re: Talk to me about Costa Rica

We stayed at Tulemar in Quepos and then went to Arenal and stayed at Tabacon Thermal Spas.

Both were great and staff spoke pretty good English.

Tulemar Resort

Tabacon Resort

Traveling around was fine - but the trip from coast to mountains is a bit hairy. Roads are fine and drivers are fairly courteous but realize a trip of 40 to 50 miles is probably a 3 to 4 hour drive, We did get a GPS from the rental car agency - which was a Huawei phone with google maps. We had a passenger sit beside the driver and call out "Sweeping left followed by a hard right" type instructions so that we could drive close to traffic speeds.

Otherwise we'd have been driving like 10 miles an hour. Most bridges once outside the city are single lane. One side will have a yield sign as you approach - the other side has right of way. If you have the yield you wait until there's an opening and then proceed.

The only problem is that most bridges are just outside of mountain curves - so once you "think" you have an opening, you start to go and then a dump truck or bus coming 60 mph appears around the bend. Best practice is to just floor it and try to get across before something comes.

The only encounter with non-english speakers was stopping for gas in a remote area. Stations are only full serve and usually semi-hot young girls. She spoke 2 words of English - "Full?" at the start and "Ready?" when it was time to pay. So we managed.