"Winter" on Costa Rica's Pacific Shores

Costa Rica's winter is summer. It's really that simple; and you know it the second you walk off the plane, with a sweater, coat or jacket that instantly feels like you are carrying a sleeping bag around.

Obviously, dressing right for the warm climate is a tricky business-- it works pretty well to use layers of light jackets, packed into light luggage that can be popped out when you're back in the cold winds of Kansas. It may take a nap sac, but at least you won't have a parka where it's 80 degrees and sunny. There are a number of tricks you can use to put more vacation fun in your vacation.

Costa Rica actually has 9 or 11 climate zones, depending on who you talk to and what you read. But no matter who you talk to or what you read, you'll find temperature, humidity and sun light and wind speeds vary greatly as you move around the countryside. Even in the capital city, San Jose (in the middle of the country), you can drive from the your hotel or vacation rental where it's nice and warm to the top of a mountain with a giant green neon cross nearby to go have a drink in a bar that used to be a monastery, only to find that you are woefully under dressed to hang around outside where it's chilly and the wind cuts like some disgruntled share cropper's machete (no, I have never met a disgruntled share cropper in Costa Rica, so it's more of a joke than a word to the wise).

If you take a drive west to the North Pacific shoreline, you'll find it hot and dry, similar to Southern California-Arizona in the States. Playa Grande, (near Tamarindo) for example can get so dry and hot that much of the grass and vegetation becomes dried out and brown from December to April. The beaches here make for piping hot sand that will burn your feet if brave them without wearing something. On the other hand, as you head south, toward Panama, past Playa Jaco, toward Playa Dominical and Playa Ballena, you'll find the climate a little less hot and dry. More humidity means that plants and trees remain more woolly and wild and green throughout the year.

Whether you hit the beaches to the north or south on the Pacific, sunscreen is no laughing matter, unless you want to reenact the scene from the movie "The Heartbreak Kids" with Ben Stiller and his sun burned new bride end up with big problems (it's worth a rental). So, bottom line, when we are asked "how do I dress for Costa Rica" in the winter, the answer is it depends on where you are going, but a light jacket or wind breaker in tow is a small price to pay to even out the dramatic climate swings on the skin of a tiny country with 9 or 11 climate zones.