April 19, 2023 • 43 mins
Daydreaming of jungle canyons with turquoise water? Listen as Katie shares all her tips for planning an amazing canyoneering trip to Costa Rica.
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Episode Transcript
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Katie (00:08):
Hey everyone.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Katie
Carma (00:10):
and I'm Carma and you're listening to, I'd rather be
canyoneering.
Katie (00:14):
We're best friends who totally geek out about canyon
rigging and beautifully slotcanyons.
Basically we'd always rather becanyoneering.
But when we can't, we spendevery spare minute, we have
talking about it.
Carma (00:26):
This podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
Please seek professionalinstruction and practice
technical skills in a controlledenvironment before entering slot
canyons.
Your safety is entirely your ownresponsibility.
Katie (00:41):
Welcome to our canyon crew!
Carma (00:45):
Welcome back to the podcast everyone.
I cannot stop thinking aboutCosta Rica.
Katie shared.
Her highlights album with me onGoogle Photos, and I just got
lost looking at pictures andvideos.
I really wanna get myself toCosta Rica and I want to help
(01:06):
you all to go to Costa Rica aswell.
So today I'm going to bedrilling Katie about the nitty
gritty of how to plan a trip toCosta Rica.
Katie (01:16):
And I am willing to give you all the details and all the
tips that I've picked up from mylast two trips and how to make
it run super smooth and have agreat time.
Carma (01:24):
Sweet.
So how did you even go aboutfinding canyons in Costa Rica?
How did you even get, pulledthere?
Of all the places in the globe,
Katie (01:33):
Well, I've always been interested in the rainforest.
As a little girl, I thought I'dgrow up and build a tree house
and live in the rainforest.
That was my big plan to be withthe monkeys and the two cans.
So that place has always had adraw for me.
And then add on top of that, Ifound out there was canyoneering
there, and it was just a, thisis gonna be my place kind of.
So I got interested and then Ijoined Facebook groups, so I
(01:57):
found like canyoneering in CostaRica type of groups and started
just kinda looking at thepictures to see if it's what I
thought it was.
And as I looked through thosepictures, I was like, yeah, this
is exactly what I'm looking for.
And started to dial in some ofthe canyons that I wanted to go
see.
As I'm looking at pictures thatare tagged and starting to get
an idea of the canyons that I'mreally think are beautiful, what
(02:18):
areas are they in?
Are there any that are clusteredtogether?
do I wanna be in the north orthe south?
And kind of got a feel for.
Carma (02:23):
So then you knew you wanted to go, you kind of had an
idea of what canyons you wantedto hit.
How did you choose when to go?
Katie (02:32):
I chose my canyons first, and then I started talking to
people on those Facebook pagesand seeing if anyone had
recommendations for guides Andthen I got hooked up with a
guide and I went down both timeswith, Johann and really enjoyed
that.
I didn't know anything about himto start with.
And so I actually asked him tosend me some pictures of his
anchors to see if we were on thesame page about how we rig and
(02:54):
we start talking throughWhatsApp.
WhatsApp is kind of like GoogleMessenger, type of thing, and
it's just what everybody inSouth America uses for free
texting.
So you wanna download that andyou'll want to contact people.
Carma (03:06):
so you found him on.
Katie (03:09):
I did.
And then we started talking andhe sent me some pictures of some
anchors and what things looklike down there.
I also found when you do getdown there, you wanna be really
specific with your guide aboutwhat your expectations are, or
what you're hoping for and whatyou'd like.
Because they go with a lot ofpeople and some people.
Don't know how to whistle up toshorten rope or lengthen rope.
And so maybe they don't do thatwith every single client cuz
(03:30):
it's more confusing and youmight end getting the rope too
short.
So just talking about whatskills you have and getting your
communication online and whatyou're wanting and I feel like
when I'm getting a guide in aforeign country, I am mostly
looking for someone who isfamiliar with the canyons.
I really like jumping, I toldyou all about that.
(03:50):
important to me to have a guidewho'd bend down the canyon a lot
of times and knew where thehazards were so that I could
jump.
And then Also, weather is trickywhen you don't know the weather
patterns.
I know the Wasatch weatherpatterns really well.
I know what desert looks likewhen it's rain and when it's
probably gonna flood.
I know that by sight.
But I Don't know those patternsaround these mountains in Costa
(04:12):
Rica.
And they know the catch basins.
They know what the clouds looklike, they know what it looks
like when it's gonna dump.
And that was something that wasreally important to me as
someone who could interpret theweather.
And I felt like I canaccommodate rigging and say, oh,
let's switch this and use thisanchor, or let's do this with
anybody.
But what I really wanted wasknowledge of the canyons and
knowledge of the weatherpatterns.
Carma (04:30):
Yeah
Katie (04:31):
When I'm checking the weather, I also learned to use
the windy app, and I really likethat one.
I pay for the premiumsubscription and then I'm able
to check weather and winds andhow fast things are moving, and
that app works really well inSouth America.
Carma (04:43):
Sweet.
Katie (04:45):
So then once I started talking to a guide, we kind of
got the areas and the canyonsthat were the ones I really
wanted.
Then we picked the dates thatwere best for those canyons and
he let me know what would be thebest time with the best chances
of getting to go down thembecause even though it's the dry
season, it's still gonna rain50% of the time.
So we are trying to choose thebest window there.
And then also when the guide'savailable to take off from their
(05:07):
regular job and come and doguiding cuz I mean, it's
seasonal.
They only have two months ofguiding and they probably have
something else
Carma (05:13):
right?
So did you have any trouble likegetting a passport or booking
your flights?
Katie (05:20):
My next step after I've picked the season is that I book
those flights and I use flightsfrom home.
It's something in Utah and it'skind of spreading.
To get me some cheap flights, Iended up with$250 roundtrip
flights, was awesome.
And that's why I got to go twicecuz my husband is amazing and,
he, subscribes to the citiesthat we want to go to and then
(05:41):
whenever that pops up for theright dates, we can nail it
down, and, get those flights.
And that's usually six monthsahead of time, sometimes almost
a year ahead of.
If you wanna get a good dealit's not usually any sooner than
that, but kind of in thosewindows that they can pop up.
I make sure I have a passportthat's gonna be valid for the
right dates as well.
Carma (05:59):
Yeah, you don't wanna be scrambling right before your
trip
Katie (06:02):
Yeah.
And as you're having thisconversation and getting those
dates down, that's kind of acircular conversation with
whoever you're going withbecause you're picking the dates
and you're picking your flights.
And then you need to let yourguide know how many canyon days
you want and be flexible cuz youmight need to take a break in
between for.
And have some backup plans.
(06:22):
I'd mentioned this in the otherpodcast, but having some backup
plans for going to, nationalParks to biological reserves,
any things that you might wannado surfing on a rainy day.
Just different things that youmight do if you need to take a
break in the middle of thecanyons.
Carma (06:38):
How did you go about booking your overnight
accommodations in the country?
What's the best way to do that?
Katie (06:44):
So There actually are a lot of accommodations in Costa
Rica that you can choose from.
I didn't think there would be,but I looked up on bookings.com
and Airbnb and I found somereally great places to stay in
Bahost del Toro and around theairport and all these different
places.
So my best experiences have beenwith bookings.com and the app,
and if you book in the app, youget a little discount and that's
(07:06):
nice.
Airbnb, there's some cool placesto stay, but I have had trouble
with that in the past.
They have.
A background check that's kindof sloppy.
And one week before my trip, Ihad booked Airbnb like six
months before we left, and oneweek before the trip they did a
background check on my husbandand he just has a common name
(07:28):
and somebody in a completelydifferent state, nothing to do
with us, had a felony or likeeight felonies.
And they just, they sent us anotification that something was
going on and they're like, sendus your social security number
and your driver's license andall this stuff.
And I thought it was a hoax.
And they're like, can you have24 hours to submit all of this
(07:49):
or you lose your accommodations?
And I was doing research to tryto figure out what is this what
and
Carma (07:54):
it even real?
Katie (07:55):
right who's asking for my social?
I'm not doing that.
And they just canceled ouraccom.
Carma (08:02):
Uh,
Katie (08:02):
And someone booked right in the middle of ours while I
was figuring it out.
Honestly, what I probably shouldhave done was book it in my name
instead of my husband's, likeimmediately might've helped out
there, but it was just sofrustrating.
But I have really likedbookings.com and I haven't had
any trouble with that.
And I was able to find a lot ofplaces that were really good I
prefer to fly in in theafternoon when everybody in the
(08:25):
city is of awake and happy andit's not rush hour in the
morning and it's also notgetting to the evening.
There are less people on thestreets.
I kinda like the safety of agroup.
so I do that when I can.
Sometimes you can't, sometimesyou can't.
But also everything's open.
So like I'll fly in and,, myrental car place will be open
and all that stuff.
If I'm able to come in theafternoon, then I'll usually
drive out to my first place andget out of the city and pick a
(08:48):
place out there.
In fact, I wouldn't stay in SanJose very long because it's hard
to drive around there too.
The roads are really narrow.
It was made for people and notcars.
And so when I first get there, Idon't wanna hang out there.
Get used to the driving in thecountry first and then come
back, is my suggestion.
If I have to fly in, in theevening or night, then I'll
usually pick my firstaccommodation to be somewhere
(09:09):
close by and I'll pick anaccommodation with a shuttle.
If I have to get in late or if Ihave to leave first thing in the
morning, then I really like tohave, an accommodation with
airport shuttle so I can justblurry eyes as I am, get on the
shuttle and go to the rightplace.
Carma (09:25):
What amenities do you look for in a place that you're
gonna stay overnight?
Katie (09:29):
First thing is wifi because then you can get your
weather reports and you can getGoogle Translate.
WiFi's number one then.
Over in the places where I'mgonna do my canyons.
I like there to be a big openroom somewhere or a patio space
where I can dry my gear.
And that's really the secondthing that I'm looking for.
and then other than that,parking is kind of a thing in
(09:52):
Costa Rica.
So, especially like the bigtowns, you wanna make sure that
there's a parking spotavailable.
There's not street parking inthose towns.
There's very skinny streets andthere's really not street
parking.
So that's why I like to take acab or an airport shuttle to the
first accommodation, so I don'thave to worry about that and
then go from there if I'mstaying overnight in the city.
Carma (10:12):
Yeah.
Katie (10:12):
But if I'm just picking up the rental car at noon and
I'm driving out, then, I'mhappy.
And the parking will be a lotmore available and a lot of'em
have gated parking so that theyclose a giant gate and you're in
like a little bit of a, littleranch area and that's nice.
Carma (10:29):
Yeah.
Nice Versa, security and toensure that nobody's gonna take
your spot or whatever.
Katie (10:35):
Yeah.
Mostly for security.
it's a little mini fortress.
It's kind of fun.
Carma (10:39):
Yeah.
When you're getting ready toactually get on the plane and
you're gonna be in the countrysoon, how do you keep track of,
all your reservations and do youjust have it all electronically
on your phone or what do you doto make sure that it's gonna run
smoothly when you get to a newcountry?
Katie (10:58):
I have a lot of stuff on my phone, and the apps are
great, but I also know that Icould lose my phone or I could
drop it, or I could smash it, orI don't know.
We got locked out of an iPad onetime that we were using because
like, the button got pushed somany times in our luggage that
locked us out and you had to logback in on a computer to recover
(11:18):
that.
So I bring hard copies.
I'm old school.
I go to the store and get one ofthose little folders with the
little three hole punch tab,things that you can stick
through.
And I print everything out.
I print out my itinerary withall my flight plans and
confirmation, so I have thosetickets and I can scan'em if I
need to.
I print out any travel insurancethat I got.
I print out my rental carbooking, I print out my rental
(11:41):
car collision damage waiver thatI get from my credit card, and
that's something that allows youto not have to pay for the extra
insurance in the country.
I've been running the last twotimes with budget and my Visa
travel card, one of the benefitsis it'll cover rental car
insurance in foreign countries.
I just need to print this.
And so I just call they'reconcierge and they email me a
(12:02):
copy of it in English andSpanish, so I haven't had to pay
for that when I go down there.
Carma (12:06):
That's nice because yeah.
Push you to get that extracoverage and if you can't prove
that you have it, they mayrequire you to pay for it.
Katie (12:14):
Exactly.
You have to be able to provethat you have it.
And then I print out all of myhotel confirmations, and if I am
doing any guided services thathave a booking website, then
I'll print those too.
Carma (12:24):
We did the same thing when we went to New Zealand.
like I had all the confirmationsin my email.
I also put everything into aGoogle Doc that I could log into
any computer and pull from itand then we had hard copies of
everything.
Cuz I didn't wanna end up on theother side of the world with no
way to get the stuff that Ialready paid for.
Katie (12:44):
Right.
And sometimes you just need'emright away.
And it's easier to flip throughsomething.
Like some countries, when youget in, they want to know at the
airport where your first hotelis.
That's very common to ask for,for like, illness tracing.
Or also some of the socializedmedicine countries, they wanna
know that you're not just comingto be a vagrant and so they
wanna know that you have a hotelon the files.
(13:05):
So that's just nice to have it.
Carma (13:07):
When you're going through customs
Katie (13:09):
Yeah, exactly.
And you're trying to Carry allyour bags and you're trying to
get your phone out and you'retrying to manage everything.
Carma (13:15):
you're scared because the people look really serious,
Katie (13:18):
They look really serious, even though they're really
nice., I swear, Costa Rica hasthe nicest customs people
though.
They were super friendly even atmidnight,
Carma (13:25):
It's not like coming from Canada back into the US and
you're swear I'm a citizen.
Katie (13:30):
Yeah.
Super cereal.
Carma (13:32):
How do you get all of your canyoneering gear on the
plane?
How do you fit it all?
That's a ton of gear on top ofwhat you would already bring for
a trip to a foreign country.
Katie (13:44):
Right.
We packed kind of minimally andif you're going with somebody it
kinda makes it easier.
My husband and I usually packtogether and we'll do one
checked bag that has ourwetsuits and our rescue knife in
there.
Be really cognizant of whereyour knife is obviously And then
we'll try to keep all of ouressential gear, Like our
harnesses and at least a repeldevice and our helmets in our
(14:06):
carry-on so that we're nottotally screwed if a bag gets
lost.
Carma (14:10):
So all your essential gear.
What about your boots?
Did you wear your bestard's onthe plane?
Katie (14:17):
Okay.
I wish I was cool enough to wearmy boots on the plane, but I'm
not.
And they take a, a ton of roomin your bag too.
So I usually compromise bypacking my boots in my checked
bag.
But I wear approach shoes on theplane, so I'm not totally
screwed if they got lost.
we were actually canyoning and,a a group got combined with ours
(14:39):
and their check bag did get lostand they were without canyon
boots for a couple of days andthat sucks.
Carma (14:45):
Oh yeah.
Katie (14:46):
And then they're like, do you have to drive all the way
back to the airport to get'emwhen your luggage actually does
show up?
wastes travel days.
It actually turned out that theairport took care of'em and
actually sent their boots twohours away and dropped'em off
for them.
So that was really cool, but atleast if you can wear a pair of
approached shoes on the plane,that, kind of covers your butt a
little bit.
Carma (15:07):
What about the rope?
Did you have to provide yourown, or did your guide provide
the ropes
Katie (15:12):
you know, that's a tricky one because it does take up room
in your pack and it's a lot ofroom if you're doing a lot of
canyons.
And so that really is a personalchoice.
My preference is to bring my ownrope whenever I can, cuz I know
that rope backwards and forwardsand I know how my devices work
on it.
Carma (15:27):
Thinking.
Back to all of your picturesthat I've seen, it looked like
every single one of the canyonsyou did was very wet.
It was very splashy.
So how do you get all of yourwet gear home at the end of the
day?
Katie (15:39):
First off, I absolutely recommend be a small tarp or
tent footprint or a piece ofplastic to put into your rental
car so that when you're puttingwet gear in the back, you don't
later get charged a cleaning feefor all the mud that you left
behind.
Carma (15:55):
Yeah.
Katie (15:56):
And that's why I kind of sacrificed my checked bag as my
dirty bag.
Carma (16:01):
Okay.
Katie (16:01):
and what I do is I do try to plan the last day or two as a
rest day, go visit a park kindof day so that gear can be
drying out.
And I do give it a chance to,but I also do bring a couple of
trash bags with me, and Irecognize that my bag will be
heavier on the way back.
Now, even with all my canyongear in there, I was still not
(16:23):
over my 50 pound limit, so it'snot crazy heavy, but I do try to
let'em dry out and I do bringbags for boots that might be
muddy and for things like thatjust to, help keep things clean.
I also found a new trick thistime around because my canyon
bag has holes in it and I wantedto pack my clothing in there,
(16:44):
not with the muddy boots.
I actually found these laundrybags at Walmart and I actually
packed my clean clothes in thoseinside of my canyon bag so that
my underwear and bras is notlike getting tarmac on it and
airport grossness in it.
But I had just this little thincanvassy bag that protected my
(17:04):
actual clothes in that bag.
That was nice.
Carma (17:07):
Gotcha.
Katie (17:08):
It also made a great laundry bag for while we were
spending our week there.
Carma (17:11):
Right.
Well, we're talking aboutlaundry and what clothes to
bring.
Were you able to do any laundry?
Did you have to bring enoughclothes for every single day?
How did that work out?
Katie (17:22):
yeah, There are not a lot of places to do laundry and
there are some people locallywho could help you wash it, but
most people hang dry theirstuff, so people don't own a lot
of dryers.
So I would recommend bringing achange of clothes, and
especially like underwear andsports bra is usually what I put
underneath my wetsuit.
And it takes like three days fora sports bra to dry out.
So I would just recommendbringing one for each of the
(17:44):
canyon days so you don't have toput on a wet one and have it
chafing or bugging you oranything like that.
Guys, probably same thing,whatever under clothes you're
wearing under your wetsuit, justbring a fresh pair for each of
your canyon days.
It also surprised me in themountainous areas that I wanted,
like a fleece.
It's chilly there.
It's not sandals weather.
So I liked bringing a pair ofdry shoes that I could wear in
(18:07):
the evening and a few pairs ofpants, and a couple.
Of fleeces.
Now I like, being able to changemy clothes and I found that I
was wearing a fleece everynight.
Once you're done with all thepacking, it's time to actually
get on the plane and go to CostaRica, and I just wanted to share
with the listeners and with youkarma about what that looks like
as you're landing and what youkind of need to know as the
sequence, for getting goingafter the first day.
(18:30):
Everything calms a lot down, butthat first day and you're
landing and you're blurry eyeand trying to figure things out,
I just kinda wanna give you anidea of what that looks like so
it can move smoothly for you.
When you land in Costa Rica, weflew into San Jose and the first
thing you do is you get off theplane and you're coming into
this luggage carousel area andthere are money exchangers there
(18:50):
and they speak English.
So that was really nice.
And the first time I went Ithought I would get my local
currency at a bank and thatturned out to be a pain in the
butt because we got in at 6:00AM and I was hoping to just get
it at the money changer place,but they don't open until a
little bit later.
So that really early flightmeant I had to go get money at a
(19:10):
bank and I had to wait for thebank to open then cuz they
didn't open until 10.
And then I did all this work togo through the bank process and
in the end they had me gooutside and get money from the a
t m and there was like this guystanding behind me, like
practically looking over myshoulder and I was around the
corner from, where my husbandhad parked and I just didn't
love that.
(19:30):
So if you can't get money at theexchangers, that's better.
I like to get a little bit oflocal currency.
But people really do take a lotof us money.
And so the second time I went, Ijust got like I think 50 bucks
total, in Costa Rican colons.
And I, I really didn't mess withthat much.
I didn't worry about it verymuch.
Carma (19:52):
What did you need the local currency for?
If most of the places will takeUS dollars
Katie (19:57):
It's nice to have colon colonies when you get farther
out of the city and there'smaybe less English and people
are trying to put stuff intocalculators and figure out what
you want.
Sometimes it's just nice to beable to pay for Gatorades or
trinkets or things like thatjust in the local currency.
Then There are also some tollroads that go out to like Bahost
del Toro and I totally recommenddriving on the toll roads.
They're totally worth it andthey're really not that
expensive.
(20:18):
I don't even think we spent 20bucks the entire week on the
toll roads.
they will take us dollars it'snice if you could just hand them
the colons because then youdon't have to worry about if
someone was not giving you theexchange rate.
But I never had a problem withit.
Carma (20:32):
All right.
So a lot of places will take, USdollars.
Can you just get around withjust a credit card or do you
really need to have cash money?
Katie (20:42):
I was actually really surprised by this.
A lot of places they won't takea card, even hotels, and part of
it is because there's a high taxon that.
There's a 13% tourist tax onmost things, and if you pay in
cash, then you don't have topay.
And if you pay with a card, youdo.
And then some people don't evenwanna pay the merchant fees for
(21:04):
what costs them to run yourcard.
You actually need to bring cashdollars or cash colones to pay
for your accommodations and Ijust verified on bookings.com
with each of the owners.
A lot of times they'll have itin the fine print that they only
take cash or I will just verifywith them if they will take a
card.
(21:24):
Sometimes I'm willing to paythat 13% to support recreation
and tourism and things and tonot have that much cash in my
pocket.
Carma (21:31):
you don't wanna take the chance that a big chunk of cash
could get lost somewhere orstolen on the trip.
Katie (21:37):
exactly.
Carma (21:38):
Generally, did you feel safe in Costa Rica?
Were you worried about yourstuff getting stolen or anything
like that?
Katie (21:44):
In general, this is one of the safest countries I've
ever been to, and right in themain city, it's like any big
city like Salt Lake, SanFrancisco, New York, where it's,
a big city, but as soon as youget out everyone just seemed
friendly.
I do choose to keep my walletthat I use day to day separate
from all of my funds.
And so usually I'll keep thatsomewhere else at a hotel or
(22:06):
whatnot, and I'll carry adaytime wallet and that'll only
have like$20 in it.
And I'll put in like an oldlicense or something like that,
and one credit card.
And that way if that credit cardinformation were to get taken
somehow, or if maybe I was gonnaget robbed, that I could give
someone that wallet.
And I'm not giving awayeverything I have, but they got
what they were after.
(22:26):
And my idea is that I would justchuck that wallet and I would
run the other way and we wouldnot have any more confrontation.
And that's kind of how I dothat.
And one of the reasons Imentioned I do bring at least
two cards with me is because inCosta Rica, it's one of those
places where someone fills upyour gas for you and so you have
to hand your credit card away oryour debit card and so there is
a time when you don't havecontrol of your card and you
(22:48):
can't see if somebody is copyingthe numbers or anything like
that.
Or there's some of thosemachines that are like card
readers and they can reallyquickly read the information.
So I just kind of keep track ofthe one card that I'm kind of
handing out, and then I haveanother card in my wallet if I
need to turn off the hand it outcard.
If it starts pinging stuff thatI didn't purchase, then I'm able
(23:08):
to turn that one off and use adifferent one.
Carma (23:11):
So you're not left stranded with one card that you
have to turn off and nothingelse.
Katie (23:16):
Exactly.
Mm.
Carma (23:18):
You mentioned in the first episode that we talked
about Costa Rica, that you getaround Costa Rica in a rental
car.
Can you tell us more about howyou went about doing that and
what worked, what didn't work?
Katie (23:31):
Certainly.
In Costa Rica, the rental carfacility is quote unquote at the
airport, but you actually haveto take a shuttle like a mile
away to get to it.
So one thing that's reallyimportant is that if you are
getting in late, you need tomake sure that the shuttle
service is still running whenyou land.
On my first trip not a problem.
(23:51):
They were open at 6:00 AM andthat was great.
The second time I flew in and Igot in at like 1145 and most of
the shuttle places closed at 11.
That's why I used a shuttleservice from the hotel to take
me to the hotel.
And I came back in the morningand picked up my rental car.
and That's why I chose budgetbecause they were one of the
(24:12):
ones that is open at 6:00 AM.
And again, that's one of thereasons that I also like to do a
hotel nearby with a shuttle.
Because what I did is I droppedoff my rental car the evening
before and then I took theshuttle to the airport from the
hotel so that I didn't have toworry about returning my car
while I'm also trying to make aninternational flight.
Carma (24:32):
yeah.
You don't wanna do that.
Katie (24:34):
It, it's just too many things on top of each other.
that just makes it really smoothfor me.
I chose budget because of theirhours and I've used them before
and I reserved it and paid forit on a travel credit card.
So I have a Visa signature cardthat has travel benefits it has
to be booked in my name.
(24:56):
With that card and then paid forwith that card.
But if I do those things, thenit comes with certain car
insurances and travel benefitsand roadside assistance and
things like that.
So I did that and I called Visatheir concierge, and I also got
the rental collision damagewaiver benefit sheet.
I know that's a lot of words,it's the, it's the auto rental
(25:19):
collision damage waiver sheet.
And they emailed that to me inEnglish and Spanish.
And then I was able to just showthat to budget to show that I
already had the insurancecoverage and I didn't have to
pay for it twice.
Carma (25:31):
we also had to do that in New Zealand where we had to show
a copy of what our credit cardactually covered before they
would allow us to waive theadditional insurance.
Katie (25:42):
Exactly.
It's the same way in Costa Rica.
I also went back to budgetbecause they had a lot of really
good English speakers and Ialready knew that.
And I knew that I could justtalk in English at the rental
car facility and that was nice.
I rented a four-wheel drive andI was very specific about that
because I knew I was going outto the canyon areas.
And there are some really steephills out in Bahost del Toro,
(26:03):
and I mean really steep gradelike you've never seen in the
United States.
So it's nice.
There's only a couple of spotswhere that happens.
But it was really nice and itwas nice to have an automatic,
because I've seen three cars nowget stuck trying to shift while
going up those hills, and Ididn't wanna mess around with
that.
just easier not to.
oh gosh, one of the best thingsI did, And this is like, my top
(26:26):
advice for anyone going to CostaRica is get the in-car wifi.
And what they basically do isgive you a cell phone with a
hotspot, but it has the localcell towers.
So the two main ones are c Claroand Movie Star.
And someone was trying toexplain it to me.
I think I've got this right,that Co Claro is the government
one.
And so it covers some areaswhere maybe the commercial ones
(26:48):
haven't bothered to put celltowers, so it had more coverage.
And that's what we used over inlike Bajo Deltoro.
Last time I went, I bought achip, one of the movie Star
chips and put it in my phone.
But the new iPhones don't allowyou to do that.
So depending on what your phonecan and can't,
Carma (27:04):
Right.
Katie (27:05):
I got the in-car wifi, it was like 50 bucks and it was
great for navigation and I couldbe looking up beta if I needed
it.
I could be checking weatherreally, really handy.
I could even be using GoogleTranslate at a hotel if I
stopped and translated it by thecar and then walked in.
So really helpful.
The only thing to pay attentionto is lag times and go ahead and
(27:26):
change the language, on, your,maps product before you start
driving.
So I'm just gonna
Carma (27:34):
Katie?
Why?
Katie (27:36):
once you start driving, even if you think you're pretty
good with your left and rightsin Spanish, you might miss a
turn.
We used Waze, which is reallyhelpful.
Google Maps does okay downthere, but Waze is really what
everyone actually updates downthere to let you know that a
bridge is out.
The first time we down there, wewere using Google Maps and we
drove out this one direction andthere was no bridge.
(27:57):
And the lady like came out ofher house.
She's like, that's being downfor single Onos.
And I'm like, oh geez.
That's, it's been down foryears, right?
anyway, ways is just updatedmore often.
That's helpful, but there mightbe a little bit of lag time.
And that happened to us while wewere out at a canyon over at
Paris Mania and we were headedback.
it was a two hour drive back toour accommodations and, we
(28:19):
missed a turn, but I didn'tnotice it cause it wasn't saying
it in English and it didn't looklike we missed a turn, cuz my
route still said go straight forlike five miles.
And that's what the instructionssaid when I looked down and
looked at it and read it.
Well, it said go five miles foryour first opportunity to make a
U-turn.
Carma (28:38):
Uh,
Katie (28:40):
And I could have made a U-turn a long time before that,
but not according to the maps.
So I didn't notice that I'dmissed the turn.
And had I been listening to theEnglish version of it, it
would've said Go five miles andmake a U-turn.
And I would've heard that andrealized that I missed my turn
faster just looking at thelittle image I needed to back up
to realize that it was tellingme to go straight and turn
(29:02):
around.
Carma (29:03):
Right.
Katie (29:05):
Normally that wasn't an issue.
It was just you're in a reallytight section of where two
mountains came together.
So I normally didn't have thatproblem, but just go ahead and
take the time to switch it toEnglish before you pull out of
the parking lot.
help out.
Carma (29:19):
How were the language barriers?
Like what did you do to be ableto communicate, with locals?
Katie (29:26):
I kind of fell back on my Californian Spanglish.
Um, people really do try to helpand they're, really nice.
A lot of the times you could useGoogle Translate if you needed
something special.
And I would ask people, do youhave wifi?
I just be like, T is wifi.
And then we could try to, youuse Google Translate?
And a lot of times that did goodenough in restaurants.
(29:46):
I'm not allergic to anything, soI can just point to number one
on the menu if I'm reallystumped.
And have'em just bring somethingout, you know surprise and just
go with it.
Carma (29:54):
Yeah.
Katie (29:56):
And speaking of food, that was one of the things that
took me a while to figure outhow I could do that best in
Costa Rica.
In aa, they have a Walmart, andyou can buy a lot of things
right there.
There's also a grocery store inSarchi on your way to Bajo del
Toro.
And then when you get to Bajo,still Toro, there's actually
three restaurants and then aconvenience store.
The one across from the soccerfield, we always did dinner
(30:17):
there.
And it has some American optionslike hamburgers and things like
that.
They also have a typicalrestaurant that has more of a
typical Tico kind of vibe, andyou'll get your rice and beans
and things there.
We would do that a lot of timesfor lunch.
The typical restaurant, becausethey close early, they're not
open late at night.
And then for breakfast, weusually went to this little
(30:40):
store that's like a conveniencestore in the front and a
restaurant in the back.
And they always served usbreakfast and they were so nice
and so sweet.
And I remember my Spanish wasreally struggling there and I
got out, Google translated andwe had a good time.
I asked them for something quickin the morning, just said and
they were trying to help mefigure out what would be fast.
And they're like I was like,yeah, eggs, that'll work.
(31:01):
Or how.
A breakfast burrito and theyjust looked at me like, Nope,
don't get that.
And so I put it in to GoogleTranslate and I, and I showed it
to them and both these cutelittle ladies started busting up
laughing.
And I was like, is this not athing?
And they're like, no, this is,and I like started searching
eggs and sausage and tortillaand she's like, we can make
(31:23):
that.
But that is not a South Americanthing.
That is completely American.
Carma (31:28):
Of course.
Katie (31:30):
They got a good laugh out of it and they're just
sweethearts.
Carma (31:32):
So like that is, that's not a thing here.
That doesn't exist.
Katie (31:35):
No, no, that is not.
If you're willing to go with theflow, then you can get by with
almost no Spanish and just tryto be friendly with people.
But, Google Translate does help.
There's other apps out therethat are better and translate
more accurately.
We did get stuck at one pointwhen we were trying to ask if we
could pay with cash or needed topay with a card, and we had a
(31:58):
hundred dollars bill that wewere like, oh yeah, we could pay
for this.
And then the lady was shakingher head no.
And she was trying to ask us areally difficult question she
was trying to ask us, I don'tknow how to give you your refund
or I don't know how to give youyour change.
And it was like five or 10bucks, like out of a hundred
dollars for staying at her placefor two nights.
(32:19):
It wasn't a big deal, at all tous, but she was trying to be you
know, honest with us.
and at the same time we're like,we'll just give you a tip
because if we have to pay withour cards, we'd have to like log
in online and figure out how todo something there.
And we were trying to ask thewifi and she didn't know the
word wifi.
A lot of people do, but Iprobably should have tried using
the word internet, but she was alittle bit older and so anyways,
(32:40):
that was the only time where itwas a hangup and we had to like,
go back to the car and get thewifi just to ask her what her
wifi password was.
But we got around it and you cando a lot with the internet and
pointing at screens.
That's what she held up ourreservation and went, you know,
is this you?
And we're like, yes, that's us.
Okay, that's our reservation.
And she's like, okay, go aheadand check in.
Here's the keys.
Carma (33:01):
Nice.
Katie (33:02):
Another thing that was really awesome is one of our
hotels actually gave us a scriptin Spanish and English to be
able to ask the taxi driver todrive us to their hotel.
And that was cool because theyalso paid the taxi driver for us
so they knew what the rateshould be to their hotel.
And you know, airport taxidrivers are probably the ones
(33:25):
that could be the most sketchysometimes.
And so they told us to go getinto one of the orange taxis.
That they would pay at the frontdesk, and so we hand them the
script and then I said it inSpanish and they knew where to
drive me.
They knew that they would getpaid at the front desk, and then
that was just included in thecost of my accommodations, so I
didn't have to worry aboutanything on that first run.
Carma (33:48):
That's really nice.
And was that the hotel youstayed at near the airport?
Katie (33:53):
Yeah, that was the hotel near the airport, and it's
called Hotel LaGuardia Inn insuites, and they have a cute
little picture of a pool ontheir bookings.com app.
So that was really cool of themand I really appreciated that.
They were great to work with andsuper accommodating.
They had a night person who wasavailable all night if I needed
something really nice.
Carma (34:13):
One you would definitely go back to again.
Katie (34:15):
Yeah.
And they're right outside of SanJose, so they're in a alla and
that area is a little bit morecalm compared to the capital
city, so that's nice to justkinda get a little bit away, but
they're actually really close tothe airport too.
Carma (34:28):
Oh, nice.
Katie (34:30):
That kind of covers all of your normal run of the mill
stuff for getting around CostaRica.
To kind of end us out here, Iwanna talk about some of the
unexpected things that couldcome up.
So I wanna talk medicalinsurance really quick.
I know a lot of people areconcerned about that and
probably should think about itwhen we're doing sports like
this.
Carma (34:49):
Yeah.
Katie (34:51):
It's a little bit tricky, the first place to start is to
see what your own insurance willcover outside of the country.
So if you already have somethingthat'll cover it.
I remember when I went to Peru Iwas in college and I got
diarrhea really bad and I gotdehydrated and I ended up in a
hospital getting some fluids andantibiotics.
And that ended up billingstraight to my insurance at
(35:11):
home.
It took like six months for themto send the bill, but I left
them my address and that allbilled right through my
insurance.
But every country is different,and every insurance carrier is
different.
So call your healthcare providerand see what they will cover.
To start with This last time Iwent, I also talked to my
medical provider before I leftand my primary care physician
actually hooked me up with someantibiotics and some
(35:33):
prescription strength Imodiumjust to send me out the door so
that I would have something thatwas right for me in my bag that
was already prescribed to me.
So that was really nice of herto do that.
And a lot of, physicians will dothat for you when you are going
inter.
Then I actually found that I canadd travel insurance and I was
able to do that on my first tripstraight through Delta.
(35:53):
And it was like$50 for myhusband and I to get$50,000 in
insurance.
And it also covered things like$300 if your trip gets delayed
or things like that.
And there were a lot of thingsthere.
It was really cheap insuranceand covered a lot of stuff.
So you could do it through yourairline or there's also
international insurances thatyou can have for the whole year,
(36:16):
like a policy that covers anycountry.
And those are really cool.
If you travel a lot, you mightconsider just getting that
because I looked at things likethe garment inReach and I was
like, oh, I'll get thathelicopter insurance.
That's awesome.
And then I was talking to Johannand he's like, well, when I do
expeditions and I'm opening upNew Canyons, The best and
closest helicopter to actuallycome, help out is in Mexico, and
(36:40):
that's a ways away.
And so some of those things,while it'll cover it, it doesn't
mean there's anyone who'scoming.
So I also like to look up wherethe local hospitals are that, I
might end up going to and justkind of getting an idea of their
schedules.
The smaller clinics will closefor holidays, like Eastern,
things like that, and then thelarger hospitals will be open.
(37:03):
So I, I like to know where thoseare.
Carma (37:05):
Yeah.
Good to know.
Do you ever take, with you likeany over-the-counter stuff
specifically for traveling?
Katie (37:12):
so I do, and right along with that, we also turn on the
air conditioner.
We are in a tropical zone andsome of the advice that I got
from some of the locals is toturn on the air conditioner
because it keeps the bugs down.
Mosquitoes can't fly when theirwings are too cold.
And that's actually one of themain things people do is they
turn on the air conditionerbecause a lot of the windows
don't have screens on them.
(37:32):
Some bugs just get in.
And so instead of trying tofight the bugs down, they just
cool down the temperatures.
I like to have my own first aidkit that has my own personal,
like antihistamines.
I use Benadryl, but my husband.
Josh doesn't like Benadryl asmuch, so I like to have an
antihistamine in there thatworks for him.
I like to have some regularImodium, some Tums, and just
(37:54):
some of those things that yougenerally use because it's
really difficult to try to.
To Find it in a foreign country,they might have it, but you
might not know what it says orwhich one is which, or the
dosage might not make sense toyou.
So it's just nice to have someof those that you already know
what it is and you've got itwith you already.
Carma (38:12):
Yeah.
And the reason why I asked thatquestion specifically is cuz we
ran into that in New Zealand.
Jared got stung by a bee and gotswollen like crazy and we went
to go find some Benadryl, but.
In New Zealand, it turns outBenadryl, they don't use for
like allergy stuff.
They only use it as a sleep aid.
And so the only reason we wereable to find it even is because
(38:35):
I'm a nurse, so I know thegeneric names for a lot of
common medications.
And so I was able to ask thepharmacist for the generic name
because all of the brand namesare different in New Zealand.
And he was like, oh, we don'tuse it for that, but we use it
as a sleep aid and you can getit over the counter if you're
over a certain age or whatever.
And um, so we got it, but thenJared took it and it was double
(38:59):
the strength of what you wouldnormally find in the us And
Katie (39:01):
Oh,
Carma (39:03):
the pharmacist had warned us like, if you take this, you
shouldn't drive.
And so Jared had to take it cuzhis shoulder was getting all
swollen
Katie (39:10):
Oh
Carma (39:11):
then I had to drive for like eight hours that day all
the way across the island.
So, I just wanna double down onwhat you said, Katie, like bring
your own common stuff becauseyou might not be able to find
it.
Or if you do in another country,it's gonna be different.
Katie (39:27):
Right.
And there's no problem bringingyour prescription and your
carry-on or checked bags.
That's all good to go.
If you're bringing massivequantities, they're gonna
question and yeah, I dunno ifyou have a prescription for
cannabis or something, check andmake sure the country's cool
with that.
But otherwise, most of yourprescriptions are gonna be able
to come through, just.
Carma (39:45):
You've given us a ton to think about, to help us get to
those amazing canyons in CostaRica.
Do you have any last advice thatyou wanna.
Katie (39:55):
Label your crap.
Carma (39:56):
What?
Katie (39:58):
I did not think this would be a problem.
you know, all my gears labeled,all my carabiners, all my stuff
has got my purple and yellowmarks on it and everything, but
I had not considered that onemight want to label their shoes.
Carma (40:11):
Oh.
Katie (40:12):
All right?
So I don't know why, but I swearthat all of my canyon airing
friends.
All the women wear a size sevenand a half.
And apparently so did somebodyelse who joined our group when
two groups got put together witha guide.
And I remember I came out of oneof the canyons and it was
actually the last day that wewere all gonna be together and
(40:34):
we're all sitting there eatinglunch and we'd all been putting
our gear away and everybody hadkind of been helping everyone
put their gear away.
My husband put some of my stuffin, and her husband put some of
her stuff in and I remember Iwas sitting there and I saw this
pair of boots that was likegetting rained on out in the
dirt.
And I was like, who left theirshoes over there?
then Josh is like, well, whereare your shoes?
(40:54):
And I was like, those aren't myshoes.
He is like, well, maybe youshould go check.
And I, I was like, well, theseare the same size, but these are
not my shoes.
And we're like, oh crap.
She left her shoes.
And took my shoes
Carma (41:10):
Oh.
Katie (41:11):
and while they were the same size, they were not the
ones that I broke in and I didnot spend the rest of my trip in
somebody else's shoes.
but logistically it gets hardcuz you can't just call someone
on their cell phone and have'empick up anymore.
Their car didn't have in-carwifi, so I had to keep trying to
call and they were going acrossthe country to another spot and
(41:33):
it was just like so hard.
It ended up being that she leftmy shoes at like a gas station
restaurant place.
And then I ended up leaving hershoes at a hotel for her to pick
up.
And it just became this bigkerfuffle and it's hard because
you don't have extra room inyour luggage to like just bring
'em back to the US for her.
And it just kind of turned intothis whole thing where never
(41:54):
considered.
You know, you don't normallyhave other people wearing
Bestard's or Adidas, you know,you're like, they're so unique.
But then in the Canyoncommunity, they're not unique.
Carma (42:03):
Yeah.
Katie (42:04):
So that was kind of ridiculous.
But I, now have my name on myshoes.
Carma (42:11):
Good to know.
Katie (42:13):
Totally random.
But you know, the things youlearn from experience and I
think that could happen again,if I go to like a rendezvous,
you think your shoes are uniqueamong your group, or you think
some of your gear is superunique, but then you get with a
whole lot of people who are usedto doing canyons and a lot of
the gear repeats.
Carma (42:28):
Thanks Katie.
That's a good tip.
Katie (42:32):
Oh man.
So to summarize the episode,basically pick out your canyons,
get a guide if you want to getyour passport in order and print
all your hard copies.
And then Get a car with fourwheel drive and wifi, and it's a
great country.
You can really get around prettyeasily down there.
Carma (42:49):
I can't wait.
Katie (42:51):
Let's go.
Carma (42:58):
If you're totally hooked on canyoneering like us,
remember to subscribe, so youdon't miss any episodes and you
can also reach out to us onFacebook.
with questions, comments, topicsyou wanna talk about, or just to
say, Hey, cuz We would love tohear from you.
Thanks for dropping in with usand we'll catch you on the wrap
(43:18):
side.
Hey everyone.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Katie
Carma (00:10):
and I'm Carma and you're listening to, I'd rather be
canyoneering.
Katie (00:14):
We're best friends who totally geek out about canyon
rigging and beautifully slotcanyons.
Basically we'd always rather becanyoneering.
But when we can't, we spendevery spare minute, we have
talking about it.
Carma (00:26):
This podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
Please seek professionalinstruction and practice
technical skills in a controlledenvironment before entering slot
canyons.
Your safety is entirely your ownresponsibility.
Katie (00:41):
Welcome to our canyon crew!
Carma (00:45):
Welcome back to the podcast everyone.
I cannot stop thinking aboutCosta Rica.
Katie shared.
Her highlights album with me onGoogle Photos, and I just got
lost looking at pictures andvideos.
I really wanna get myself toCosta Rica and I want to help
(01:06):
you all to go to Costa Rica aswell.
So today I'm going to bedrilling Katie about the nitty
gritty of how to plan a trip toCosta Rica.
Katie (01:16):
And I am willing to give you all the details and all the
tips that I've picked up from mylast two trips and how to make
it run super smooth and have agreat time.
Carma (01:24):
Sweet.
So how did you even go aboutfinding canyons in Costa Rica?
How did you even get, pulledthere?
Of all the places in the globe,
Katie (01:33):
Well, I've always been interested in the rainforest.
As a little girl, I thought I'dgrow up and build a tree house
and live in the rainforest.
That was my big plan to be withthe monkeys and the two cans.
So that place has always had adraw for me.
And then add on top of that, Ifound out there was canyoneering
there, and it was just a, thisis gonna be my place kind of.
So I got interested and then Ijoined Facebook groups, so I
(01:57):
found like canyoneering in CostaRica type of groups and started
just kinda looking at thepictures to see if it's what I
thought it was.
And as I looked through thosepictures, I was like, yeah, this
is exactly what I'm looking for.
And started to dial in some ofthe canyons that I wanted to go
see.
As I'm looking at pictures thatare tagged and starting to get
an idea of the canyons that I'mreally think are beautiful, what
(02:18):
areas are they in?
Are there any that are clusteredtogether?
do I wanna be in the north orthe south?
And kind of got a feel for.
Carma (02:23):
So then you knew you wanted to go, you kind of had an
idea of what canyons you wantedto hit.
How did you choose when to go?
Katie (02:32):
I chose my canyons first, and then I started talking to
people on those Facebook pagesand seeing if anyone had
recommendations for guides Andthen I got hooked up with a
guide and I went down both timeswith, Johann and really enjoyed
that.
I didn't know anything about himto start with.
And so I actually asked him tosend me some pictures of his
anchors to see if we were on thesame page about how we rig and
(02:54):
we start talking throughWhatsApp.
WhatsApp is kind of like GoogleMessenger, type of thing, and
it's just what everybody inSouth America uses for free
texting.
So you wanna download that andyou'll want to contact people.
Carma (03:06):
so you found him on.
Katie (03:09):
I did.
And then we started talking andhe sent me some pictures of some
anchors and what things looklike down there.
I also found when you do getdown there, you wanna be really
specific with your guide aboutwhat your expectations are, or
what you're hoping for and whatyou'd like.
Because they go with a lot ofpeople and some people.
Don't know how to whistle up toshorten rope or lengthen rope.
And so maybe they don't do thatwith every single client cuz
(03:30):
it's more confusing and youmight end getting the rope too
short.
So just talking about whatskills you have and getting your
communication online and whatyou're wanting and I feel like
when I'm getting a guide in aforeign country, I am mostly
looking for someone who isfamiliar with the canyons.
I really like jumping, I toldyou all about that.
(03:50):
important to me to have a guidewho'd bend down the canyon a lot
of times and knew where thehazards were so that I could
jump.
And then Also, weather is trickywhen you don't know the weather
patterns.
I know the Wasatch weatherpatterns really well.
I know what desert looks likewhen it's rain and when it's
probably gonna flood.
I know that by sight.
But I Don't know those patternsaround these mountains in Costa
(04:12):
Rica.
And they know the catch basins.
They know what the clouds looklike, they know what it looks
like when it's gonna dump.
And that was something that wasreally important to me as
someone who could interpret theweather.
And I felt like I canaccommodate rigging and say, oh,
let's switch this and use thisanchor, or let's do this with
anybody.
But what I really wanted wasknowledge of the canyons and
knowledge of the weatherpatterns.
Carma (04:30):
Yeah
Katie (04:31):
When I'm checking the weather, I also learned to use
the windy app, and I really likethat one.
I pay for the premiumsubscription and then I'm able
to check weather and winds andhow fast things are moving, and
that app works really well inSouth America.
Carma (04:43):
Sweet.
Katie (04:45):
So then once I started talking to a guide, we kind of
got the areas and the canyonsthat were the ones I really
wanted.
Then we picked the dates thatwere best for those canyons and
he let me know what would be thebest time with the best chances
of getting to go down thembecause even though it's the dry
season, it's still gonna rain50% of the time.
So we are trying to choose thebest window there.
And then also when the guide'savailable to take off from their
(05:07):
regular job and come and doguiding cuz I mean, it's
seasonal.
They only have two months ofguiding and they probably have
something else
Carma (05:13):
right?
So did you have any trouble likegetting a passport or booking
your flights?
Katie (05:20):
My next step after I've picked the season is that I book
those flights and I use flightsfrom home.
It's something in Utah and it'skind of spreading.
To get me some cheap flights, Iended up with$250 roundtrip
flights, was awesome.
And that's why I got to go twicecuz my husband is amazing and,
he, subscribes to the citiesthat we want to go to and then
(05:41):
whenever that pops up for theright dates, we can nail it
down, and, get those flights.
And that's usually six monthsahead of time, sometimes almost
a year ahead of.
If you wanna get a good dealit's not usually any sooner than
that, but kind of in thosewindows that they can pop up.
I make sure I have a passportthat's gonna be valid for the
right dates as well.
Carma (05:59):
Yeah, you don't wanna be scrambling right before your
trip
Katie (06:02):
Yeah.
And as you're having thisconversation and getting those
dates down, that's kind of acircular conversation with
whoever you're going withbecause you're picking the dates
and you're picking your flights.
And then you need to let yourguide know how many canyon days
you want and be flexible cuz youmight need to take a break in
between for.
And have some backup plans.
(06:22):
I'd mentioned this in the otherpodcast, but having some backup
plans for going to, nationalParks to biological reserves,
any things that you might wannado surfing on a rainy day.
Just different things that youmight do if you need to take a
break in the middle of thecanyons.
Carma (06:38):
How did you go about booking your overnight
accommodations in the country?
What's the best way to do that?
Katie (06:44):
So There actually are a lot of accommodations in Costa
Rica that you can choose from.
I didn't think there would be,but I looked up on bookings.com
and Airbnb and I found somereally great places to stay in
Bahost del Toro and around theairport and all these different
places.
So my best experiences have beenwith bookings.com and the app,
and if you book in the app, youget a little discount and that's
(07:06):
nice.
Airbnb, there's some cool placesto stay, but I have had trouble
with that in the past.
They have.
A background check that's kindof sloppy.
And one week before my trip, Ihad booked Airbnb like six
months before we left, and oneweek before the trip they did a
background check on my husbandand he just has a common name
(07:28):
and somebody in a completelydifferent state, nothing to do
with us, had a felony or likeeight felonies.
And they just, they sent us anotification that something was
going on and they're like, sendus your social security number
and your driver's license andall this stuff.
And I thought it was a hoax.
And they're like, can you have24 hours to submit all of this
(07:49):
or you lose your accommodations?
And I was doing research to tryto figure out what is this what
and
Carma (07:54):
it even real?
Katie (07:55):
right who's asking for my social?
I'm not doing that.
And they just canceled ouraccom.
Carma (08:02):
Uh,
Katie (08:02):
And someone booked right in the middle of ours while I
was figuring it out.
Honestly, what I probably shouldhave done was book it in my name
instead of my husband's, likeimmediately might've helped out
there, but it was just sofrustrating.
But I have really likedbookings.com and I haven't had
any trouble with that.
And I was able to find a lot ofplaces that were really good I
prefer to fly in in theafternoon when everybody in the
(08:25):
city is of awake and happy andit's not rush hour in the
morning and it's also notgetting to the evening.
There are less people on thestreets.
I kinda like the safety of agroup.
so I do that when I can.
Sometimes you can't, sometimesyou can't.
But also everything's open.
So like I'll fly in and,, myrental car place will be open
and all that stuff.
If I'm able to come in theafternoon, then I'll usually
drive out to my first place andget out of the city and pick a
(08:48):
place out there.
In fact, I wouldn't stay in SanJose very long because it's hard
to drive around there too.
The roads are really narrow.
It was made for people and notcars.
And so when I first get there, Idon't wanna hang out there.
Get used to the driving in thecountry first and then come
back, is my suggestion.
If I have to fly in, in theevening or night, then I'll
usually pick my firstaccommodation to be somewhere
(09:09):
close by and I'll pick anaccommodation with a shuttle.
If I have to get in late or if Ihave to leave first thing in the
morning, then I really like tohave, an accommodation with
airport shuttle so I can justblurry eyes as I am, get on the
shuttle and go to the rightplace.
Carma (09:25):
What amenities do you look for in a place that you're
gonna stay overnight?
Katie (09:29):
First thing is wifi because then you can get your
weather reports and you can getGoogle Translate.
WiFi's number one then.
Over in the places where I'mgonna do my canyons.
I like there to be a big openroom somewhere or a patio space
where I can dry my gear.
And that's really the secondthing that I'm looking for.
and then other than that,parking is kind of a thing in
(09:52):
Costa Rica.
So, especially like the bigtowns, you wanna make sure that
there's a parking spotavailable.
There's not street parking inthose towns.
There's very skinny streets andthere's really not street
parking.
So that's why I like to take acab or an airport shuttle to the
first accommodation, so I don'thave to worry about that and
then go from there if I'mstaying overnight in the city.
Carma (10:12):
Yeah.
Katie (10:12):
But if I'm just picking up the rental car at noon and
I'm driving out, then, I'mhappy.
And the parking will be a lotmore available and a lot of'em
have gated parking so that theyclose a giant gate and you're in
like a little bit of a, littleranch area and that's nice.
Carma (10:29):
Yeah.
Nice Versa, security and toensure that nobody's gonna take
your spot or whatever.
Katie (10:35):
Yeah.
Mostly for security.
it's a little mini fortress.
It's kind of fun.
Carma (10:39):
Yeah.
When you're getting ready toactually get on the plane and
you're gonna be in the countrysoon, how do you keep track of,
all your reservations and do youjust have it all electronically
on your phone or what do you doto make sure that it's gonna run
smoothly when you get to a newcountry?
Katie (10:58):
I have a lot of stuff on my phone, and the apps are
great, but I also know that Icould lose my phone or I could
drop it, or I could smash it, orI don't know.
We got locked out of an iPad onetime that we were using because
like, the button got pushed somany times in our luggage that
locked us out and you had to logback in on a computer to recover
(11:18):
that.
So I bring hard copies.
I'm old school.
I go to the store and get one ofthose little folders with the
little three hole punch tab,things that you can stick
through.
And I print everything out.
I print out my itinerary withall my flight plans and
confirmation, so I have thosetickets and I can scan'em if I
need to.
I print out any travel insurancethat I got.
I print out my rental carbooking, I print out my rental
(11:41):
car collision damage waiver thatI get from my credit card, and
that's something that allows youto not have to pay for the extra
insurance in the country.
I've been running the last twotimes with budget and my Visa
travel card, one of the benefitsis it'll cover rental car
insurance in foreign countries.
I just need to print this.
And so I just call they'reconcierge and they email me a
(12:02):
copy of it in English andSpanish, so I haven't had to pay
for that when I go down there.
Carma (12:06):
That's nice because yeah.
Push you to get that extracoverage and if you can't prove
that you have it, they mayrequire you to pay for it.
Katie (12:14):
Exactly.
You have to be able to provethat you have it.
And then I print out all of myhotel confirmations, and if I am
doing any guided services thathave a booking website, then
I'll print those too.
Carma (12:24):
We did the same thing when we went to New Zealand.
like I had all the confirmationsin my email.
I also put everything into aGoogle Doc that I could log into
any computer and pull from itand then we had hard copies of
everything.
Cuz I didn't wanna end up on theother side of the world with no
way to get the stuff that Ialready paid for.
Katie (12:44):
Right.
And sometimes you just need'emright away.
And it's easier to flip throughsomething.
Like some countries, when youget in, they want to know at the
airport where your first hotelis.
That's very common to ask for,for like, illness tracing.
Or also some of the socializedmedicine countries, they wanna
know that you're not just comingto be a vagrant and so they
wanna know that you have a hotelon the files.
(13:05):
So that's just nice to have it.
Carma (13:07):
When you're going through customs
Katie (13:09):
Yeah, exactly.
And you're trying to Carry allyour bags and you're trying to
get your phone out and you'retrying to manage everything.
Carma (13:15):
you're scared because the people look really serious,
Katie (13:18):
They look really serious, even though they're really
nice., I swear, Costa Rica hasthe nicest customs people
though.
They were super friendly even atmidnight,
Carma (13:25):
It's not like coming from Canada back into the US and
you're swear I'm a citizen.
Katie (13:30):
Yeah.
Super cereal.
Carma (13:32):
How do you get all of your canyoneering gear on the
plane?
How do you fit it all?
That's a ton of gear on top ofwhat you would already bring for
a trip to a foreign country.
Katie (13:44):
Right.
We packed kind of minimally andif you're going with somebody it
kinda makes it easier.
My husband and I usually packtogether and we'll do one
checked bag that has ourwetsuits and our rescue knife in
there.
Be really cognizant of whereyour knife is obviously And then
we'll try to keep all of ouressential gear, Like our
harnesses and at least a repeldevice and our helmets in our
(14:06):
carry-on so that we're nottotally screwed if a bag gets
lost.
Carma (14:10):
So all your essential gear.
What about your boots?
Did you wear your bestard's onthe plane?
Katie (14:17):
Okay.
I wish I was cool enough to wearmy boots on the plane, but I'm
not.
And they take a, a ton of roomin your bag too.
So I usually compromise bypacking my boots in my checked
bag.
But I wear approach shoes on theplane, so I'm not totally
screwed if they got lost.
we were actually canyoning and,a a group got combined with ours
(14:39):
and their check bag did get lostand they were without canyon
boots for a couple of days andthat sucks.
Carma (14:45):
Oh yeah.
Katie (14:46):
And then they're like, do you have to drive all the way
back to the airport to get'emwhen your luggage actually does
show up?
wastes travel days.
It actually turned out that theairport took care of'em and
actually sent their boots twohours away and dropped'em off
for them.
So that was really cool, but atleast if you can wear a pair of
approached shoes on the plane,that, kind of covers your butt a
little bit.
Carma (15:07):
What about the rope?
Did you have to provide yourown, or did your guide provide
the ropes
Katie (15:12):
you know, that's a tricky one because it does take up room
in your pack and it's a lot ofroom if you're doing a lot of
canyons.
And so that really is a personalchoice.
My preference is to bring my ownrope whenever I can, cuz I know
that rope backwards and forwardsand I know how my devices work
on it.
Carma (15:27):
Thinking.
Back to all of your picturesthat I've seen, it looked like
every single one of the canyonsyou did was very wet.
It was very splashy.
So how do you get all of yourwet gear home at the end of the
day?
Katie (15:39):
First off, I absolutely recommend be a small tarp or
tent footprint or a piece ofplastic to put into your rental
car so that when you're puttingwet gear in the back, you don't
later get charged a cleaning feefor all the mud that you left
behind.
Carma (15:55):
Yeah.
Katie (15:56):
And that's why I kind of sacrificed my checked bag as my
dirty bag.
Carma (16:01):
Okay.
Katie (16:01):
and what I do is I do try to plan the last day or two as a
rest day, go visit a park kindof day so that gear can be
drying out.
And I do give it a chance to,but I also do bring a couple of
trash bags with me, and Irecognize that my bag will be
heavier on the way back.
Now, even with all my canyongear in there, I was still not
(16:23):
over my 50 pound limit, so it'snot crazy heavy, but I do try to
let'em dry out and I do bringbags for boots that might be
muddy and for things like thatjust to, help keep things clean.
I also found a new trick thistime around because my canyon
bag has holes in it and I wantedto pack my clothing in there,
(16:44):
not with the muddy boots.
I actually found these laundrybags at Walmart and I actually
packed my clean clothes in thoseinside of my canyon bag so that
my underwear and bras is notlike getting tarmac on it and
airport grossness in it.
But I had just this little thincanvassy bag that protected my
(17:04):
actual clothes in that bag.
That was nice.
Carma (17:07):
Gotcha.
Katie (17:08):
It also made a great laundry bag for while we were
spending our week there.
Carma (17:11):
Right.
Well, we're talking aboutlaundry and what clothes to
bring.
Were you able to do any laundry?
Did you have to bring enoughclothes for every single day?
How did that work out?
Katie (17:22):
yeah, There are not a lot of places to do laundry and
there are some people locallywho could help you wash it, but
most people hang dry theirstuff, so people don't own a lot
of dryers.
So I would recommend bringing achange of clothes, and
especially like underwear andsports bra is usually what I put
underneath my wetsuit.
And it takes like three days fora sports bra to dry out.
So I would just recommendbringing one for each of the
(17:44):
canyon days so you don't have toput on a wet one and have it
chafing or bugging you oranything like that.
Guys, probably same thing,whatever under clothes you're
wearing under your wetsuit, justbring a fresh pair for each of
your canyon days.
It also surprised me in themountainous areas that I wanted,
like a fleece.
It's chilly there.
It's not sandals weather.
So I liked bringing a pair ofdry shoes that I could wear in
(18:07):
the evening and a few pairs ofpants, and a couple.
Of fleeces.
Now I like, being able to changemy clothes and I found that I
was wearing a fleece everynight.
Once you're done with all thepacking, it's time to actually
get on the plane and go to CostaRica, and I just wanted to share
with the listeners and with youkarma about what that looks like
as you're landing and what youkind of need to know as the
sequence, for getting goingafter the first day.
(18:30):
Everything calms a lot down, butthat first day and you're
landing and you're blurry eyeand trying to figure things out,
I just kinda wanna give you anidea of what that looks like so
it can move smoothly for you.
When you land in Costa Rica, weflew into San Jose and the first
thing you do is you get off theplane and you're coming into
this luggage carousel area andthere are money exchangers there
(18:50):
and they speak English.
So that was really nice.
And the first time I went Ithought I would get my local
currency at a bank and thatturned out to be a pain in the
butt because we got in at 6:00AM and I was hoping to just get
it at the money changer place,but they don't open until a
little bit later.
So that really early flightmeant I had to go get money at a
(19:10):
bank and I had to wait for thebank to open then cuz they
didn't open until 10.
And then I did all this work togo through the bank process and
in the end they had me gooutside and get money from the a
t m and there was like this guystanding behind me, like
practically looking over myshoulder and I was around the
corner from, where my husbandhad parked and I just didn't
love that.
(19:30):
So if you can't get money at theexchangers, that's better.
I like to get a little bit oflocal currency.
But people really do take a lotof us money.
And so the second time I went, Ijust got like I think 50 bucks
total, in Costa Rican colons.
And I, I really didn't mess withthat much.
I didn't worry about it verymuch.
Carma (19:52):
What did you need the local currency for?
If most of the places will takeUS dollars
Katie (19:57):
It's nice to have colon colonies when you get farther
out of the city and there'smaybe less English and people
are trying to put stuff intocalculators and figure out what
you want.
Sometimes it's just nice to beable to pay for Gatorades or
trinkets or things like thatjust in the local currency.
Then There are also some tollroads that go out to like Bahost
del Toro and I totally recommenddriving on the toll roads.
They're totally worth it andthey're really not that
expensive.
(20:18):
I don't even think we spent 20bucks the entire week on the
toll roads.
they will take us dollars it'snice if you could just hand them
the colons because then youdon't have to worry about if
someone was not giving you theexchange rate.
But I never had a problem withit.
Carma (20:32):
All right.
So a lot of places will take, USdollars.
Can you just get around withjust a credit card or do you
really need to have cash money?
Katie (20:42):
I was actually really surprised by this.
A lot of places they won't takea card, even hotels, and part of
it is because there's a high taxon that.
There's a 13% tourist tax onmost things, and if you pay in
cash, then you don't have topay.
And if you pay with a card, youdo.
And then some people don't evenwanna pay the merchant fees for
(21:04):
what costs them to run yourcard.
You actually need to bring cashdollars or cash colones to pay
for your accommodations and Ijust verified on bookings.com
with each of the owners.
A lot of times they'll have itin the fine print that they only
take cash or I will just verifywith them if they will take a
card.
(21:24):
Sometimes I'm willing to paythat 13% to support recreation
and tourism and things and tonot have that much cash in my
pocket.
Carma (21:31):
you don't wanna take the chance that a big chunk of cash
could get lost somewhere orstolen on the trip.
Katie (21:37):
exactly.
Carma (21:38):
Generally, did you feel safe in Costa Rica?
Were you worried about yourstuff getting stolen or anything
like that?
Katie (21:44):
In general, this is one of the safest countries I've
ever been to, and right in themain city, it's like any big
city like Salt Lake, SanFrancisco, New York, where it's,
a big city, but as soon as youget out everyone just seemed
friendly.
I do choose to keep my walletthat I use day to day separate
from all of my funds.
And so usually I'll keep thatsomewhere else at a hotel or
(22:06):
whatnot, and I'll carry adaytime wallet and that'll only
have like$20 in it.
And I'll put in like an oldlicense or something like that,
and one credit card.
And that way if that credit cardinformation were to get taken
somehow, or if maybe I was gonnaget robbed, that I could give
someone that wallet.
And I'm not giving awayeverything I have, but they got
what they were after.
(22:26):
And my idea is that I would justchuck that wallet and I would
run the other way and we wouldnot have any more confrontation.
And that's kind of how I dothat.
And one of the reasons Imentioned I do bring at least
two cards with me is because inCosta Rica, it's one of those
places where someone fills upyour gas for you and so you have
to hand your credit card away oryour debit card and so there is
a time when you don't havecontrol of your card and you
(22:48):
can't see if somebody is copyingthe numbers or anything like
that.
Or there's some of thosemachines that are like card
readers and they can reallyquickly read the information.
So I just kind of keep track ofthe one card that I'm kind of
handing out, and then I haveanother card in my wallet if I
need to turn off the hand it outcard.
If it starts pinging stuff thatI didn't purchase, then I'm able
(23:08):
to turn that one off and use adifferent one.
Carma (23:11):
So you're not left stranded with one card that you
have to turn off and nothingelse.
Katie (23:16):
Exactly.
Mm.
Carma (23:18):
You mentioned in the first episode that we talked
about Costa Rica, that you getaround Costa Rica in a rental
car.
Can you tell us more about howyou went about doing that and
what worked, what didn't work?
Katie (23:31):
Certainly.
In Costa Rica, the rental carfacility is quote unquote at the
airport, but you actually haveto take a shuttle like a mile
away to get to it.
So one thing that's reallyimportant is that if you are
getting in late, you need tomake sure that the shuttle
service is still running whenyou land.
On my first trip not a problem.
(23:51):
They were open at 6:00 AM andthat was great.
The second time I flew in and Igot in at like 1145 and most of
the shuttle places closed at 11.
That's why I used a shuttleservice from the hotel to take
me to the hotel.
And I came back in the morningand picked up my rental car.
and That's why I chose budgetbecause they were one of the
(24:12):
ones that is open at 6:00 AM.
And again, that's one of thereasons that I also like to do a
hotel nearby with a shuttle.
Because what I did is I droppedoff my rental car the evening
before and then I took theshuttle to the airport from the
hotel so that I didn't have toworry about returning my car
while I'm also trying to make aninternational flight.
Carma (24:32):
yeah.
You don't wanna do that.
Katie (24:34):
It, it's just too many things on top of each other.
that just makes it really smoothfor me.
I chose budget because of theirhours and I've used them before
and I reserved it and paid forit on a travel credit card.
So I have a Visa signature cardthat has travel benefits it has
to be booked in my name.
(24:56):
With that card and then paid forwith that card.
But if I do those things, thenit comes with certain car
insurances and travel benefitsand roadside assistance and
things like that.
So I did that and I called Visatheir concierge, and I also got
the rental collision damagewaiver benefit sheet.
I know that's a lot of words,it's the, it's the auto rental
(25:19):
collision damage waiver sheet.
And they emailed that to me inEnglish and Spanish.
And then I was able to just showthat to budget to show that I
already had the insurancecoverage and I didn't have to
pay for it twice.
Carma (25:31):
we also had to do that in New Zealand where we had to show
a copy of what our credit cardactually covered before they
would allow us to waive theadditional insurance.
Katie (25:42):
Exactly.
It's the same way in Costa Rica.
I also went back to budgetbecause they had a lot of really
good English speakers and Ialready knew that.
And I knew that I could justtalk in English at the rental
car facility and that was nice.
I rented a four-wheel drive andI was very specific about that
because I knew I was going outto the canyon areas.
And there are some really steephills out in Bahost del Toro,
(26:03):
and I mean really steep gradelike you've never seen in the
United States.
So it's nice.
There's only a couple of spotswhere that happens.
But it was really nice and itwas nice to have an automatic,
because I've seen three cars nowget stuck trying to shift while
going up those hills, and Ididn't wanna mess around with
that.
just easier not to.
oh gosh, one of the best thingsI did, And this is like, my top
(26:26):
advice for anyone going to CostaRica is get the in-car wifi.
And what they basically do isgive you a cell phone with a
hotspot, but it has the localcell towers.
So the two main ones are c Claroand Movie Star.
And someone was trying toexplain it to me.
I think I've got this right,that Co Claro is the government
one.
And so it covers some areaswhere maybe the commercial ones
(26:48):
haven't bothered to put celltowers, so it had more coverage.
And that's what we used over inlike Bajo Deltoro.
Last time I went, I bought achip, one of the movie Star
chips and put it in my phone.
But the new iPhones don't allowyou to do that.
So depending on what your phonecan and can't,
Carma (27:04):
Right.
Katie (27:05):
I got the in-car wifi, it was like 50 bucks and it was
great for navigation and I couldbe looking up beta if I needed
it.
I could be checking weatherreally, really handy.
I could even be using GoogleTranslate at a hotel if I
stopped and translated it by thecar and then walked in.
So really helpful.
The only thing to pay attentionto is lag times and go ahead and
(27:26):
change the language, on, your,maps product before you start
driving.
So I'm just gonna
Carma (27:34):
Katie?
Why?
Katie (27:36):
once you start driving, even if you think you're pretty
good with your left and rightsin Spanish, you might miss a
turn.
We used Waze, which is reallyhelpful.
Google Maps does okay downthere, but Waze is really what
everyone actually updates downthere to let you know that a
bridge is out.
The first time we down there, wewere using Google Maps and we
drove out this one direction andthere was no bridge.
(27:57):
And the lady like came out ofher house.
She's like, that's being downfor single Onos.
And I'm like, oh geez.
That's, it's been down foryears, right?
anyway, ways is just updatedmore often.
That's helpful, but there mightbe a little bit of lag time.
And that happened to us while wewere out at a canyon over at
Paris Mania and we were headedback.
it was a two hour drive back toour accommodations and, we
(28:19):
missed a turn, but I didn'tnotice it cause it wasn't saying
it in English and it didn't looklike we missed a turn, cuz my
route still said go straight forlike five miles.
And that's what the instructionssaid when I looked down and
looked at it and read it.
Well, it said go five miles foryour first opportunity to make a
U-turn.
Carma (28:38):
Uh,
Katie (28:40):
And I could have made a U-turn a long time before that,
but not according to the maps.
So I didn't notice that I'dmissed the turn.
And had I been listening to theEnglish version of it, it
would've said Go five miles andmake a U-turn.
And I would've heard that andrealized that I missed my turn
faster just looking at thelittle image I needed to back up
to realize that it was tellingme to go straight and turn
(29:02):
around.
Carma (29:03):
Right.
Katie (29:05):
Normally that wasn't an issue.
It was just you're in a reallytight section of where two
mountains came together.
So I normally didn't have thatproblem, but just go ahead and
take the time to switch it toEnglish before you pull out of
the parking lot.
help out.
Carma (29:19):
How were the language barriers?
Like what did you do to be ableto communicate, with locals?
Katie (29:26):
I kind of fell back on my Californian Spanglish.
Um, people really do try to helpand they're, really nice.
A lot of the times you could useGoogle Translate if you needed
something special.
And I would ask people, do youhave wifi?
I just be like, T is wifi.
And then we could try to, youuse Google Translate?
And a lot of times that did goodenough in restaurants.
(29:46):
I'm not allergic to anything, soI can just point to number one
on the menu if I'm reallystumped.
And have'em just bring somethingout, you know surprise and just
go with it.
Carma (29:54):
Yeah.
Katie (29:56):
And speaking of food, that was one of the things that
took me a while to figure outhow I could do that best in
Costa Rica.
In aa, they have a Walmart, andyou can buy a lot of things
right there.
There's also a grocery store inSarchi on your way to Bajo del
Toro.
And then when you get to Bajo,still Toro, there's actually
three restaurants and then aconvenience store.
The one across from the soccerfield, we always did dinner
(30:17):
there.
And it has some American optionslike hamburgers and things like
that.
They also have a typicalrestaurant that has more of a
typical Tico kind of vibe, andyou'll get your rice and beans
and things there.
We would do that a lot of timesfor lunch.
The typical restaurant, becausethey close early, they're not
open late at night.
And then for breakfast, weusually went to this little
(30:40):
store that's like a conveniencestore in the front and a
restaurant in the back.
And they always served usbreakfast and they were so nice
and so sweet.
And I remember my Spanish wasreally struggling there and I
got out, Google translated andwe had a good time.
I asked them for something quickin the morning, just said and
they were trying to help mefigure out what would be fast.
And they're like I was like,yeah, eggs, that'll work.
(31:01):
Or how.
A breakfast burrito and theyjust looked at me like, Nope,
don't get that.
And so I put it in to GoogleTranslate and I, and I showed it
to them and both these cutelittle ladies started busting up
laughing.
And I was like, is this not athing?
And they're like, no, this is,and I like started searching
eggs and sausage and tortillaand she's like, we can make
(31:23):
that.
But that is not a South Americanthing.
That is completely American.
Carma (31:28):
Of course.
Katie (31:30):
They got a good laugh out of it and they're just
sweethearts.
Carma (31:32):
So like that is, that's not a thing here.
That doesn't exist.
Katie (31:35):
No, no, that is not.
If you're willing to go with theflow, then you can get by with
almost no Spanish and just tryto be friendly with people.
But, Google Translate does help.
There's other apps out therethat are better and translate
more accurately.
We did get stuck at one pointwhen we were trying to ask if we
could pay with cash or needed topay with a card, and we had a
(31:58):
hundred dollars bill that wewere like, oh yeah, we could pay
for this.
And then the lady was shakingher head no.
And she was trying to ask us areally difficult question she
was trying to ask us, I don'tknow how to give you your refund
or I don't know how to give youyour change.
And it was like five or 10bucks, like out of a hundred
dollars for staying at her placefor two nights.
(32:19):
It wasn't a big deal, at all tous, but she was trying to be you
know, honest with us.
and at the same time we're like,we'll just give you a tip
because if we have to pay withour cards, we'd have to like log
in online and figure out how todo something there.
And we were trying to ask thewifi and she didn't know the
word wifi.
A lot of people do, but Iprobably should have tried using
the word internet, but she was alittle bit older and so anyways,
(32:40):
that was the only time where itwas a hangup and we had to like,
go back to the car and get thewifi just to ask her what her
wifi password was.
But we got around it and you cando a lot with the internet and
pointing at screens.
That's what she held up ourreservation and went, you know,
is this you?
And we're like, yes, that's us.
Okay, that's our reservation.
And she's like, okay, go aheadand check in.
Here's the keys.
Carma (33:01):
Nice.
Katie (33:02):
Another thing that was really awesome is one of our
hotels actually gave us a scriptin Spanish and English to be
able to ask the taxi driver todrive us to their hotel.
And that was cool because theyalso paid the taxi driver for us
so they knew what the rateshould be to their hotel.
And you know, airport taxidrivers are probably the ones
(33:25):
that could be the most sketchysometimes.
And so they told us to go getinto one of the orange taxis.
That they would pay at the frontdesk, and so we hand them the
script and then I said it inSpanish and they knew where to
drive me.
They knew that they would getpaid at the front desk, and then
that was just included in thecost of my accommodations, so I
didn't have to worry aboutanything on that first run.
Carma (33:48):
That's really nice.
And was that the hotel youstayed at near the airport?
Katie (33:53):
Yeah, that was the hotel near the airport, and it's
called Hotel LaGuardia Inn insuites, and they have a cute
little picture of a pool ontheir bookings.com app.
So that was really cool of themand I really appreciated that.
They were great to work with andsuper accommodating.
They had a night person who wasavailable all night if I needed
something really nice.
Carma (34:13):
One you would definitely go back to again.
Katie (34:15):
Yeah.
And they're right outside of SanJose, so they're in a alla and
that area is a little bit morecalm compared to the capital
city, so that's nice to justkinda get a little bit away, but
they're actually really close tothe airport too.
Carma (34:28):
Oh, nice.
Katie (34:30):
That kind of covers all of your normal run of the mill
stuff for getting around CostaRica.
To kind of end us out here, Iwanna talk about some of the
unexpected things that couldcome up.
So I wanna talk medicalinsurance really quick.
I know a lot of people areconcerned about that and
probably should think about itwhen we're doing sports like
this.
Carma (34:49):
Yeah.
Katie (34:51):
It's a little bit tricky, the first place to start is to
see what your own insurance willcover outside of the country.
So if you already have somethingthat'll cover it.
I remember when I went to Peru Iwas in college and I got
diarrhea really bad and I gotdehydrated and I ended up in a
hospital getting some fluids andantibiotics.
And that ended up billingstraight to my insurance at
(35:11):
home.
It took like six months for themto send the bill, but I left
them my address and that allbilled right through my
insurance.
But every country is different,and every insurance carrier is
different.
So call your healthcare providerand see what they will cover.
To start with This last time Iwent, I also talked to my
medical provider before I leftand my primary care physician
actually hooked me up with someantibiotics and some
(35:33):
prescription strength Imodiumjust to send me out the door so
that I would have something thatwas right for me in my bag that
was already prescribed to me.
So that was really nice of herto do that.
And a lot of, physicians will dothat for you when you are going
inter.
Then I actually found that I canadd travel insurance and I was
able to do that on my first tripstraight through Delta.
(35:53):
And it was like$50 for myhusband and I to get$50,000 in
insurance.
And it also covered things like$300 if your trip gets delayed
or things like that.
And there were a lot of thingsthere.
It was really cheap insuranceand covered a lot of stuff.
So you could do it through yourairline or there's also
international insurances thatyou can have for the whole year,
(36:16):
like a policy that covers anycountry.
And those are really cool.
If you travel a lot, you mightconsider just getting that
because I looked at things likethe garment inReach and I was
like, oh, I'll get thathelicopter insurance.
That's awesome.
And then I was talking to Johannand he's like, well, when I do
expeditions and I'm opening upNew Canyons, The best and
closest helicopter to actuallycome, help out is in Mexico, and
(36:40):
that's a ways away.
And so some of those things,while it'll cover it, it doesn't
mean there's anyone who'scoming.
So I also like to look up wherethe local hospitals are that, I
might end up going to and justkind of getting an idea of their
schedules.
The smaller clinics will closefor holidays, like Eastern,
things like that, and then thelarger hospitals will be open.
(37:03):
So I, I like to know where thoseare.
Carma (37:05):
Yeah.
Good to know.
Do you ever take, with you likeany over-the-counter stuff
specifically for traveling?
Katie (37:12):
so I do, and right along with that, we also turn on the
air conditioner.
We are in a tropical zone andsome of the advice that I got
from some of the locals is toturn on the air conditioner
because it keeps the bugs down.
Mosquitoes can't fly when theirwings are too cold.
And that's actually one of themain things people do is they
turn on the air conditionerbecause a lot of the windows
don't have screens on them.
(37:32):
Some bugs just get in.
And so instead of trying tofight the bugs down, they just
cool down the temperatures.
I like to have my own first aidkit that has my own personal,
like antihistamines.
I use Benadryl, but my husband.
Josh doesn't like Benadryl asmuch, so I like to have an
antihistamine in there thatworks for him.
I like to have some regularImodium, some Tums, and just
(37:54):
some of those things that yougenerally use because it's
really difficult to try to.
To Find it in a foreign country,they might have it, but you
might not know what it says orwhich one is which, or the
dosage might not make sense toyou.
So it's just nice to have someof those that you already know
what it is and you've got itwith you already.
Carma (38:12):
Yeah.
And the reason why I asked thatquestion specifically is cuz we
ran into that in New Zealand.
Jared got stung by a bee and gotswollen like crazy and we went
to go find some Benadryl, but.
In New Zealand, it turns outBenadryl, they don't use for
like allergy stuff.
They only use it as a sleep aid.
And so the only reason we wereable to find it even is because
(38:35):
I'm a nurse, so I know thegeneric names for a lot of
common medications.
And so I was able to ask thepharmacist for the generic name
because all of the brand namesare different in New Zealand.
And he was like, oh, we don'tuse it for that, but we use it
as a sleep aid and you can getit over the counter if you're
over a certain age or whatever.
And um, so we got it, but thenJared took it and it was double
(38:59):
the strength of what you wouldnormally find in the us And
Katie (39:01):
Oh,
Carma (39:03):
the pharmacist had warned us like, if you take this, you
shouldn't drive.
And so Jared had to take it cuzhis shoulder was getting all
swollen
Katie (39:10):
Oh
Carma (39:11):
then I had to drive for like eight hours that day all
the way across the island.
So, I just wanna double down onwhat you said, Katie, like bring
your own common stuff becauseyou might not be able to find
it.
Or if you do in another country,it's gonna be different.
Katie (39:27):
Right.
And there's no problem bringingyour prescription and your
carry-on or checked bags.
That's all good to go.
If you're bringing massivequantities, they're gonna
question and yeah, I dunno ifyou have a prescription for
cannabis or something, check andmake sure the country's cool
with that.
But otherwise, most of yourprescriptions are gonna be able
to come through, just.
Carma (39:45):
You've given us a ton to think about, to help us get to
those amazing canyons in CostaRica.
Do you have any last advice thatyou wanna.
Katie (39:55):
Label your crap.
Carma (39:56):
What?
Katie (39:58):
I did not think this would be a problem.
you know, all my gears labeled,all my carabiners, all my stuff
has got my purple and yellowmarks on it and everything, but
I had not considered that onemight want to label their shoes.
Carma (40:11):
Oh.
Katie (40:12):
All right?
So I don't know why, but I swearthat all of my canyon airing
friends.
All the women wear a size sevenand a half.
And apparently so did somebodyelse who joined our group when
two groups got put together witha guide.
And I remember I came out of oneof the canyons and it was
actually the last day that wewere all gonna be together and
(40:34):
we're all sitting there eatinglunch and we'd all been putting
our gear away and everybody hadkind of been helping everyone
put their gear away.
My husband put some of my stuffin, and her husband put some of
her stuff in and I remember Iwas sitting there and I saw this
pair of boots that was likegetting rained on out in the
dirt.
And I was like, who left theirshoes over there?
then Josh is like, well, whereare your shoes?
(40:54):
And I was like, those aren't myshoes.
He is like, well, maybe youshould go check.
And I, I was like, well, theseare the same size, but these are
not my shoes.
And we're like, oh crap.
She left her shoes.
And took my shoes
Carma (41:10):
Oh.
Katie (41:11):
and while they were the same size, they were not the
ones that I broke in and I didnot spend the rest of my trip in
somebody else's shoes.
but logistically it gets hardcuz you can't just call someone
on their cell phone and have'empick up anymore.
Their car didn't have in-carwifi, so I had to keep trying to
call and they were going acrossthe country to another spot and
(41:33):
it was just like so hard.
It ended up being that she leftmy shoes at like a gas station
restaurant place.
And then I ended up leaving hershoes at a hotel for her to pick
up.
And it just became this bigkerfuffle and it's hard because
you don't have extra room inyour luggage to like just bring
'em back to the US for her.
And it just kind of turned intothis whole thing where never
(41:54):
considered.
You know, you don't normallyhave other people wearing
Bestard's or Adidas, you know,you're like, they're so unique.
But then in the Canyoncommunity, they're not unique.
Carma (42:03):
Yeah.
Katie (42:04):
So that was kind of ridiculous.
But I, now have my name on myshoes.
Carma (42:11):
Good to know.
Katie (42:13):
Totally random.
But you know, the things youlearn from experience and I
think that could happen again,if I go to like a rendezvous,
you think your shoes are uniqueamong your group, or you think
some of your gear is superunique, but then you get with a
whole lot of people who are usedto doing canyons and a lot of
the gear repeats.
Carma (42:28):
Thanks Katie.
That's a good tip.
Katie (42:32):
Oh man.
So to summarize the episode,basically pick out your canyons,
get a guide if you want to getyour passport in order and print
all your hard copies.
And then Get a car with fourwheel drive and wifi, and it's a
great country.
You can really get around prettyeasily down there.
Carma (42:49):
I can't wait.
Katie (42:51):
Let's go.
Carma (42:58):
If you're totally hooked on canyoneering like us,
remember to subscribe, so youdon't miss any episodes and you
can also reach out to us onFacebook.
with questions, comments, topicsyou wanna talk about, or just to
say, Hey, cuz We would love tohear from you.
Thanks for dropping in with usand we'll catch you on the wrap
(43:18):
side.
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