When I think of Taxi-Cab drivers I think of grumpy old men that speak Arabic.  I usually think they’re are trying to rip me off on the price, so I have to set a pre-arranged prices before I step inside the cab.  In Costa Rica I have had some of my best times in cab.  In general cab drivers here are extremely friendly and go unreal lengths to take care of their clients. 

My first night in Costa Rica I had no idea where to go or what was available to do.  We were agroup of three guys looking to have fun in a foreign city waved down a taxi.  When the taxi asked where were headed, we replied with a question, Where should we go?  In Spanish he listed off over ten spots as if we had all heard of these places before.  Having no idea what this guy was talking about and not remembering the name of a single bar he had just named we simply instructed the driver to take us to the closest good spot.  Our cab driver was actually off duty at the time and was headed to a good local bar, he insisted that he would take us for free.  The bar he took us to was perfect, with a nice mix of Ticos, Americans and Australians, this was just what we had in mind.  We ended up buying the driver a couple drinks for payment.

Occurrances like this are not unusual in Costa Rica.  While in Manuel Anotonio a friend had taken a cab all the way from San Jose and met me by the park entrance.  After putting down a couple Imperiales my bud decided he was heading off to do an AVT tour through the rain forest, while I was going to hang out at the restaurant a bit long and enjoy a couple more Imperiales.  About an hour after splitting ways a taxi cab driver drove up next to the restaurant and was trying to get my attention from his cab, I had no clue what this guy wanted.  The driver then started asking if I was the friend of Taylor.  At this point I realized this was the same driver that my friend had on the way to Manuel Antonio.  Apparently a 1/2 hour into the drivers return to San Jose he noticed a digital camera which was left in the back seat of his taxi, the driver proceeded to return to Manuel Antonio to return his client’s possession.  I couldn’t believe he went this far out of his way, and even more that he remembered that I was a friend of Taylor’s.  I took the camera and told the driver I would make sure to give it back to the owner.  With a smile on his face, he thanked me.

A final example of the greatness of cab drivers in Costa Rica is from last night.  My driver’s name was Johnny, I needed a cab out to the airport to pick some one up, Before getting out of the cab Johnny asked me what time the flight was arriving (he spoke very little english but he was able to understand my poor spanish).  He handed me his card and told me to give him a call for a ride back home, I thanked him and parted ways.  Five minutes later Johnny came up to me and said that he would wait at the airport with me, eventhough it was close to a 1/2 hour wait.  The company was needed, since the flight was delayed about 20 minutes, good sports conversions got me through the long wait.  After returning to my place he told me to call anytime and he’d pick me up no matter where he was in the city.

I have had very good experiences with cab drivers here, and have many other experiences which enforce my judgement.  Cabs in Costa Rica not only have some of the friendliest drivers, the rates are also very cheap for american standards.

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Filed under: Travel on August 3rd, 2007