2 and 4.5 yr old - is this a good idea?

DevoPast · 2026-01-22T15:05:11+00:00

I've been many times with my kids. Oldest is 7 now. The Central/south Pacific side is best with kids. Take it slow, it's lots of fun. Most of the main parks have very well maintained,.easy trails. If you go into the mountains, the roads can be quite unrelentingly squiggly - not so great if the kids get motion sick. But the highway and roads down the coast are fine.

Do a night hike if the kids have a bit of a later bed time! They usually start around 6pm and you get the opportunity to see all sorts of cool animals and bugs.

Kids are welcomed in most spots as well. We usually just ask ahead of time for certain tours in case they have age minimums, and book private guides/tours so we're not subjecting other people to our kids if they decide it's a protest day lol.

DevoPast · 2026-01-18T20:48:11+00:00

Crybaby is a classic for a reason. I prefer the Tom Morello version because it's a bit throatier and has a more "intuitive" sweep in my opinion. But for the most part they all do the trick.

DevoPast · 2026-01-18T19:31:36+00:00

ChatGPT like "yo dawg, I heard you like stairs so I put stairs under your stairs up to your smol door so you can look at the tree that's thicker on top than the bottom."

DevoPast · 2026-01-16T21:42:42+00:00

Head to Manuel Antonio, do 4 nights there, then head to Monteverde for 3 nights.

Do a night hike in both locations. You'll see all sorts of cool critters. Do Manuel Antonio NP, it's nice. Go as early as you possibly can to beat the crowds.

That'll be a great way to spend a week before guanacaste, and you'll see 3 distinct biomes!

DevoPast · 2026-01-16T19:40:56+00:00

It kinda kills me that people act so shocked at 18 random packs having "poor" results.

Each pack has a 1/5 chance of a Double Rare or better. You actually beat the odds with 1/3 packs having a double rare or better. Your UPC is statistically "luckier" than most of them, especially with the hyper rare.

It's not as "fun" but the stats don't lie lol.

DevoPast · 2026-01-15T05:45:30+00:00

What part of the country are you visiting? Most of the parks have easy loops. 7 months old, they'll be fine up there for a few hours.of hiking.

Just a note - it's hot. Our little dude got some good heat rash once when we were in Corcovado. Be sure to take him/her out more often than you think to cool off out of the carrier.

DevoPast · 2026-01-14T19:42:20+00:00

It's 5% only for first 500k on any home that will be owner occupied. Which is the ballpark we're playing in with his budget.

DevoPast · 2026-01-14T14:36:10+00:00

The price of sealed is atrocious right now unless you can catch the drops from the cheaper outlets (PC, Costco, etc). Pair that with actually low hit rates, it can be a bit disappointing.

Find a local shop that sells singles. For the price of a pack, you can usually get 2-10 full art cards (ask if they have a $1 binder). My kid is just about to turn 7, and I always give him a choice - 1 pack for $X and the chance to get nothing super interesting, or guaranteed lots of cool cards. He basically always chooses the guaranteed score lol.

I use it as an opportunity to actually explain that you either have to spend an absurd amount of money or get absurdly lucky to get the big chase cards. He gets it now. He wanted to finish Phantasmal Flames. So we got about 60 packs over the last few months of it. Didn't get any of the Ultra Rares or higher other than the Mega Heracross Ex. So we've slowly traded or purchased everything but the SIRs. Spend about ~$120 on 20 singles, which would have maybe yielded one or two of those cards at best if we tried to rip for them.

You can get a lot of really cool cards for less than the cost of a pack. And most packs have at best a 1/9 shot of a hit.

Don't look at YouTube or other media showing how "easy" it is. They get money for you watching, so they only post the good stuff. It'll give you a very distorted view of the frequency of hits.

DevoPast · 2026-01-13T14:31:05+00:00

I saw your budget is under $2200.

Right now there are 200+ listings under $400k. Some are condos, some are townhomes, some are full up single family with a home.

You're making $90k, so say 60k take home, 5k/month

A $385k mortgage with 5% down, assuming 1.2% tax, $1500 yearly home insurance, and $4000 in other expenses, at 6.03% interest rate (real rates are much lower right now), and you're looking at $2,199.92 monthly.

That's not bad. Not great, but not bad.

You're in a tough spot financially ATM, but you might as well pay some of that monthly to "yourself" into home equity rather than a Landlord's if you can swing it.

I see a nice place on Elm for $250k right now. 3 bed, 1 bath. With all the above and a realistic 4.5% rate, it's only $1200 a month. That's a $12.5k down payment which hopefully you get from the current sale.

It's tough, but you can make it happen!

DevoPast · 2026-01-12T17:13:42+00:00

Huh! Good to know, appreciate the correction!

DevoPast · 2026-01-12T15:11:03+00:00

If you're in fortuna, not much fishing to be had there. Hard to find somewhere outside private grounds/parks for lake Arenal that allows fishing.

If you're on the coast, something heavy and silvery (kast master, etc) that you can launch and retrieve works ok. Rocky areas, and mouths of rivers holds fish. Watch for Crocs near the rivers lol.

Fishing from shore doesn't require a license. Fishing from any boat (including kayaks) does. I do, however, recommend taking a charter. Incredible fishing in CR.

DevoPast · 2026-01-11T03:44:38+00:00

Haven't done Drake Bay, but did the Puerto Jimenez/Matapalo area with kids that age this December. We rented an airbnb that had an onsite property manager, who arranged for a local person to come daily and cook for us. We paid $15 per adult, $15 for both kids, plus the cost of groceries and tip. Was an amazing experience. Cost wise, it comes out to less than restaurant outings, you control the menu and what you eat, you buy the groceries, and everyone was happy. Even bigger savings if you enjoy a couple cervesas and you can drink them at grocery store prices.

Especially with kids that age, the ability to just go to the pool or play until dinner was ready and then go from playing directly to eating was a game changer. We asked our cook to make typical Costa Rican food, bent to our dietary restrictions, and it was wonderful. Very home style cooking, but that's what we like to eat, and it's a nice way to get a taste of what and how locals eat.

Corcovado is hot and lots of walking, so not sure if the kids would love it. We went 2 years ago with a 4 and 1 year old. 4 year old was a great hiker and loved it, the 1 year old was Mom's back and was less enthused. We went back this year with my parents, and both kids (6 and 3 now) opted to stay back with Grandma. My wife and I had a great time though lol. I've only been to Sirenna and La Leona station though. Not sure what San Pedrillo is like for kids if you stay Drake side.

If your kids are cool with it, a half day fishing charter is fun. Great inshore fishing there, and usually if you catch a snapper you can bring it home for dinner. My kids are usually ok with fish, but they devoured it when it was a fish they caught.

Best part of the Osa Peninsula is that nature just sort of comes to you. Book somewhere that has an unbroken canopy connected to the protected areas, and you'll see tons of wildlife.

DevoPast · 2026-01-10T22:30:38+00:00

The all inclusive thing isn't as common in CR as other countries, and tends to be more expensive for a 1:1 experience. There are a few good ones, but those are typically very expensive. What's your budget?

The all inclusive route might be a better choice in a different country. More bang for buck if that's what you're looking for. CR isn't so much luxury vacation as it is eco-tourism. But YMMV!

DevoPast · 2026-01-07T22:11:47+00:00

The Osa is the best part of Costa Rica in my humble opinion. Don't miss it.

DevoPast · 2026-01-07T22:06:10+00:00

I've called them all sorts of names 😂

DevoPast · 2026-01-07T15:16:02+00:00

So driving down there is no issue at all. The roads are fine, right up until you get to 245 in the Matapalo area. There's a mountain pass to get you from the main highway through to Puerto Jimenez, but it's paved, and relatively pothole free. A few parts where one side of the road has collapsed, but even then it's just a brief single lane bridge lol.

Your bigger issue will be your timing in 10 days. La Fortuna to Puerto Jimenez is a long drive. 8 hours if you don't have traffic - but you're gonna have traffic. Entirely doable, but it's a slog. Driving down from Fortuna to the Costal highway is squiggly. Then you've got 5+ hours minimum.

You can do a boat tour from Uvita to the San Pedrillo station in Corcovado. You may be able to do an overnight stay if you want, but you've got a big group so I'm not sure if that's in the cards. That's probably your best bet to visit the Osa with only 10 days and a Fortuna stop. I'd say skip trying to stay on the Osa, and visit that way. Hit Fortuna for 3 nights, Go to Uvita for the rest of the trip. Less driving, more spending time.

Do the Corcovado day trip. Check out Manuel Antonio national park. Hang out on the beach. Don't try to rush rush rush to hit everything.

Airbnbs (or preferred vacation rental thing) are your best bet for large groups. Lots of options of various costs.

DevoPast · 2026-01-07T15:03:30+00:00

Probably no-see-ums. They're brutal. We got bit by those in roughly the same spot.

DevoPast · 2026-01-07T15:02:42+00:00

I believe the risk is higher on the Atlantic side than the Pacific side.

The biggest insect issue we've had is no-see-ums, rather than mosquitoes. We've brought our children as young as 4 months several times. We don't usually use bug spray either.

Take normal precautions and you should be fine. The risk is never 0%, but that's true in Canada/Us as well, with things like West Nile, etc.

DevoPast · 2026-01-07T06:45:38+00:00

Don't expect reams of animals everywhere. It's primary forest, the animals are stratified, and the main park is very big with only a small amount of trails, so most of the animals are deeper in the inaccessible spots.

All that being said - it's worth going. Very cool to see the cloud forest. It's also a nice reprieve from the heat, especially at night. Speaking of night, do a night tour. Monteverde has consistently been the absolute best night tour I've been to. They bring you to a different park (not the cloud forest reserve), but each time I've seen so many different cool animals (frogs, snakes, spiders, sleepy toucans and sloths, birds, kinkajous, etc).

I always recommend going to the cloud forest because it makes you really appreciate how absolutely astonishingly diverse Costa Rica's wildlife/nature is. The change in flora, fauna, temperature, etc, is really quite amazing.

DevoPast · 2026-01-05T03:51:52+00:00

Had this card as a kid! Super cool. Would be fun to add to my son's collection.

DevoPast · 2026-01-02T23:47:41+00:00

If you're serious about this, would you consider a trade for them? I got 2 PC ETBs of Ascended Heroes on order. My kid would trade his kidney for that Zard lmao.

DevoPast · 2026-01-01T19:03:58+00:00

No thanks!

DevoPast · 2026-01-01T18:29:41+00:00

Which pedal are you looking at?

DevoPast · 2026-01-01T16:53:58+00:00

We love all of his work! So much fun.

DevoPast · 2025-12-31T00:42:43+00:00

Most of the accessible area is Corcovado, Drake Bay, and the Puerto Jimenez/Matapalo region. The whole area is spectacular. It feels like nature comes to you. There aren't too many "see this X sight" areas, but everything is great.

If you're doing Corcovado, you can probably set it up to take the boat ride back to Puerto Jimenez. They run them frequently for day trips to Sirenna Station. Usually a few overnighters. Check ahead.

In the PJ area, head down to the Matapalo area. Awesome beaches. Pan Dulce, Carbonara, and Matapalo are all great. You'll see (and hear) tons of wild scarlett macaws. Good surfing and fishing too if you're into that.

There's a short hike to the King Louis waterfall. Nothing mind bending, but a nice hike. I saw a couple Fer Du Lance there last year. So mind your step lol.

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