Hey iNat friends and community,
So, my wife and I want to go to Costa Rica in the middle of November (our anniversary)... How many of you have been? Did you go through an agency? Did you get a package deal? Housing? Vehicle?
Would LOVE to hear of some of your travel experiences -- it'd be my first time to do this sort of thing, and I sure could use some advice of what to do...or not to do. :)
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One of the Master Naturalist member up in Denton goes to Costa Rica almost every year. She's not active here on iNat but I'll try to get some contact information for you. Sounds like a great adventure Sam. I've started planning a trip to South India for next spring.
I would love to hear some insight from her! I've looked a little bit so far, and there are SO MANY choices on what to do and where to go. It's a touch overwhelming!
Meanwhile, I can't WAIT to see what kind of Indian dragonflies you spot!!! :)
That sounds awesome! I look forward to hearing the suggestions :-) I imagine some of your decisions might be based on how good your Spanish is.
I've been, and had a great time. We stayed in a guest house in San Jose (the capital city, near the airport) and did day or overnight trips to other parts of the country, returning to San Jose between them. We went to the Caribbean coast, cloud forest (Monteverde), Pacific coast, and volcano Arenal. We did a mix of taking local buses and renting cars. Being able to communicate in Spanish really helps.
OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies) hosts individual travelers at some of their field stations: http://www.ots.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=69
I visited La Selva (classical tropical rainforest), Palo Verde (tropical dry forest & marsh), and Las Cruces (premontane tropical forest) during my OTS course (a looong time ago). Each site provided a unique, spectacular experience. I hear accommodations have become a lot more luxurious since then. At an OTS-run facility, you get highly trained professional guides, recruited from local communities, who follow ethical ecotourism practices. You also have the opportunity to rub elbows with visiting and staff scientists doing research at the station.
OTS is a nonprofit consortium and proceeds support their programs in tropical biology research and training: http://www.ots.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=258
Thank you all so much! This gives me some good guidance. :)
I'll likely book the flight first, and then we will schedule the tours and whatnot later on. I'm not sure that we're really planning on seeing the whole country all at once -- we might just find a good base and explore all around there. Don't worry -- I'll totally be spamming up iNat with lots and lots and lots of observations. ;)
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