kever

I think the burton comparison is pretty good. I've only ridden 2 S9 boards, but there are so many better boards out there. I didn't like either of the 2 I rode at all. Not even a little.

Ok, an iron it will be.. Thanks guy.

I'm just getting past the stage of renting boards and finally bought one. I was wondering what your thoughts were on waxing the board with a heat gun like this. I'm not into racing at all, just freeriding, and this seems like a quick and easy way to keep the board waxed before every trip out. Obviously you need to be careful not to keep the heat on one spot for more than a few seconds, but are there any other reasons why this would be a bad method to wax a board? Thanks..

Pics sent.

I almost forgot one very important thing. The ice cream (dos pinos) is fantastic. The ice cream cookie-ish things called "trits" are seriously addicting. I loved those and had one every second day or so for a month and a half.

I'm reviving an old thread, but I thought I'd give you my $.02.. The GF and I went last feb/march for 2 months to CR, Nicaragua and a bit of Panama. About 80% of our time was in Costa Rica though. If you want to go to Arenal, and only have 8 days, you probably won't have time to get to the carribean side. Theres definately more of a laid back, rasta feel to the carribean side of the country. It also feels less "americanized" with big resorts and stuff. These are recommendations based on not spending a lot of money. There are more expensive ways to see the country, but we were very happy with what we did and saw without breaking the bank. I would recommend getting out of San Jose as fast as possible as well. There was nothing there that we wanted to see, and felt uncomfortable most of the time we were there. Take the long, hot bus ride up to La Fortuna as soon as you can. Bring food and drinks cause its a long ride. We stayed at a place called Gringo Petes in La Fortuna. Its the best deal we found in the entire country. $8 i think for a double with a bathroom. It has a kitchen, the best deals on tours, and Gringo Pete is really helpful. In the morning I would walk to see the La fortuna waterfall. Its over an hour from Gringo Petes if you walk, but you could also rent horses to take you there. Just as you're walking out of the town towards the falls that says "trips for tips" where you can tip them a few bucks and the horses will take you. You can walk down the treaturous steps to get to the falls ($7 each i think) and take a swim in the cold pool beneath the 70m waterfall. Afterwards you could take a tour through gringo petes that takes you on a hike around the rainforest, takes you to see the volcano erupting, then to the Baldi hot springs for $18ish. To get to Monteverde/Santa Eleana, take the Van/Boat/Van ride (through Gringo Petes) and you'll get there much quicker than by bus, and for not too much more money. We stayed at a place called Cabinas Eddy in Santa Eleana. It was clean and around $10 a night for the 2 of us. We went on the Zip line tour through them, which I would reccommend. I think we did the Aventura one, but I'm sure thier all good. We walked to Moneverde from there, which was about 8km uphill. The bus ride probably would have been a better idea. The cloud forest had some really cool animals and trees and things. The guides there can spot SO many more things than a normal person can, so if you're into that stuff they would be worth it. From that point on in the trip you'll probably want to check out the beaches and surfing and stuff. We really liked the beaches and waterfalls of Montezuma and Malpais for swimming, surfing and hanging out. The probelm with that is you would have to take a long bus ride, then a ferry ride, then another bus ride to get to Montezuma or Mal Pais. It might not be worth the travel time, but it was definately one of our favorite places. Montezuma has black sand, white sand and pink sand beaches within walking distance and an incredible cascade of 3 waterfalls that you can swim under (15m high, bottom one) , or climb up a cliff and jump off the top of one (11m high, middle one), or swing on a tarzan rop and land in one and swim (top one). We stayed at Hotel Lucy which is a little bit of a walk from the center of town, but its on the water and its not too expensive. If you go here, wake up for the sunrise at least once because it rises up from the ocean right in front of the hotel. In Mal Pais we really liked Casa Zen, but we couldn't stay there as it was booked solid. I think its worth booking ahead for. It's a 1 minute walk to the beach and amazing surfing. There is a constant swell it seems. There wasn't a single bad time to surf in the week we were there. Casa Zen also had a really good Thai restaurant if you like Thai food. On the other hand if you want more familiar surroundings, Jaco has things like KFC and bigger resorts and a livelier nightlife. We didn't stay there at all because that is what we were trying to get away from, but we heard people had fun when they went. It supposed to have good surfing as well. Jaco is also close to Manuel Antonio National Park, which has huge incredible beaches and lots of monkeys and fish. We stayed in Quepos at the Wide Mouth Frog. It was $26 a night for 2, which included internet, free movies, a private double room, a pool, a book exchange, and breakfast (oatmeal and bananas usually). Not much to see and do in Quepos, but we had some really good all you can eat sushi there. The bus in like $1 to Manuel Antonio and the beaches there were huge and mostly deserted. It costs a few bucks each to get into the park, and be aware that the tide rises as the day goes on, so the little creek you cross to get into the park will be at least knee deep by the time you leave (I'm 6'6", so for smaller people at least thigh deep). You can walk across and get wet, or pay a local guy with a boat a few bucks to float you across. You might want to splurge and go to a more expensive hotel around here. There are a number of nice looking places, and there is probably a much better/safer nightlife than in Quepos. This is getting really long. I found this post looking for info about a board on ebay and ended up writing for 20 minutes. wow.. Good luck with the trip and have fun. I'd send you my guidebook, but I'm travelling in Finland right now. If you have any questions about anything else, ask away.

I've had 6 or so of my friends get into longboarding since I started. Most of them who have never skateboarded before have found it easier to start on a dropped deck (ex: landyachtz evo) or dropthrough deck (ex: insect lightning bug). Have you skated before? you said you've never owned a board, but have you used one? My personal favorite is my Insect Lightning Bug. It's good for going really fast, pushing around town, and carving up hills. It's not too heavy, and you can choose how stiff you want it because they are made to order. If you do get into it, don't be surprised if you start getting more boards. There are SO many different styles for different things. I started off with 1 and somehow now have 9. So, yes you should try it. Look at the Lightning Bug if you don't mind spending a bit more, or if you're in the states, check out Mile High Skates online and email Mark the owner and he would probably be able to set you up with something for a good price that would suit you.