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Geocaching in Costa Rica


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We permanently retired to Costa Rica in July, 2011. We were active geocachers in our previous home in Texas, and now we want to get back into it in Costa Rica.

 

If you have been geocaching in Costa Rica, you know there are probably less than 200 geocache hides in entire country and there is a major problem with muggles. Folks here are naturally curious and if found, simply take the cache container with all the swag. We have hidden several geocaches here and have including notes in Spanish asking folks to leave it in place when found, but it doesn't seem to do any good.

 

We do own one geocache at a nearby dam, and it has been in place for almost 4 years now. Fellow geocachers have been great about replacing or repairing muggled caches in the country. But we would love some feedback from other on the type and placement of caches that work for Costa Rica. It is so discouraging to always have our cache's muggled or destroyed.

 

Our goal is to start populating Costa Rica with numerous geocache hides in all over the country and we can use all the help we can get. If any of you have some ideas on muggle-proof geocaches, please share.

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First of all, it helps to tie down ammo box hides, so at least the container remains in place. Are there any areas that are naturally visited less by muggles?

 

Thanks for the response, but ammo boxes don't enter into the equation here. Costa Rica abolished it's military back in 1949 and consequently does not stockpile ammunition like other nations. Unlike in the States, I've never seen an ammo box here. So far we are using plastic containers, waterproof matchboxes, bison tubes and dummy electrical plates. The dummy electrical plate is the only one that has remained in place over the years. All the rest tend to vanish on a regular bases, despite our best efforts in concealing the hide.

 

We want to focus on tourist areas because there are very few active geocachers in this country. Unfortunately, tourist areas are also the places were we find most of the muggles. Tourism is Costa Rica's largest industry and the probability of attracting more geocaching tourist is higher than attracting new members from the local population.

 

If you come up with any other ideas, please let me know.

 

Thanks,

Pat

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Hi, could you tell me what device you use to geocache in CR. I'm considering a move there and hate to lose one of my favorite past times! Thanks!

 

 

We permanently retired to Costa Rica in July, 2011. We were active geocachers in our previous home in Texas, and now we want to get back into it in Costa Rica.

 

If you have been geocaching in Costa Rica, you know there are probably less than 200 geocache hides in entire country and there is a major problem with muggles. Folks here are naturally curious and if found, simply take the cache container with all the swag. We have hidden several geocaches here and have including notes in Spanish asking folks to leave it in place when found, but it doesn't seem to do any good.

 

We do own one geocache at a nearby dam, and it has been in place for almost 4 years now. Fellow geocachers have been great about replacing or repairing muggled caches in the country. But we would love some feedback from other on the type and placement of caches that work for Costa Rica. It is so discouraging to always have our cache's muggled or destroyed.

 

Our goal is to start populating Costa Rica with numerous geocache hides in all over the country and we can use all the help we can get. If any of you have some ideas on muggle-proof geocaches, please share.

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Hi, could you tell me what device you use to geocache in CR. I'm considering a move there and hate to lose one of my favorite past times! Thanks!

 

Hi geobeekeeper,

You'll be pleased to know that Garmin works great as does the iPhone app from Geocaching.com. I have a great map of Costa Rica loaded on the SD card, but I do have to manually load the cache query results to the GPS. On the other hand the iPhone app requires no manual download. It just downloads the number of nearby caches on the fly.

 

We use the iPhone to get us in the general area of a cache site and then use the Garmin to hone in. The Garmin is much more accurate than the iPhone. Also there are remote areas of Costa Rica where you can't get a signal on a phone, but you can always get a signal on the Garmin. The model that we use is the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color.

 

Hope this helps and if you're ever in Costa Rica, be sure and come by and visit our TB Hotel. Futbol by 2Newts

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Hi 2Newts! I'm native from Costa Rica and I discover about Geocaching while traveling in the states! I'm living in Boston right now and I've placed at least two caches so far. I can imagine the problem with all the curious Ticos around, but I share your goal and once I get back to CR in 2 months I'm gonna help placing new caches, giving maintenance to the old ones and introducing it to the local community!

 

Have fun in paradise!

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I'm going to be in San Jose (my second visit to CR) for a week in August (9th to the 15th). Although I found a few caches during my last visit Iusually try to get in some geocaching when I travel (and actually do very little geocaching at home). I noticed that there are three caches fairy close to the hotel I'll be staying at (near Curridabat) but all three of them appear to be missing (one hasn't been found since 2011). I haven't decided if I'll rent a car (yes, I've driven the roads in CR) since I won't really need it during the week. Since there is 7 Souvenirs in August promotion coming up I wondered if some of the locals might be interesting in having an event. I could even submit the listing but have no idea where a good place would be to hold it or if there would be local cachers interested in attending.

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I have a great map of Costa Rica loaded on the SD card,

 

Hello 2Newts,

 

where can I get such a map for Costa Rica? I`m using a Garmin GPS device.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Go to http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

 

It has free routable maps for Garmin devices that pretty much covers everywhere. I've used their maps for Costa Rica and they're quite good. Caveat: You still will get lost.

 

 

 

 

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I am heading to Costa Rica in a few days. I will be in the Puerto Viejo area for a month. I see that there are only 6 caches near that area, 2 are also marked as missing.

 

I am interested in setting up an Earth Cache, but haven't made one before. I think it would be the only type I can set up in another location? It says that I need permission from the land owner, how would I go about getting that info? Maybe I can do a "mystery cache" that involves no physical cache to maintain. Any input on this?

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I am heading to Costa Rica in a few days. I will be in the Puerto Viejo area for a month. I see that there are only 6 caches near that area, 2 are also marked as missing.

 

I am interested in setting up an Earth Cache, but haven't made one before. I think it would be the only type I can set up in another location? It says that I need permission from the land owner, how would I go about getting that info? Maybe I can do a "mystery cache" that involves no physical cache to maintain. Any input on this?

 

All Mystery caches have a physical container. They just don't (usually) have one at the published coordinates.

 

There are quite a few earthcaches in Costa RIca at the more notable locations. I found the one at Poas Volcano a few months ago. If you're going to be in Puerto Viejo for a month you ought to be able to determine who the land manager is and secure permission in that time, but first you're going to have to find an interesting geological feature as the focus for the earthcache. You might be able to do something related to the ecological zones in Parque Nacional Cahuita.

 

 

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Any idea how long it takes to get a cache published in CR? I submitted one a week ago and have heard nothing. Yet. I have secured the assistance of a local geocacher in case cache maintenance becomes an issue. All of that info is on the cache page.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S. The cache is in the La Fortuna area.

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Hi everybody!

Are you still in Costa Rica? Are there more cachers who live in CR like you 2Newts?

I'll visit the country in Deciembre and would like to get to know some geocachers.

What are your experiences with events? I only found some in Limon organized by cachers who are cruizing.

But what about San José? Do you know a good place to organize a "Meet & Greet"-Event?

Looking forward to your answers! ;-)

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