Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity.

Costa Rica Trip

Feb/March 2008

Costa Rica is known for its tropical rain forests, wild life, varieties of birds, adventure sports, coffee and pineapple plantations, banana and sugar cane production and hand-crafted wood items.

In San Jose, stop at the National Theatre (the nation's jewel), and the National Museum to get an overview of Costa Rica's history, including the time before Columbus arrived.

The lodges where we stayed were authentic and representative of rain forest area. In the Sarapiqui region, we stayed in a lodge beside the Tirimbina Biological Reserve where we were able to hike into the forest area. White water river rafting on the Sarapiqui River was fun, in addition to visiting a pineapple and coffee plantation to learn about top exports.

Another lodge, Bosques de Chachagua, is located in a private rain forest reserve. We had our own little cabin with hiking trails in the area. The reserve is surrounded by protected lands and also home to toucans and blue morpho butterflies. The lodge is a working ranch.

We spent a few nights at the Volcano Lodge in La Fortuna, a town set in the valley of the Arenal volcano. In this area, we took a tour/nature walk on the Arenal Hanging Bridges project; the bridges are suspended over the rain forest. Since this area is also known for its hot springs, we took some time to sample them.

On Costa Rica's northern border, near the Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, (home and habitat to hundreds of wild life species), we toured by boat to view these species.

Later we traveled to Guanacaste Province in NorthWest Costa Rica. At Buena Vista Lodge, we were able to walk into the tropical forest where birds and wildlife are abundant. Since our lodging was located in a thermal area, we rode horseback through the jungle to soak in these hot baths. In the early morning, we took an uphill hike through the forest to a platform where we whizzed from tree to tree on a zip-line…better known as the Forest Canopy Ride….great fun!

And our final trip south took us to the province of Puntarenas to a natural habitat for crocodiles where we took another boat ride on Rio Tarcoles for more viewing…not only of crocs, but birds too. Our hotel here was on the beach; however, due to strong currents, swimming is not encouraged.

Our last day was spent at Manuel Antonio National Park…where the same was true for swimming…dangerous currents. The treat of the day was watching the white-faced monkeys perform, both in the trees and on the ground.

Returning to San Jose, we departed the airport homebound!

Costa Rica Photo Gallery

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