Costa Rica, highly recommended. Lots of net info on CR. My lovely Katie and I did Costa Rica in Feb, and we are dying to go back. Do NOT bother staying at all in San Jose, tho you will have to fly in to there. You may be forced to stay there one night, depending on how you travel. We were told not to bother staying in the capitol city, but I was sure we would find some redeeming quality about it. I was wrong. We landed at 2pm in San Jose, walked around, felt sure (gut reaction) we wanted out of there...walked to the bus station, got on a 3.5 hour bus (I know, long trip, but it cost something like $6) to Quepos for Manuel Antonio Park. We had NO idea what we were doing or where we were going--we just knew we had to get out of that town- but we loved it. Take the bus to Quepos, a little tiny town, but stay on it, continue on the extra 15 minutes to the end of the line to the town of Manuel Antonio (at the nature park of the same name). Halfway before the end of the line between Quepos and Manuel Antonio is Casa Blanca (they have a website), a gay owned, gay restricted, lovely hotel overlooking the ocean. We did NOT stay there, but we did tour it while there. I would highly recommend it for sure based on our time spent there with the owners. It is sort of secluded and private. We stayed at the bottom of the hill, right outside the Manuel Antonio National Park. Lovely. We preferred that, because there is nothing at the top of the long hill except hotels, and it's a STEEEP walk down to the ocean/beach (there is a gay beach at the bottom of that hill in one direction, but we couldn't find it). The bottom of the hill is well, the ocean. If you want just laziness, water, a few water sports available to you, just a few homey restaurants from which to choose to simplify your life, this is highly recommended. We had read that this area would be SOOOOOO crowded during the time we went. Well, any given day during our stay, there were about 20 people at the beach. We, too, have been considering making it a Christmas ritual to go away over the holidays (we've been hesitating because Xmas is important to my 13-year-old son to spend with family), but this year, we may do this trip again or Playa del Carmen just outside Cancun (similar idea...small town on ocean, not over- populated). We are affectionate, tho respectful, wherever we go, and we encountered no problems. Of course, we were more open at the beach than we were in the city of San Jose. Vickii Chicago
Not exactly Caribbean, but the beautiful and rich Manuel Antonio region of Costa Rica boasts a lovely les-gay only hotel called Casablanca.
I have just gotten back from Costa Rica...and there is indeed a greater and greater problem with robberies...predominanty because more and more Nicaraquins are fleeing into Costa Rica...The park itself is beautiful, but largely unpatrolled by any police or ranger presence...the good news is that there is very, very little violent crime in Costa Rica...it is a matter of folks wanting your money and valuables, not your life...Also for women, it is a relatively safe place to travel alone...many of the folks that I connected with in CR were going by bus throughout all of the country without difficulty...I felt quite safe doing so...for some really good information, there is a guide at the school where I was...who will give you the true lowdown on safety etc...his name is Guido...and he has an email address...and I don't know it but the email for the school which is CPI, is anajarro@sol.racsa.co.cr...and the folks there are very helpful...the phone number to the school is 506-265-6213...they also employ at least one person who up unti last year, worked for the department of tourism...hope this helps...
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