Please see the student Field Preparation Guides for more detailed information about the Center.
Passports and Visa
Students must have a passport to enter all of the countries where our programs take place. Students must make certain that their passports are valid until six months after the program ends. If necessary, please renew it as soon as possible.
U.S. citizens arriving in Costa Rica are allowed to stay in the country for 90 days without a visa (non-U.S. citizens may, however, require one). Our semester program lasts for 95 days, but since semester students will travel outside of Costa Rica (to Nicaragua or Panama) for a field trip during the program, they will be given another 90-day visa upon their re-entry into Costa Rica after this trip, thus equaling plenty of days allowed for the program overall. SFS is not responsible for administrative procedures with immigration for traveling or visas not related to the academic program, so if you plan to travel outside of the program and/or stay in Costa Rica for longer than the program lasts, please check with the Embassy of Costa Rica. If you aren’t a U.S. citizen you made need to obtain a consular visa. Please directly check with the Costa Rican Embassy.
Communications
Mail
Letters sent to Costa Rica should be marked AIRMAIL. The average one-way delivery time for airmail to Costa Rica is 5 to 14 days; 14 to 16 weeks for ground. Postage from Costa Rica to the U.S. currently costs about $0.50 per letter. Packages should not be sent to the Center. Package service is very slow, and a considerable nuisance for the recipient. If you have prescription medicines, make sure to bring enough for the entire semester, as you will not be able to receive this through the mail. Students will be liable for all applicable customs duty, which may be very expensive (up to 200% of value!), if they receive a package. It can take several hours of paperwork at the postal customs offices and warehouse in San José to retrieve a package, and students will need to arrange their own transportation to San Jose in order to pick up packages during limited free time.
Mail should be sent to students at the following address:
CEDS
Apartado 150-4013
Atenas-20501
Costa Rica
Central America
The physical address of the Center is: Del Monumento al Boyero en Atenas, 4 Km. al este pasando por la iglesia de Los Ángeles de Atenas. Al final de Este Camino. Ultimo portón de metal gris con el rotulo que dice “Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Sostenible” a mano derecha, Atenas, Costa Rica.
Telephone
The Center has one telephone that students may use to make outgoing collect or phone card calls. Students will not be able to receive any phone calls at the Center. There are also three public phones near the Center where students will be able to make collect or phone card calls. There is a public telephone at the bus station outside the Center (approx. 300 m from the gate) and another in front of the grocery store (approx. 1 km from the gate). It is possible to receive faxes at the local post office in Atenas at (011) (506) 446-5140. Please direct the fax to “Apdo. 150.” However, students must arrange their own transportation (taxi) into Atenas during their limited free time to pick up the fax. In addition, there is a fee for receiving faxes at the post office of about $0.40 per page. International calling cards can be purchased locally for 3000 colones, or approximately $6, per 10 to 15 minute card. Some phones farther away from the Center accept an AT&T calling card or an MCI card for calls from Costa Rica to the USA and Canada. It is very difficult and time-consuming for international persons to obtain lines for cell phones purchased in Costa Rica. For this reason, we do not encourage this method of communication.
Internet
Internet access and email are available for students at the Center to support research and educational work. However, as we are in a remote center, Internet access is often unreliable and intermittent.