For those of you attending #nostrica @nostrica in person, here is some advice about traveling in Costa Rica...
1. Use Waze rather than Google Maps for navigation (inside and especially outside the main cities). While I like Google maps for the maps and searching for businesses, over the years I have had more than one instance of Google Maps navigating me into bad situations. Just last week while at a beach, I used Google Maps to navigate to a few beaches over, and it took me on a route with terrible roads that led to a river crossing. Needless to say I had to turn around, and Waze took me where I needed to go. The locals use Waze, so the best routes are more known on Waze.
2. While I don’t recommend using Google Maps for navigation, I do recommend using Google Maps to download the map of the area you will be in Costa Rica, for offline use. It’s a great backup option for when there is no internet. If you are traveling around the country, there are many areas with no cellular service.
3. Driving in Costa Rica is doable. The rules are largely the same as the USA or Europe, but things are just less organized and people drive a little crazy. Be defensive.
4. When driving, signs that say “Ceda” mean “Yield”. This becomes important when approaching one of the many one lane bridges. From one direction there will be no “Ceda” sign, and from the other there will be a "Ceda" sign. If you are approaching a one lane bridge and see the “Ceda” sign, you need to let anyone coming from the other direction go first. When no one else is approaching the bridge, you can go.
5. It’s a good idea to have cell service while you are in Costa Rica. This can be done through your current provider, or a local sim card can be bought very cheap (around $1 for the sim plus however much you want to add to your prepaid account).
6. Costa Ricans use Whatsapp. It’s the only reason I have the app. If you want to be able to meet people and communicate later, I recommend downloading WhatsApp.
7. Costa Rica is near the equator, so even if it doesnt seem too hot, like in the Mountains, the sun is still powerful. Keep that in mind.
If I think of more I'll add to this thread.
Pura vida!
