Job Discussion Forums

[teachwrite]

Can anyone recommend some good hotels/hostels in the following areas (and ideally state a per week or per night price):

San Jose
Heredia
Alajuela
Santa Anna

These would be ideal places for teachers who want some safety and a reasonable rate while job and apartment hunting.

Thanks!

[logicpocket]

Hotel Costa Rica Backpackers is right near the San Jose city center and is reasonably priced at $10/night for a dorm or $22/night for a private room. In spite of the dubious sounding name (the cabies call it La Tortuga) it's pretty cool. I have spent a while there and can confidently recommend it. It's clean, safe, the staff are friendly and informative, you can store your extra gear while you travel (for FREE!) and there is a kitchen to cook in.

[teachwrite]

[doreenp]

once again i highly recommend a homestay to get over the hump of where to live and where to teach. The cost is just as cheap in some cases as the hostels and it is more private, usually cleaner, you can have your laundry done and meals cooked. Plus i would think it is safer to leave anything of value in a homestay. Also the chance to learn Spanish is there.

After hearing from some newly arrived teachers, i have to say that homestay would be the way to go. Of course my experience was a good one and so that makes me biased and my friends time at the hostel was so bad that they almost left CR . If you�re trying to take a course while living in a hostel it can be extremely tough. A well run hostel will have curfews and noise rules after 11pm but things happen and sleep is not always tranquil.

I have posted about my homestay before, but i�ll refresh it here. I really appreciated having people pick me up at the airport and take me to their home. I was given a walking tour of Heredia and didn�t have to worry about shopping or cooking or anything for the first days and could just enjoy my time and explore the city. It also gave me a good start on looking into where exactly i wanted to work and live. Job offers came in immediately but I traveled around and interviewed many schools before i chose to stay in Heredia.

If anyone is interested in more information you can private email me .
Living in Central Heredia you are walking distance to churches, gyms, pool, shopping and parks and many universities and language schools.

The house i live in offers 4 rooms to students and teachers. The cost starts at about 250.00 per month (2006 price, please email hector or jonathan for updated quotes) for a fair size room, upstairs , two rooms share one bathroom, toilet and shower with hot water and downstairs you have your own.

I only had one meal a day cooked for me because of my work schedule but the other people had all three meals cooked for them and she is an excellent cook and will vary the meals and accomodate your tastes (vegetarian etc.)

Our rooms are cleaned once a week and bedding cleaned and changed.

My laundry is done when needed, washed folded and returned to me.

The three upstairs rooms have a private and seperate entrance so you don't have to go thru the whole house to get to your room.

You have complete use of the living and dining rooms and kitchen. The living room has a TV for communal use.

The family is great and more than willing to help you out in any way they can.

Email: Hector - [email protected] or [email protected] or jonathan - <[email protected]
i suggest sending you inquiries to all 3 email addies at the same time and be patient.....

please put �� heredia homestay information�� in the subject line

good luck to all
cheers
d

[logicpocket]

Hmm, I had done just that (emailed all three) but never got a reply from any of them. I had been speaking with this young woman from Spain on the bus the other day and she said that she had stayed in a similar sort of situation in Heredia. Would be a bit odd if it were the same eh?

Cheers

[doreenp]

odd? not really, many people do homestays to supplement their incomes. This lady, Zeneida was on the list of homestays for Intercultura, but since the policy at the school is to place only one student at a time in each home, she opened her doors to teachers and travelers.

I am going to try to email them myself and see if the information is still current. One problem with email is that if you're addy isn't recognized, it goes into the junk side, and then is eliminated after 5 days or so....

if you are interested in phoning to her home, and speak Spanish, as she speaks no English at all, her number is 506 237-1547, i'm hoping that's still her number.
I will post more when i learn more from Hector or Jonathan.
cheers
d

[teachwrite]

thanks for the all the feedback, doreen. i'm probably going go get a hotel room to begin with and then locate my own apartment, but i'll give a homestay some additional consideration. it's just that i've lived in shared houses before and now i preferr having my own place. less drama, less potential for conflict. and no one cares if i leave dishes in the kitchen sink and the toilet seat up

any other recommendations for good hotels/hostels in the heredia area? looking for $150-$200/week, or less. surely some of you folks living there know of a few good places. i can think of at least three in the tiny town of coban, guatemala where i was teaching last year.

thanks!

[teachwrite]

Just one more bump in the hopes that someone can suggest a inexpensive and save hotels/hostels for the 1st week. I'd love something in the Heredia area and one in Liberia.

[pojohnny]

I just spent a couple of months in Costa Rica. It sounds like you'd be happy with Casa Ridgway. It's very safe, has free breakfasts, private rooms but shared hot water bathrooms. It's remarkably clean. And best of all, it's quiet.

I stayed there for $10-15/night. The dorms are clean but crowded. It'd suggest a room on the second floor for $15/night if you can get it. Those are the best, rooms 7 and 8.

Plus, for a dollar/suitcase a day, you can leave you're luggage there and scout around and not have to worry if somebody's going to steal anything. The staff are honest and helpful.

Chris

[teachwrite]

[nineisone]

All the posts do an admirable job of pointing out good hostals available. I also wanted to mention that while the Hotel situation is fairly bleak for budget travelers, there are some decent clean and safe options for those that dislike the hostal environment. Hotel Nuevo Alameda and Hotel Johnson are both about 10$ a night, owned by the same mgmt. and are both in central San Jose near the major bus terminals. Basic accomodation but you get relatively clean private bathrooms, TV, and rooms on the upper floors have larger windows which makes them brighter and more cheerful than some of the other hole in the wall joints.

[teachwrite]

[pojohnny]

I never did stay in Heredia or Liberia, sorry.

(It's nice to see this thread getting responses though. Sometimes this forum seems so....innnnnnactive.)

[rpbagwell]

Last March, my wife and I spent a week in Heredia at this place. Very safe and extremely friendly and helpful. Fully furnished including kitchen and there is a little market across the street. Not exactly centrally located, but it is within walking distance of almost everything in Heredia. I highly recommend it.

http://www.apart-hotelroma.com/

[teachwrite]