Dictionary & Bug spray

Bob - You are right. The fat comment was inappropriate and I apologize.

I do not claim to be an expert -- just another traveller with advice to share. That is the purpose of these boards, right? Not to constantly attack and scrutinize every single poster....

I use The University of Chicago Spanish-English dictionary by Carlos Castillo and Otto F. Bond bought it 13 years ago for 415 colones now it should be around 2000 crc, it is extensive and the size of a pocket book you can purchase it in San Jose and Liberia at Universal bookstore, better put deet on your kids worst is getting dengue or malaria. Enjoy your trip.

I will second the suggestion of the University of Chicago Spanish-English Dictionary...It is a great help not only with words but also verb tenses in the front.
My last look at the CDC (Center of disease control travel advice) warnings of malaria in Costa Rica mentioned only the Atlantic coast, especially near the Panama border. However, if you are in wet forest...it is easy for any bite to get infected...so use DEET on the kids and bring a tube of anitbiotic cream.

Enjoy your trip...I always remember when traveling with children ...that there are healthy happy children already living where we are going among all the "dangers"!

Thanks everyone for your comments. Looks like I have a few good dictionary suggestions.

In my original post I was wondering what's in Autan. Is it deet?

Thanks for the info and links to alternative deet products. In our 4 months there we'll travel all over including the southeren carib coast and the jungles. We tend to also wear light weight-quick dry long pants and shirts. I found that helped a lot when guiding in misquito Minnesota and for desert hiking.

The kids are getting excited about our trip. I'll keep y'all posted while I'm there.

rosita

Here's a trick with DEET or any other repellent that is oily in texture. Put it on your clothes...in particular on the end of sleeves, pants legs and similar. Uh.. DEET dissolves some polyesters...but then you wear polyester in the jungle and you will sweat to death anyway. Now...the next part is up to your stamina. Don't wash those clothes. DEET sweats away and evaporates from skin but will build up in cotton or linen cloth. After some time you will have to use less and less. Keep that one set of clothes...maybe stored in a trash sack when not in use...just for jungle excursions. After 4 months they will be bug proof. BTW... learn the symptoms of dengue fever. Nothing you can really do about it..just be on the look out.

The past few weeks there have been numerous TV shows on the Travel Channel about CR. Don't recall which one it was, but on one show they showed how the locals repel mosquitoes. Guy stuck his hand on an ant colony--was not a mound--hole in tree--After ants covered his hand and wrists, he squashed them & smeared them all over his exposed skin. Can't swear to it but I think the narrarator said that ant body juice is natural DEET.

Never heard of this before, Easy enuff to try. It's so dry here in Central Pennsylvania this summer that I don't have any mosquitoes to try it on myself.