Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The most popular alcohol purchases are Ron Centenario, Café Rica (the coffee liqueur)
and guaro (the local firewater). All are available at duty-free shops inside the airport, or in
supermarkets and liquor stores in every town and city.
Handicrafts & Ceramics
Tropical-hardwood items include salad bowls, plates, carving boards, jewelry boxes and
a variety of carvings and ornaments. The most exquisite woodwork is available at Bies-
anz Woodworks in Escazú. All of the wood here is grown on farms expressly for this pur-
pose.
Uniquely Costa Rican souvenirs are the colorfully painted replicas of carretas (traditional
oxcarts) produced in Sarchí.
Intricately carved and strikingly painted masks made by the Boruca people are found at
Galería Namu in San José and in the village of Boruca.
Telephone
Cellular service now covers most of the country and nearly all of the country that is ac-
cessible to tourists.
Public phones are found all over Costa Rica, and chip or Colibrí phone cards are avail-
able in 1000-, 2000- and 3000-colón denominations.
Chip cards are inserted into the phone and scanned. Colibrí cards (more common) re-
quire you to dial a toll-free number (199) and enter an access code. Instructions are
provided in English or Spanish.
The cheapest international calls from Costa Rica are direct-dialed using a phone card. To
make international calls, dial '00' followed by the country code and number.
Pay phones cannot receive international calls.
To call Costa Rica from abroad, use the country code (506) before the eight-digit number.
Due to the increasing popularity of voice-over IP services such as Skype, and more reli-
able ethernet connections, traveling with a laptop and headset can be the cheapest way
to call internationally.
Time
Costa Rica is six hours behind GMT, so Costa Rican time is equivalent to Central Time in
North America. There is no daylight-saving time.
 
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