In terms of my spending in Costa Rica, I did manage to keep it under $100. I avoided the temptation of taking home a little bit of my vacation with me and only bought souvenirs for others: 5 bags of (fairly traded, organic) coffee for $4-5 each. In fact, I spent most of my money on a lavish dinner at a restaurant that catered to Westerners on one of our last nights in San Jose.

I probably spent more money on the outset, preparing for the trip. Because we were to spend a few days in the rainforest, I was pursuaded by a few people (a tropics nurse, my brother, myself) to buy a few outdoorsy stuff: some nylon pants, a rainhat, bug spray, etc. Because I did this at the last possible minute, I ended up buying more expensive clothes than my budget would normally allow: $28 for a rainhat?!

It's easy when you have a school doing your trip planning for you, otherwise I'm sure I'd be seeing the money leave much more quickly. But maybe I can keep this in mind for next time...