Looking at booking a holiday there in the middle of May - probably 2/3 days inland at a volcano, another couple in the rainforest doing canopy ziplining and stuff, and then to the beach for massive amounts of snorkeling. Can anyone shed any light on good places to go/stay, and things not to miss?

If you do so much damage to yourself doing old fogey dancing are you sure you want to be ziplining?

Sure Patty. I'll send you a pm

just go around saying
donda esta llama
to everyone:)

They dont allow cripples.

Just say 'yo soy Americano'...which will inevitably piss them off as they have a chip on their shoulder about everyone being American and so Americans are 'Norte Americanos'. Of course when I got into that debate I decided if they would get all nitpicky then I would respond "Estas Hondruan?" That will really get them going. Then just keep asking if they're Honduran/El Salvadorian/Nicaraguan etc :).

I was there back when i call it BW ( before wife ). I went on a sex / golf / casino trip.

best trip i ever had !!
this is the place you want to stay right in san jose.

http://www.delreyhotel.com

best bar ever -
( they have a 24 hr web cam )
http://www.delreyhotel.com/...htlife.php?id=1&ids=4

Well the Del Rey definitely has two of the three things you went on the trip for. I remember walking into there with my girlfriend on my birthday to gamble. The audacity of some of the 'workers' was just downright amazing.

Yes, Its one place still up on my list of places to go to.
Had friends that went they enjoyed partying there, but hell the way she partys I'm sure she can't remember much.
Have Fun

holy fluff someone else was there !! the women were like vampires - if you made eye contact with one she was right on you. any nationality you wanted ( Russian , Japanese , Brazilian to name a few )

I ran into a guy - he was in his 50's living down there and i asked him what he was doing and why here? He said he wife divorced him, he had a good job and was able to have an income of 50k a year. down here he said i live like a king, servents, play golf and have sex with young women when ever i want. I am never leaving. Some day i hope to be that man

Okay... first of all...

*SPANKKKKKKS KJ, martian, and Medic* :p Smartarses! lol

Secondly - thanks to the rest of you for the info. :)

It's awesome. Did a Spanish language course in Playa Tamarindo before heading out to the rest of Latin America, people are really nice and "pura vida"

Visited Volcano Arenal as well as some of the surrounding areas. Arenal was disappointing because you couldn't climb the actual volcano but the country's longest zipline was nearby and that was epic :)

Tamarindo is a tourist trap though, not worth it

You didn't even need to look them in the eye. I just remember walking in with my girlfriend and it's my birthday so I'm going to play a little poker. We're thinking well the Del Rey is the nicest casino.

She's holding my arm and we're 30 feet in the door when this one smoking woman says "do you want to have a good time?" I think I just looked at her dumbfounded for a second because of her audacity and then said no. 45 seconds later another woman with a similar line. I said something about this being my girlfriend (I mean c'mon, at this point they're c-blocking me) and the woman said "i will do both for extra."

Man, that place was insane.

Bot Fly. costa rica has bot fly's consider that. dont know what a bot fly is? check you tube. looks like a huge zit on your skin then you pull out an inch and a half bot fly larvae outta your scalp.

Toby from the Office has been to Costa Rica

How much did it cost?

I didn't get that far in the conversation. However, when they approach you (at least in '05) they would says $40 before you could reply. These are the so-called expensive hookers.

I was on the northern part(I think) Its not near the rainforest side and I went there in January which is part of their dry season. I thinks its going to be kinda far from where your staying. I would defiantly do some snorkeling and ziplining. The fishing is pretty cool if your into that too. We went fishing with a grouped and what we caught that day we had for dinner at night.

Also everything is pretty cheap there(beer). The locals are really nice too, I would go there again.

sleeping in hammocks is win!

Eeewww... WH, thanks so much for that. I'll be sure to wear a hat. :p