Top 5 Things To Bring To Costa Rica

 

We have been traveling for about four months now, and I thought you'd like to know how our gear is holding up. Before we left I posted this gear round up with a list of everything we would bring with us. Now, after ditching a few things, buying others, and relying heavily on what is available in local stores we have a better idea of what should have taken, and what was a ridiculous waste of space.

We took two large backpacks, the baby bed, stroller, a duffel bag, two laptop cases, a camera case, and a diaper bag. Easily half of our stuff was for the baby. (Side note: they say traveling with kids is hard... We think that's because of all the stuff kids need!) All our bags were packed full. Looking back, it was too much stuff. We could barely get in a taxi with all our bags, let alone hop buses like we'd planned. Live and learn.

I was going to post the whole list again and tell you what I thought of each item, and then I realized that I was bored to tears, and you probably wouldn't want to read all of that anyway. So I'll give you the top 5 things we are glad we brought, and the top 5 things we wish we'd left behind: 

Top 5 Things to Bring to Costa Rica

1. Headlamp/Flashlights - (have mercy, we'd be lost a hundred times over without these, we use them almost daily)
2. Pocket knife - (useful mostly in the kitchen when you can't find a sharp knife and there's a mango that needs to be eaten)
3. iPhones, chargers (we use these all the time for Skype calls, camera, internet access - hooray for free wifi! - and general smart phone geekery, like playing Talking Tom with Cassie)
4. Spanish/English dictionary (a lifesaver) 
5. Baby Travel Crib (so she doesn't have to sleep with us... also is completely bug proof, so I know I have a safe place to put Cassie for sleep or playtime).

Top 5 Things to Leave Behind:

1. Baby food processor (too bulky to carry, and we've been able to make baby food with a fork just as easily)
2. Cloth diapers (very impractical for traveling (you need to wash them every day), especially when disposables are easy to find)
3. Extra disposable diapers (again, easy to find everywhere you need them, and pretty inexpensive)
4. Dress Shoes (Michael brought a pair for teaching jobs/interviews, but would have gotten more use out of a pair of running shoes)
5. Multiple baby blankets (one lightweight and one heavyweight blanket would have been plenty. I brought an extra heavy blanket, which took up a lot of room)

 

 

So, now we know that baby stuff will be most of our luggage, but it doesn't have to be as much as we brought. Costa Rica is a fairly modern place, and you can get what you need pretty much everywhere except the tiny indigenous villages in the remotest jungles. Happy travels!

Love,

Lisa, Michael and Cassie