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¿What is the local currency in Costa Rica? ¿Is it better colones or US Dollars to use when traveling around Costa Rica?

The local and official currency in Costa Rica is colones. However, US Dollars are widely accepted everywhere. This small country, highly depends on tourism and most of the places are used to Dollars such as supermarket, Hotels, Restaurant and Travel Agencies. and this refers to the touristic areas of the country.

Keep in mind that, the exchange rate will vary from day to day, and eventhough there is an average for the exchange rate, they are not forced to accept it at the same
Here you can easily convert Dollars to Colones! ¡Click Me!

¿Should you exchange colones or just bring dollars to Costa Rica?

Well, considering that most of the prices at the hotels and travel agencies are in US dollars, you should use dollars.
Why? It is simple, if you exchange your US dollars to colones at the airport, you will have to exchange it again for dollars at the hotel because the prices are in US dollars.
In contrast, of what you are reading here, at the airport they will tell you to exchange it for colones but believe me, is way much simple to travel with American money in Costa Rica.
One important piece of advice, make sure you break US money into smaller bills, like 50, 20, 10, and 5. This will be very helpful for tips, groceries, and restaurants.
. The big hotels, travel agencies, and some restaurants will take 100 US bills but, in some places, they are not accepted. That´s why is a great idea to bring some small bills.
Credit Cards. Visa is the most widely accepted card in CR and not all places accept credit cards.
American Express cards are usually not accepted in some businesses.
Also, Other than that, you will see that colones and USD are readily accepted everywhere.

Are there ATMs?

There are ATMs in the airport where you can get some cash. Also, ATMs are plentiful in towns like Jaco Beach, Quepos, Manuel Antoni, Auto Mercado Herradura, Puntarenas, so it is easy to get cash when you need it, some hotels have their own and all towns will have a bank.
Some machines dispense only colones and some do dispense both USD and colones. So better check that out before inserting your card.
The point of using the ATM is that you don´t want to stand in the line inside the bank. You can have issues, like them being down or out of money.
Also. not all cards will work on all machines. Don’t try too many times or the machine will keep your card.
Last advice, when paying with dollars you may receive the change in colones so, make sure that at least 2 days before leaving the country you use all the colones you got from your trip.

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Carara birding journey, Costa Rica.

Costa Rica with its 19 700 sq miles is home to over 900 birds and over quater of its territory is protected, we are talking about 27 percent land is within a protected area. This heaven like should be in the bucket list of all birders in the world. This time we are going to talk about Carara National Park, a birding top area in the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

Carara park borders the famous tarcoles river, popular for its astonishing number of crocodiles. However, what´s special in Carara for being a top birding national park in Costa Rica? First, we can say that the park diversity is due to the location, which is between the tropical dry forest and tropical rainforest, this is a unique transitional conection in Central America.

Just in this park, local native birdwatchers every year they organize bird counting and always go over 360 species of birds, including the “Ara Macao” best known as the “Lapa Roja” or “Scarlet Macaw”. Between the targets of international birdwatchers in carara includes the orange collared manakin, Bairds trogon, black throated trogon, pale-billed woopecker, toucans, royal flycatcher, brown rumped attila, boat billed heron, white whiskered puffbird, bat falcon and the endemic black-hooded antshrike. There are just a few of the species you can see in one birding journey in Carara.

Carara birding journey is challenge that must be taking with a local birdwatcher, and you might think why? It is very simple, you may know a lot about birds, but you have no clue which hiking trails are best for birdwatching. I give an example, Central Pacific Costa Rica gets visitors from different countries, many of those visitors stay for a week at Los Suenos Marriott Herradura, Jaco beach or simply stay for a day by cruise ship.

The massive information these visitors are usually bombarded with at their cruiseship or Resort about Carara National Park, takes their expectation really, I mean really high, at the end of the day they may go back home very dessapointed because they saw nothing but trees.

The following travel tips will ensure a real birding journey in carara. In order to have a real birding journey you first have to make sure you are visiting Carara National Park, which is located in the 34 road. Second, you have to hire a private tour guide for a group of no more than 7-8 people or a customized tour previously arrange. Third, make sure you have at least 3 hours available for walking in the park (commercial tours usually go for 1 hour, max 1.5 hours). Fourth, talk to the company or the tour guide you want to do “Carara´s meadrical trail” and use insect repellent and take it with you. Last, birds are usually changing feeding sites and nesting sites year round, some of them are migratory species for his reason if you are looking for an specific birds species, let your tour guide know as soon as you meet him or her, because there are times during the year when certain species prefer to be in the park surroundings than deep in the park. Carara is a generous park that is rich in bird number and diversity of mammals, this is your destinationwhether you come birdwatching or just to admires the lush rainforest of Costa Rica.

Carara is a generous park that is rich in bird number and diversity of mammals, this is your destination whether you come for birdwatching or just to admire the lush rainforest of Costa Rica.

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Tarcoles River-bridge a must in Costa Rica

Tarcoles river is located on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and it´s popular bridge draws the attention of hundreds “ticos” and tourist ( ticos means costa ricans) everyday.

The tarcoles bridge is on the 34 road, the main highway to get to the top highlights of the Central Pacific, Los Suenos Marriott Resort, Jaco beach, Manuel Antonio and further south Dominical and Corcovado National Park.

Why do people stop on the tarcoles bridge?

Before that, tarcoles comes from an indigenous word which means “crocodile river”. Does this say something to you about the popularity of the bridge?

¡Yes! Hundreds of crocodiles live on the tarcoles river but the bridge is the best place in Costa Rica for tourist to see and picture dozen of enormous crocodiles basking underneath the bridge.

Tarcoles river starts 111 km or 70 miles up on the mountains of Costa Rica´s central valley, and runs down the pacific coast. Tarcoles bridge is undoubtedly a mandatory stop whether you are traveling to central pacific or back to the airport. crocodil river tour

1500 crocodiles have been counted on the river and there is a reason of such number, crocodiles are protected in Costa Rica and there is no hunting day or season in the country because “ticos” laws are pro-nature.

Crocodiles is no the only wildlife you’ll get to see on the bridge. Tarcoles rivers borders one of the most biodiverse National Parks in Costa Rica, Carara National Park habors 360 species of birds including the Roseate Spoonbill. tarcoles river birds

This closeness to Carara National Park, gives travelers a chance to see the magnificent Scarlet Macaw flying around or perch on the trees. eco wonders travel tours

As well, if you are a nature lover and would like to have a crocodile up-close view and enjoy a bird-watching journey, then you better think about taking the Crocodile River Tour, where you are going to see dozens of crocodiles and birds sitting on the site of a comfortable boat.