Costa Rica is by far my favorite country I have ever been to! You cannot make up how beautiful the scenery is, and the wildlife is equally spectacular! Some fun fact background about the county, (I LOVE fun facts). Costa Rica is part of Central America. It is known for being one of the most biodiverse place on Earth, with 12 different microclimates! There is no other country where you can experience cloud forests, mangroves, mountains, mangroves, volcanoes, oceans, wetlands, reefs, rainforests, deserts and more! Because of the biodiversity no wonder the country accounts for over 500,000 species of plants and wildlife. This includes 900 species of the most beautiful birds on the planet.
Our trip was 8 days at the Rui Palace Guanacaste. It was a beautiful all-inclusive resort with most of the group staying in ocean view rooms. We chose to do an all-inclusive instead of traveling around the country because there was 20 of us celebrating my birthday, and people were coming and going all week, which would have been a logistical nightmare.
The resort was just down the beach from a bar called the Monkey Bar. Across the street was an area that capuchin and howler monkeys come hang out all day and go back into the forest at night. First, howlers have to have one of the creepiest calls I have ever heard. (There were some living on the resort too). Second, capuchins are the most inquisitive little guys. They have gotten used to tourists coming to that area and bringing fruit from the resort and the bar. I actually had one climb on me and take my sunglasses!!
Prior to our trip, in my research I had met a local named Freddy Campos. Freddy came highly recommended by people online as a tour guide. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed our time with him and his crew!! We booked two excursions with him. He makes a full day of it! One of our days we went into the rainforest and saw sloths, frogs, tons of birds and beautiful plants. Then we swam at a large waterfall. After that we went to Don Juans coffee farm and learned all about how he makes his coffee the original way, by hand. Which was probably the best coffee I have ever had in my life. We had lunch at the butterfly garden and then instead of hiking 2 hours to the blue falls where you can’t swim, we chose to go to the river, where the water was just as blue, but you could swim. Seemed like a no brainer, since it was 104F.
Our second excursion was ziplining, river tubing, mud baths and hot springs. Just like the previous excursion it did not disappoint. The river tubing was probably my favorite. I was expecting river tubing like we have in Ohio that is like a chill ride while you drink a beer. But no! They handed me a helmet, and I knew right then something was going to be different and it sure was! After some rain would have been better but it was still a phenomenal experience. If you ever have a chance you to go to Costa Rica you definitely should! And you definitely should look up my friend Freddy.
freddycostaricantours.com
I cannot wait to go back to CR someday and hopefully check out areas like Cloud Forest and maybe even experience the amazing arribada, which is the mass sea turtle nesting phenomenon. Until then, Pura Vida my friends. Go Confidently!
Leave a Reply