Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [514]
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CAROLINA A MIRANDA
San José, Central Valley & Highlands, Caribbean Coast
Carolina has traveled Costa Rica top to bottom and east to west on numerous occasions over more than a half-dozen years. During these sojourns, she has eaten ungodly amounts of chifrijo (rice and beans with fried pork and salsa) and seen some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. When she isn’t getting lost along jungle trails in Costa Rica, she works as a freelance writer in New York City, where she contributes stories to Time, Budget Travel, Travel + Leisure, Florida Travel + Life and the public radio station WNYC. She is the author of the uncouth and saucy cultural blog C-Monster.net. Find her on Twitter at @cmonstah.
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CÉSAR G SORIANO
Northwestern Costa Rica, Península de Nicoya, Northern Lowlands
Bitten by the wanderlust bug at birth, César has based all his life decisions on the travel opportunities they would afford. Desperate to flee his Virginia hometown after college, he joined the US Army – and was promptly deployed to war-torn Bosnia and Hercegovina. As a career journalist, César landed his first dream job at USA Today, where he covered everything from celebrity gossip to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In 2006 César changed gear and became a London-based freelance writer. This is his eighth and final guidebook for Lonely Planet; in 2010 César switched careers again and is now a US Foreign Service Officer.
LONELY PLANET AUTHORS
Why is our travel information the best in the world? It’s simple: our authors are passionate, dedicated travelers. They don’t take freebies in exchange for positive coverage so you can be sure the advice you’re given is impartial. They travel widely to all the popular spots, and off the beaten track. They don’t research using just the internet or phone. They discover new places not included in any other guidebook. They personally visit thousands of hotels, restaurants, palaces, trails, galleries, temples and more. They speak with dozens of locals every day to make sure you get the kind of insider knowledge only a local could tell you. They take pride in getting all the details right, and in telling it how it is. Think you can do it? Find out how at lonelyplanet.com.
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CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
Dr David Goldberg wrote the Health chapter. He completed his training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where he has also served as voluntary faculty. At present he is an infectious-diseases specialist in Scarsdale, New York, and the editor in chief of the website MDtravelhealth.com.
David Lukas wrote the Environment chapter. He is an avid student of natural history who has traveled widely to study tropical ecosystems in locations such as Borneo and the Amazon. He has also spent several years leading natural-history tours to all corners of Costa Rica, Belize and Guatemala.
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Behind the Scenes
* * *
THIS BOOK
THANKS
OUR READERS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
* * *
THIS BOOK
This 9th edition of Costa Rica was written by Matthew D Firestone (coordinating author), Carolina A Miranda and César G Soriano. David Lukas penned the Environment chapter and Dr David Goldberg wrote the Health chapter. Some of the content in the Wildlife Guide was based on David Lukas’ text from the previous edition. Matthew D Firestone, Guyan Mitra and Wendy Yanagihara wrote the 8th edition, and Mara Vorhees and Matthew D Firestone wrote the 7th edition. The 6th edition was written by Paige R Penland and Carolina A Miranda, while the first five editions were written by Rob Rachowiecki. This guidebook was commissioned in Lonely