I am back! And the answer is, no, no scammers at Liberia airport. It is tiny, it is fast, and it is hassle free. It's basically a big metal building, you walk in one side, go through immigration, and exit out the other side where your shuttle service is waiting for you.
We stayed mostly at the resort in Playa Conchal, very touristy bullshit, and made a side trip to go zip lining and went to Monkey Park, which is between Conchal and Filadelfia. Monkey Park is a privately owned sanctuary for injured or abused animals, and for a $50 cab ride and $10 a head, your cab driver will wait for you while a pretty college age female gives you a private English speaking tour. If you like monkeys, its a quick and easy way to to get close to them, and its for a good cause:
http://www.monkey-park.org/ingles/inginicio/index.htmlI DID find one DP--- the fucking Pacific Ocean! I almost drowned the first day, and 5 minutes later a big fat hispanic woman almost got sucked in by the undertow the next day. The next day the ocean was swelling up to near the resort entrance, and one of the beach bums told me that there were 5 recuses in the area that day.
If you are lucky, you will walk the beach away from the resort and maybe see some topless female Ticos sunbathing or walking along the water.
Overall, the Ticos are very freindly, and most of them seem to be pretty happy people. A least the ones waiting on us turistas. Don't know about the darker skinned Ticos who were gardening and painting the resort all day long in 95 degree heat.
Stay out of resort convenience stores unless you feel like paying $30 for a bottle of sun block.
Don't exchange any American money for Colones. Everything in Guanacaste is in American.
The drivers are fucking nuts too, and love to use the narrow left hand lane to pass slower vehicles, the line markers be damned.
Iguanas everywhere, they are like rabbits. We saw one pregnant iguana knock over a tourists cocktail and eat the fruit in it. There was also a family of moneys, and some very fearless raccoons and coatimundis running around.
Certainly one of the least adventurous Costa Rican treks in Black Flag history, but I am really looking forward to returning one day, maybe with more time and a more adventuresome agenda.