Paul Glassman"s Costa Rica Guide is an excellent, thorough, in-depth travel guide to Costa Rica, supplying salient details on the green turtles of Tortugeuro, the volcanic peaks of Irazú, and the lovely beaches of the Nicoya Peninsula, plus all the various ecotours among hundreds of bird and butterfly species and thousands of plants and insects, in habitats ranging from lowland jungle to cloud forest. With river rafting, scuba diving, and sport fishing (oceanic as well as lake and mountain stream), horseback riding, windsurfing, and the citified pleasures of San José, it"s small wonder so many visitors to Costa Rica get hooked on the place, not just for annual vacations, but for retirement as well. Glassman clearly knows the country well, and along with comprehensive coverage of hotels (from luxury beachfront cabanas to budget mountainside B & Bs), restaurants (from French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Lebanese options to Costa Rican specialties like gallo pinto, casado, and plátanos fritos), and activities (rafting and spelunking to bird watching and exploring the national parks), Glassman provides a wide array of candid information--on topics as diverse as retirement, pickpocket precautions, schooling options, paying off the cops, and, most importantly, the various courses and institutions that offer to teach you Spanish. Insightful, reliable, and full of interesting asides, Glassman"s book is practical and easy to use--a quality guide to Costa Rica. --Stephanie Gold