Okay this is the last one for Calypso Cruises. The next virtual tours will be of canopy, crocodile, and the Rainmaker near Parrita. This is the closest you will get to seeing Rainmaker tour since they shut down the project to the public. When I inquired why their doors are closed they said their biologists found a frog that was thought to be extinct. So this is great news for the Rainmaker since it was developed as a protected zone for guided tours to the public. They said that the project will be closed for 6 months so they can conduct all of the studies needed to learn about this frog. more…

When you choose the Calypso Cruises for your trip to Tortuga Island, not only do you get an informative narrative of the passage during the voyage, you also get a great lunch.

While you are enjoying the beach or hiking around the island, the Calypso staff is busy making your lunch from scratch.

All of the food is prepared on the island except salads and not one piece of garbage remains when you leave. We really like that part of the excursion. more…

When we arrived at this island, we were not prepared for the Gilligan’s Island feel. This truly is a isolated island in the middle of the Gulf of Nicoya.

The beach here is beautiful and the water is clear all of the time which helps if you want to snorkel.

They rent snorkeling equipment on the beach to visitors. more…

We get a lot of emails from out Contact Us page asking for information about hostels in Jaco and in San Jose. I often thought “why would anyone stay at a hostel in San Jose?” But it was your comments that explained it. The answer is many backpackers need to come back to San Jose the night before they are scheduled to depart and return home. This is a great reason because the bus system is usually good, but being Costa Rica there really is not consistent services. It is very wise to get to San Jose the night before you leave to avoid any hassles. We have heard about a few in SJO but not enought to write about them now. We will update the blog with a article about San Jose Costa Rica hostels when we get the information.

Here in Jaco there are a few choices for hostels but only one that this site will suggest. Prior to moving to Jaco we stayed at Hotel Haan and we did not like it. Now that we live here in Jaco we know all of the places to stay and eat at. What we always suggest is the Las Camas hostel. Honestly, we did not know the name of this hostel until we stopped by to talk to Edit the owner/manager. There is not sign on the hostel that says “Las Camas” but we never had any problem directing people to the location. Simple directions, the hostel is located in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken and everyone in Jaco knows where this place is. If you are coming in by bus to Jaco tell the driver to let you off at KFC but say it in Spanish. I have seen many times people getting off the bus at Mas por Menos only because a majority of the locals leave the bus at this stop. Travelers unsure of where to get off, usually get off at this stop and hike the rest of the way to the hostel. There is no need to do this, stay on the bus until you go over the bridge and then yell for the bus to “parada” the bus will stop in front of Subway fast food place and then the Las Camas hostel is less than a 100 yards on your left going in the direction of your arriving bus. more…