1-2 dress shirts or blouses
3-4 pairs of shorts. One or two pairs of quick drying nylon and one or two pairs of dressy cotton shorts or tropical weight/length skirts.
1-2 pairs of long pants. Something dressy and something for the bush. If you can find a pair you like, convertible pants (zip-off legs) can serve as shorts and long pants. Surprisingly for the tropics, you'll almost always be happier in long pants while you're out exploring. Rainforest plants and insects have chemical and physical defense mechanisms that you almost certainly don't want to experience first-hand. Long pants will protect your legs from scrapes, scratches, and insect invasions in the field. Horseback rides and the cool to cold temperatures at higher altitudes call for log pants as well.
5-8 pairs of underwear. If you bring a few pair that are almost worn out you can wear them for a day (or even two) and throw them out. You'll have more room to bring home souvenirs.
2-8 pairs of socks. Sock type and count varies a lot. We typically wear sports sandals without socks and carry only a couple of pairs. If you're going to wear closed shoes most of the time you'll want extra socks because they'll get wet fast either because of tropical perspiration or precipitation. As for underwear, tossing out old socks means you don't have to wash, and you have space for another pound or two of Costa Rican coffee on the trip home.
PJs or a long T-shirt in case you have to wander around the hotel in the middle of the night
Jacket- It is the tropics, but you will need something to keep you warm at higher elevations, or on the open ocean. It gets genuinely cold in the cloud forest and on volcano rims. We recommend a lightweight pile jacket, and a water and wind resistant jacket that can be folded into its own pocket. The concern isn't so much the weight as the size. If it's small enough to cram in your fanny pack or pocket, you're much more likely to have it when you need it.
bandana- ok, it's not the 60's but bandanas are practical apparel and cool in a retro sort of way. Dip it in a stream and wipe your brow, clean your glasses, shade your neck, sling a broken arm... use your imagination
baseball cap or brimmed hat- to keep the sun off. If you choose the baseball cap, bring a bandana to hang out the back and protect your neck.
mesh bag for wet clothes-Some people suggest a plastic bag or dry bag, but if you go the waterproof route you better make sure you get the clothes out of the bag in a hour or two or you might as well have just thrown the clothes away. If you forget them they'll putrefy.
Oh yeah, don't forget your swimsuit. Active/sports swimsuit and a tanning suit (guys you may not know what we mean, so just bring your suit, but the ladies appreciate the difference). You may also want a sarong or other casual beach cover-up.
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( 3 / 10 )Last July (2007) was one of the wettest on record. Rainfalls nearly double the normal average in some regions of the north and northeast washed out dozens of bridges. Five vacationers died in flash flooding while rappelling a waterfall in the mountains and another was struck by lightning and died while swimming in the Pacific.
July is typically one of the wetter months all over Costa Rica however, especially on the Pacific coast the majority of the rain falls as afternoon or evening showers.
The Caribbean side is solidly in the rainy season and very heavy rain is common especially in the north.
Most years (exceptions are usually correlated with El Niño) Costa Rica experiences a short mid-year mini-dry season towards the end of July and begining of August when rainfall decreases significantly for three or four weeks especially in the northern Pacific. Ticos call this the veranillo or little summer and you can read about how it occurs here.
The beaches and lowlands experience high temperatures in the low-eighties to nineties and low temperatures in the high-sixties to mid seventies. Mid elevations (e.g. around San Jos¨¦) are 5-10 degrees cooler and temperatures at high elevations (Monteverde and Chirripo) can be 20 or even 30 degrees lower.
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