Like many people I´m a sucker for a good bargain. And like many cheapskates, I love figuring out ways to stretch the travel buck. Traveling in the tropics, especially in the so-called "developing world" (what used to be known as the Third World) is a great way to stretch your dollars (or euros/yen/Swiss francs) from the get-go. All you have to do, really, is find a cheap air ticket.
As everything gets increasingly more expensive in Europe and North America, and even while the dollar has fallen big-time against the euro, yen, and Swiss franc, in some cases the dollar has retained, or even strengthened its value in many Latin American countries and in Southeast Asia as well.
Relatively cheap lodging, transport, and food & drink costs, therefore, are big selling point for me.
Another is the weather: who doesn´t like mostly sunny and warm all the time? It´s easy to get away with short sleeves, without big bulky shoes or boots, and there´s a certain appeal to a place where you almost never need a jacket.
But it isn´t only about sun & fun. Most of the tropical places I´ve traveled have an amazing variety of climate conditions, and this is often because of the many mountainous regions you find. Costa Rica, for example, is practically a rain forested national park with clusters of active and dormant volcanos. These mountains roughly divide the country in two, right down the middle. On the west, where I am now, is the Pacific coast which has more development in terms of good roads and other infrastructure. The climate, as I´ve mentioned before, is actually quite hot by midday. But the evenings are pleasant.
The eastern regions of Costa Rica (and Nicaragua as well) are more remote, with mangrove swamps, more forest, and fewer roads. Unfortunately, I probably didn´t budget enough time to meet my goal of exploring that area, which includes the famous Tortuguero national park, and the port of Limon.
But probably my favorite type of region is the mountains in the interior--it´s one of many reasons why I love Chiangmai, Thailand. The weather, though it can feature vigorous rainy seasons, is sometimes almost too perfect: clear and sunny, not too hot, not too cool, but beautiful in the daytime, and nice and cool at night. And since mountain regions tend to be less-developed overall, in the tropics this is where you can often find untrammeled forest.
In general, I like the tropics for the food, too. I enjoy rice as a staple, and in Latin America frijoles are a bonus in my book. Cuisine in the tropics, in general, is quite flavorful, with lots of garlic, onion, chili peppers, and other spices. It´s difficult to get bored with it, and again: the cost of it very appealing to a frugal traveler like me.
Above all, I really enjoy the people you tend to meet in the tropics. I probably shouldn´t generalize too much--especially since I really don´t know Latin America very well at all. But knowing quite a bit about people from Thailand and other countries in that region may allow me to extrapolate in this case: people in the tropics tend to be easy-going, patient, tolerant, friendly, open, curious, fun-loving, and generous. People in the tropics also practice a certain type of "family values" that you don´t see so much in America or other "developed" countries. That is, while Latin Americans, like people anywhere, love their children and work hard to make sure they have the best on offer for them, in the tropics people also have a great deal of respect for their elders. And it´s a "living" respect, one that translates directly as a way of life for most. Thai people, for example, simply couldn´t conceive of placing their parents or grandparents in a nursing home to live out their sunset years. And so it´s not unusual to find households with three generations under a roof. There is something very appealing to me about this type of family situation.
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MONEY MATTERS. . .WHAT NOT TO DO & HOW NOT TO DO IT!
ReplyDeleteI fell for one of the oldest confidence tricks in the book upon my arrival at the San Jose airport 10 days ago.
Whats more, I recall that I was warned specifically, in one of the guide books, NOT to change cash dollars at the airport currency exchange.
And even though I had researched the current rate of Costa Ricas colon(es) to the dollar (about 580 colones per dollar), I STILL fell for it--me, someone who is (usually) a fairly savvy traveler!
What did I fall for? A charming young womans pitch to sell her more dollars than I wanted, and for what ended up to be a very poor rate. I ended up changing $140 on the deal, but I probably lost $7-$10 of that--just as if she had picked my pocket.
It just goes to show you that no matter how much things change, in some ways they always remain the same.
It used to be, for example, that banks in Switzerland train stations would give excellent rates for just about any hard currency transaction. According to the books Ive been reading about the subject, including Arthur Frommers latest words of wisdom, those days are long over.
By far the best way to take money overseas is to use your regular bank account/debit card to make ATM withdrawls. With these transactions, as long as your bank isnt charging you extra for it, you can get the latest, almost market rates.
Travelers checks are also quite passe these days. Some banks wont cash them, or if they do they take a hefty 3% right off the top.
It turns out that I neednt have changed any money at all: most establishments in Costa Rica and Nicaragua accept dollars as payment (you get your change in the local currency). And very conveniently, you can withdraw either dollars or the local currencies from any number of ATMs.
This is all very good and well, I suppose, but there is something that bugs me about it: why, after all, should anyone have to pay a penalty--in terms of exchange rates--for cash transactions? It seems that the banks push us to do things this way--all electronic, you know, so it cuts down their costs. Governments like electronic, too, because those transactions are traceable.
But I notice that as soon as the banks get you where they want you, they start charging new "fees" for the same old services theyve offered for years. Now I hear that foreign expats in Thailand are getting hit by the banks twice: their American or European bank charges them, and their Thai bank also charges them, for each single transaction. As these fees add up, do we still get the best exchange rates when we go electronic?
It may come as a surprise to many Americans, but most other countries in the world take their cash very seriously indeed. Japan, for instance, is still very much a cash culture, as is Thailand, as is Mexico & the Central American countries as well. Even the Western European countries havent taken credit/debit cards to the extremes Americans have.
Is there a lesson here considering the recent debt crisis/credit crunch which set off the tanking of the entire world economy? I dont know, but I do know that I, like the Japanese, prefer to pay for things in cash--I like the "real" feel of it in my hands, and Ive never fallen for the old line that credit/debit is more "convenient" than cash.
The truth is, cash is the most convenient monetary instrument of all. I hope against the odds that we still have it around in years to come.