Chirripo National Park

One of the greatest biological wealth and variety in Costa Rica can be found in the Cirripo National Park which protects the largest virgin rainforest in the country. The great wealth of habitats are found especially here in this place because of the variety in altitude, soil type, climate and topography of the area. Paramos, swamps, oak forests, madrono forests and all other kinds of mixed forests can be found here.

This enormous park lies on 50,150 hectares of land and together with La Aimstad National Park, the Chirripo shelter around 60% of all the fauna in Costa Rica.

400 bird species and about 263 amphibians and reptiles have been observed in both of the parks. Among the birds are the resplendent quetzal (phoenix of the forest), black guan, crowned wren-thrush, elegant trogon and the acorn woodpecker. Mammals that can be found in the parks are tapir, puma and jaguar.

Several glaciers that are still intact has been the most interesting discoveries made in the Chirripo National Park. These glacial features such as the glacial valleys, terminal moraines and glacial lakes were formed about 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. The Chirripo Peak, which is the tallest mountain in the country lies also within the national park.

Caño Negro

Caño Negro National Wildlife lies 119 km northwest of San Jose and about 220 km by road.

From San Jose there is a main route following the Pan American Highway, west out of San Jose towards Narjo. Turn north after 32 km to Naranjo on 141. A 22 km climb to Zarcero afterwards will lead you to the amazing topiary garden surrounding the whitewashed church. Stay on 141 for another 20 km to Quesada or San Carlos and then 8 km to Florencia. Here you turn north on 35. This will take you the final 84 km to Los Chiles.

About 10 km before Los Chiles, turn west off of 35 into a dirt road to cross the Rio Frio at San Emilio. This will take you to the ranger station at Caño Negro village.

In the waterwas you may see a bull shark’s fin slice the surface. But most people visit this place to spot migrotary birds.

Birds that you can find in Caño Negro are glossy Ibis, black-necked stilt, neotropical cormorants, American anhinga, northern jacana, American widgeon, wood stodk, snail kite, roseate spoonbill and many many more. This place is also one of the best places in Costa Rica to see the Nicaraguan grackle, which inhabits only in Caño Negro and south of Lake Nicaragua.

With this many visitors every year, the developers sees a great opportunity to attract them with second homes in Costa Rica, resulting in rampant construction especially in formerly sleepy towns like Tamarindo, Quepos, Playas del Coco and Jaco.

Unfortunately poorly planned tourist developments could wreck the country’s reputation as an eco-paradise, as those places could transformed quickly into noisy sprawling resorts with golf courses and cruise ship ports, polluting the environment.

Leatherback Turtle

Half of COsta Rica’s monkey population has been lost since 12 years ago as the jungles have been touched by the developers.

Leatherback turtles are already having a hard time because of the light pollution in Tamarindo.

This is a very familiar issue in developing countries as their tourism industry grows and high-rise hotels are paved over greenery and virgin land.

In a secretly recorded conversation made in July 2007, Auerbach admitted the girl’s age and stated that he had sex with her, referring her as his “girlfriend”.

He was ordered to pay a fine of $200,000 and a restitution of $78,000 to the girl and $100,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. From the sale of a Costa Rican beach house where he committed the crimes, Auerbach also had to forfeit an additional $270,000.

Auerbach traveled to Costa Rica more and less 40 times from 2003 - 2007 and lived in a house he owned. Charges were filed in April 2008 and he immediately fled to Cuba, being named a “most wanted” fugitive by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was arrested in May 2008.

There is a worrisome boom in child sex tourism in Costa Rica where travelers exclusively come to have sex with children. More and more children, boys and girls, as young as 10 years old are victims of these predators, as they consider prostitution a way for them to survive. Pedophile travelers have been drawn to Costa Rica as many as 5,000 tourists every year. Most children have fallen victims of these pedophile tourists before they reach 12 years old.

There are so many beautiful places in Costa Rica that are hidden. Most of the places are only known by the locals. Reading the right travel books will give you a great wealth of information about these hidden paradise.

Here are 3 of my most favorite books on Costa Rica that you can buy online:

Frommer's Costa Rica 2009

1.) Frommer’s Costa Rica 2009 (Frommer’s Complete) by Eliot Greenspan

Frommer’s Costa Rica 2009 offers 14 lists of the best of Costa Rica. Starting from the best of Natural Costa Rica, the book goes on with 13 other lists, such as the best beaches, the best adventures, the best hiking and nature walks, the best bird-watching and many more.

You will find an in-depth explanation about the country, the history, art and architecture, the geography of the land, the popular culture and the country’s food and beverages.

Although (to my taste) it has not enough pictures, with 450 pages, Frommer’s Costa Rica offers a pack of detailed information including map, helping you to find all the hundreds of best places to visit in this small country.

Lonely Planet: Costa Rica

2.) Lonely Planet Costa Rica by Carolina A. Miranda and Paige Penland

Although Lonely Planet is probably the most popular amongst travellers, this version by Carolina A. Miranda and Paige Penland does not give you quite as much information as the first one above. Nevertheless, there are enough pictures for every spot that is explained about and sometimes pictures does speak more than words.

If you are looking for more detailed information go for the first one above. This one would be a great addition to the first because of the great and informative pictures for each review in the first book.

The map of Costa Rica and its surroundings is also a great tool that this book offers. As you travel anywhere, it is probably good to have more than one book in your suitcase.

Lonely Planet: Costa Rica (Country Guide)

3.) Costa Rica (Country Guide) by Matthew Firestone and Mara Vorhees

This one may be the best ‘bible’ for travelers to Costa Rica. This travel guide can come in very handy. It provides a wealth of information on a variety of topics. The only thing I would add is a large map and maybe a little bit more pictures. But this of course are easily found.

The Mountains of Monteverde

The mountains of Monteverde are a beautiful place to ride. Monteverde (which means “Green Mountain”) is located in the Cordillera of Tilaran along the Continental Divide as approximately 1440 meters. It is famous for its Cloud Forests which boasts hundreds of birds, insects, mammals and species of plants.

Horse Trek Monteverde was started 6 years ago by owners Marvin Anchia and his wife, Janet Ellis. Costa Rican born, Marvin claims to have started riding before he was born as his mum used to ride when she was pregnant! By age 8 he was training horses on his father’s farm and his love of horses led to a life time of breeding and working with these amazing animals. Anyone who has had the privilege of seeing Marvin with his horses will soon appreciate the special report his has with his mounts. His skill in riding is pretty impressive!

Horse Riding in Monteverde

Canadian born Janet Ellis, moved to Costa Rica 10 years ago. Her love of horses soon led to her joining forces with Marvin and she tends to the business side of things (someone has to!).  Horse Trek Monteverde offers all sorts of rides from 2.5 hours to multiday rides of 2 to 8 day riding vacations.

Both Marvin and Janet personally guide all the special 8-day vacations and between them they have a wealth of knowledge about Costa Rica and its flora and fauna.

Horse Trek Monteverde own 21 horses and now breed their own horses for their tours. It is a small personal set-up which allows them to be flexible with their customer’s needs.

Horse Trek Monteverde is located in the Monteverde area of Costa Rica and many of the riding tours are focused in this beautiful mountainous area, although the 8 day vacation travels further afield.

Horsetrek Monteverde works closely with Desafio Adventure Company through www.monteverdetours.com and www.arenalvolcanotours.com who offers a wide range of tours such as white water rafting and canyoneering as well as organizing canopy tours, shuttle buses, hotel reservation and full vacation packages.

For information about our 8-day horse riding vacation please check out our site.

And our shorter horse tours see here.

You can also contact us on 2-645-5874 at the Desafio Monteverde office.

To help you pick out the legit Costa Rica tour operators from so much deceptive and misleading information in the Internet, follow these steps:

1.) Make sure you are looking at a professional and consistent web design

Although they all say, “Do not judge a book by its cover,” it is best (and safer) for you to do so with websites. A serious company, regardless of the business, will strive to get the best-looking, professional and consistent website design that is easy to navigate through.

2.) Find the company’s general information

Find a link that says ‘About Us’ or something similar to that. Find information on the owner of the company, partners, sponsors, their physical location and address, contact details such as phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses. Find out their history, philosophy and goals too. All good businesses should provide all this detailed information.

3.) Find the licence by the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism

All reputable tour operators in Costa Rica have to possess a valid licence issued by the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism. Try and find out if this is mentioned on their website or if you see a logo saying it is licensed.

4.) Find out about cancellation policies

An established company will define a very clear cancellation policy.

5.) Communicate with their past travellers if possible

If you can find a section in their website where guests or travellers can provide feedback to the company, it is a good way to communicate with them and ask them for their past experience with the tour operator.

If you find a company online that seems quite legit to you but does not have all of the above, it does not necessarily mean you are dealing with a scam. But still, a website that does not have two or three elemets above should be a red flag signal to you.

Native Costa Ricans are known for their hospitality. In spite of the crime and recent drug problems, generally, Costa Rica is a remarkebly friendly environment.

Costa Rica is mainly a Catholic land, as most of Latin America is. Some evangelical churches has been well established since the 1970’s but still a great 80% of the population remains Catholic. Although only 20% of them actually attend mass regularly, Costa Ricans still express their faith during a certain time of the year, the Holy Week.

There are 8 seperate communities amongst the indegenous population. the 2 largest groups are the Cabecares and the Bribris. A bill to protect and reserve land rights for the indigenous and preserve native culture was established in 1977. However, although the government has practiced these initiatives, it has simultaneously failed to protect the land against mining interests.

The Bribri Kids

Costa Rica has gone through civil wars, human rights abuses and dictatorships. But since 1949 it has had a quite stable democracy. The democratic tradition and its peace ethis is foremost sources of pride amongst Costa Ricans.

The most recent ethic that Costa Ricans are proud of is the environmental protection. 20% of its national territory are made up of national parks, wildlife refuges and forest reserves. Thus the nation’s largest source of economic income is ecotourism.

Ecoplaya Beach and Resort

The hotels is surrounded by beautiful gardens and the refreshing pool has two Jacuzzis and a wet bar. There is also a pool for the kids. The restaurants offer national as well as international cuisine and the bars have a whole range of local as well as imported liquors.

You may reach the hotel by flying directly to the International Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia, from where it is possible to rent a car; From there, you no more than about one hour away.

The Ecoplaya Beach Resort is particular proud to have put interesting and fun activities to choose from; kayaking for one or two persons is very safe, and it is even possible to visit the little Bolanos island. An adventure will take you horseback riding in the tropical forest, where you can explore the waterfalls and the beautiful rivers while admiring the wild life. A canopy tour follows. All transportation and lunch included for a mere $130.00. The hotel also offers diving, mountain biking, sunset tours, and tours to Granada in Nicaragua. Finally, sports fishing expeditions are extremely popular. Treat yourself to a day on the sea for only $550.00, or you may go per the hour if you prefer, $45.00 for 2 hours up to $60.00 for 5 hours.

This area (North Guanacaste, concretely Bahia Salinas) is considered as one of most competent in the entire Costa Rican pacific coast for the sport fishing. The best months are between May and November, however fishing is very satisfying throughout the year and you will come across many abundant species like: Fish Candle, Golden, Yellow Tuna, Rainbow, Marcarelas, Pargos Wahoo among others.

Baya salinas and its environs is simply the best for depth fishing.
We have with a Yacht of 31 feet that is fully equipped for sports fishing.

The hotel also has the following features; it is handicap accessible, it has a dry cleaning service, and a communal kitchen. Most of the rooms are family size and are non-smoking. They also have their own interior entrance. The rates go as follow:

Double Standard

$ 79.00, $ 98.00$ and $160.00

Double Deluxe

$ 93.00, $114.00, and$181.00

Junior Deluxe $150.00, $182.00, and $265.00

Studio $99.00, $120.00 and $192.00

Junior $120.00, $150.00 and $228.00

Master

$164.00,  $198.00, and$286.00

Luxury $198.00, $245.00, and $335.00

The ‘Banana Industry Action Plan against Climate Change’ has been handed in to the Ministry of Environment and Energy by the association of the Costa Rican banana producers. The goal of the action plan is to reduce the greenhouse gasses emissions to 0 by 2012.

A program to educate and raise awareness amongst workers will soon be implemented. The program is to teach the workers on the importance of fighting climate change and global warming due to CO2 emissions. Using a manual of environmental practices, this program is expected to succeed and reach each goal by 2012.

The holistic strategy will be implemented and measured by these points:

- Reforestation programs to create carbon sinks
- Reducing the use of fossil fuels and fertilizers
- Using bio-fuels and biodegradable plastics
- Applying bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers
- Implementing energy-saving programs

The Banana Environment Commission was the one who developed this action plan and all actors of this industry have decided to take part and commit themselves to the plan.

More than 25% of all the land in Costa Rica is protected as national parks and biological reserves which makes the country an international leader on green issues. From 1986 until today, Costa Rica forest has increased a whooping 30%, making it the first tropical country to reverse deforestation.

Costa Rica Bananas