventures and don't stay in touristy areas or at hotels. They stay at Air B&Bs/hostels and love it. They basically try to live like the locals, they even went to a rodeo-type thing while there! I'm sure it's not for everyone. They've made friends with locals who have showed them some really cool places (I haven't been but have seen the videos of them jumping off waterfalls, etc). Let me know if you want me to get you any specific info if you do decide on Costa Rica. I haven't been yet (don't want to leave my horses!) but have heard all about it! |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I'd like to see Costa Rica someday, but I'm partial to the Caribbean. You need to be careful and aware of the "do's and don'ts" when traveling to Mexico or Central America, when it comes to safety, etc....
I just happened to read this yesterday:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2017/07/20/all-inclusive-resorts... |
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