As a foreigner who lived in Costa Rica for 3 years, I have one friendly advise to all of you who want to visit Costa Rica/Central America in the future. All tips given here are all very useful, but none of you care to give the top priority tip, and that is LEARN THE LANGUAGE! Latin Spanish is their national language and the people is very proud of their language, therefore, you might be "helpless" when you try to find your directions without knowing the language. Good tip from me is, learn the language, even just for a little conversation! It will help..