Hi Nixie,
Great to hear you’re attending the event in July. I’ll be there and look forward to meeting you. It’s a good idea to plan an extended visit while you’re down here.
My suggestion would be to pick two – three different regions and spend one to two weeks in each, renting a home/condo or even a room/rooms via airbnb.com. There could also be low-cost hotels as an option. Rent a car to explore the area and the surrounding towns.
If you’re interested in the Central Valley I would suggest making your home base in a town like Grecia or Atenas and then taking day trips from there. Some other places you might check out are Arenal or the Pacific coast. Check out the Insider website for more info on each region. During the event we’ll be going over each region in detail as well.