Is There a Zip Line Tour in Areanl for Small Children?

Yes there is a zip line tour in Arenal for small children starting at age of six years.

The platforms  are a shorter distance form each other making it easier for smaller children.  The guides are excellent and instruct the children very well so they feel comfortable and have fun.

It is called Arenal Vista Canopy tour and is located on the outskirts of the Children's Eternal  Rainforest Reserve.  This is a half day tour and costs $55 per person.

Contact anncreed23@gmail.com  if  you would like to take this tour.

Ann, "The Costa Rica Expert" is the author of costaricalearn.com and is a Costa Rica Vacation Planner.  "The Costa Rica Learn Travel Company"

 

 

 

 

 

Samasati Nature Retreat- Things to do in and around the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica

Here are some of the most interesting outdoor activities or day tours offered from the Samasati Nature Retreat located on the south western Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica - near the border with Panama.

Samasati Nature Retreat is located  six miles from  the small village of Puerto Viejo on the Southern Caribbean Coast  of Costa Rica.  From here one can explore  many outdoor nature activities.

I will talk about my favorites:

1. White water rafting on the Pacuare River.  This pristine unspoiled river offers class III to IV  rapids-depending on the recent rainfall.  Cost for this tour is around $99 per person and is an all day tour - takes around 8 hours and is eighteen miles in length with thirty eight rapids ----so it gets your adrenalin going!!  Wildlife that you may see: sloths, monkeys, toucans, parrots, and many varieties of colorful butterflies.

Snorkeling at Punta Uva  You will need to hire a guide with a boat.  Best to go out early in the morning when the water is clear.  You will see colorful coral reefs and underwater sea plants, plus schools of  fish of all shapes and sizes.

Hiking in Cahuita National Park   Don't do this on your own.  Hire a local guide who knows the area well.   Wear tennis shoes or hiking boots which are much better than sandals.  Take mosquito repellent.  The hiking trails are along the beach as well as inside the rainforest.   Several varieties of snakes can be found here.  One is the eyelash viper-very poisonous!  White face and howler monkeys as well as sloths can be seen if you hike deeper into the rainforest. In the early morning  toucans can be seen flying above the tree tops. This is a beautiful unspoiled place--no high rise condos, no big chain hotels, no strip malls,  just pristine nature.

Contact Ann-vacation planner for Costa Rica  to help you plan you vacation to this southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.  anncreed23@gmail.com

Go to www.costaricalearn.com

[caption id="attachment_5371" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Eyelash Viper"][/caption]

to learn all about her travel company-The Costa Rica Learn Travel Company

[caption id="attachment_5367" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pacuare River"][/caption]

 

 

 

Osa Peninsula Costa Rica, Poor Man's Paradise

 

NO TELEVISION, NO INTERNET, NO GUNS AND NO CRIME-CHILDREN RUN AND PLAY FREELY.

Is there a place like this left in the world? Yes, and the name given is Poor Man's Paradise,  located  on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula.  (Southern Pacific).  We boarded a small boat in Sierpe and it  took one hour to get to Poor Man's Paradise.

On the southwestern Pacific Coastline of Costa Rica is the  lowland primary rainforest known as the Osa Peninsula,  home to Corcovado National Park. which was created in 1975 by President Daniel Oduber's government in response to the heavy logging of the primary rain forest in the area.  This remote pristine area of Costa Rica has very few people, few roads,  no high rise condominiums and lots of wildlife.   We came here to Poor Man's Paradise to experience this quiet, unspoiled  spot of nature with it's five hundred species of trees, two hundred species of butterflies, and too many tropical birds to count.  The most famous is the scarlet macaw which are plentiful in this area.  The sky turned red when these beautiful birds spread their wings in full flight.   Soon, they were roosting in the almond trees just outside our bungalow window and we could hear the crunch of almonds as they ate their morning feast.

Poor Man's Paradise consists of a dozen  cabins perched near the ocean, so close we could hear the roar of the ocean only a few yards from our cabin balcony. The rooms are sparse, no air conditioning  and there is no hot water for baths.

The place is owned and operated by the Amaya family who homesteaded the property forty years ago and in the early nineties they found that because of the natural beauty and closeness to Corcovado National Park, tourism could bring  income to the family. The setting is gorgeous.  Long strips of beige sandy beaches and tall century old primary rain forest frame the wooden cabins which line the hillsides sloping down to the Pacific Ocean.  We look to the west over the horizon of the Pacific Ocean and the sunsets are the most beautiful I have ever seen.

The  village has a one room school house where forty children attend from grade one through grade six and all of them are taught by one teacher.   This is a small settlement with independent minded families.  They bond and help each other.  There is one small church where everyone gathers to worship.  Family values are very strong here.  This is a unique place in the modern world. There is no television, sparse cell phone service, no Internet, and best - there is no crime and no guns.  The children run and play freely.  Access is mostly by small boats,  however recently a new road enters the property coming from Drake Bay.  It is open only in the months of January through March when there is less rainfall and the rivers do not crest.

The residents wonder what this new road will mean to them.  How will this progress change their quiet simple life style?

We decided to take a hike into near by Corcovado  National Park and hired a guide.  (You should not venture into this remote national park without a guide provided at the Lodge)  As we hike deep into the park we see a group of howler monkeys and lots of toucans.  The larger animals which live in the park such as the giant anteater and the cougars stay deeper into the jungle.  The primary lowland rain forest trees seemed so tall that they hid the sun and everything under it's canopy has an ecosystem of it's own.

Also we hired a small boat to take us to Cano Island (one hour ride to the island). This uninhabited island has long stretches of beautiful lonely sandy beige beaches.  The popular thing to do around the island is snorkel and scuba.  We choose to snorkel among the coral reefs (not so colorful as in the Caribbean) We saw big eyed jack fish, small manta rays, and a couple reef sharks (which did not bother us but anyway we kept our distance).

This region has a very warm climate and a lot of rainfall per year.  The months with less rainfall are January through March, although it still rains (but much less).

DOLPHIN AND WHALE WATCHING.  This area is great for whale watching and a good month is August and also January and February.   The hump back whales migrate from the north to these warm waters to give birth to their young.  Also dolphins (here year round)  gracefully flip in and out of the water. Best way to view them is to rent a boat. However, sometimes the whales and dolphins can be seen from the beach.

Scarlet Macaws   This is the place to see Scarlets!  One morning around 6 am we saw twenty scarlet macaws in the almond trees outside out bungalow window.  Their chirping is not a pleasant sound so if you want to sleep late -forget it.  We went for a walk out to the beach and the scarlets were also there feasting on the almonds.  The shells of the almond fell on our heads.

Short video with a good close up look.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GstDjYPhPv4

Thank you Keelan for letting us share this video.

Would you like to visit this unique place in the world?  Contact Ann, the Costa Rica Expert for your vacationing planning to Costa Rica. She can set up all your transportation, lodging, and tours. You can save time and money not having to take your time surfing the internet and getting confused with the many options offered.

Learn about "The Costa Rica Learn Travel Company"  VACATION PLANNING TO COSTA RICA by going to the home page of  www.costaricalearn.com. 

You can contact Ann:    anncreed23@gmail.com

She will answer your questions. No Obligations--- Best thing is she has 12 years of experience as a travel agent to Costa Rica and she has lived there "off and on" sine 1998.

Vacationing to Costa Rica

Planning a vacation to Costa Rica is a time consuming task.  You can surf the internet and become quickly confused with the dozens of choices of hotels in each location.

Rick and Anna wanted a stress free vacation of 10 days to Costa Rica and never having been there they knew that they needed some help to plan their time and pick the destinations to visit as well as deciding on the adventure tours to meet their time frame.

After consulting with Ann, "The Costa Rica Learn Travel Company"  they choose to rent a small Suzuki Jimmy 4x4 with a GPS and drive thru the mountains to Arenal Volcano- a 3.5 hour scenic trip from Alajuela (home to the San Jose International Airport).  They stayed the first night they arrived at "Xinia's Costa Rica Vacation Homestay" located 6 miles from the international airport.  And the next day, after driving 30 minutes up the mountain to visit the Poas Volcano National park, they then drove to the Arenal Observatory Lodge-an eco lodge located in the Jungle area of Arenal where they experienced close up panoramic views of the Volcano and Arenal Lake. Zip Line tour (Sky Tram, Sky Trek) and Kayaking on Lake Arenal were the adventure tours Ann set up for them.

Continuing on to the NW Guanacaste Beach of Tamarindo (a small town located right on the beach) where they spent 4 nights at Villa Alegre-right in front of the beach  (set up by Ann) basking in the sun, swimming in the pool and walking the beach, eating fresh seafood,  and just simply chilling out.

Here is what Rick and Anna had to say:

We were extremely pleased having used Ann’s services for our 10 day vacation in Costa Rica. Sure, we could’ve winged it and spent many nights at the computer trying to put together our vacation, hoping we made good choices for our hotels, meals & activities. But Ann listened to what we wanted and honed right in on a great itinerary for us. Her communication was awesome, she was easy to get a hold of, she answered our questions quickly, made suggestions for us and definitely made our whole trip easy and comfortable.
Besides the great hotels and activities she set us up with, our best experience was staying with Xinia and her family in their home. We were picked up by Xinia at the airport, whisked away to her beautiful clean house where a home cooked meal was prepared for us. We had a blast spending the evening with her family talking and learning more about Costa Rica from a different perspective.
Thank You, Ann! We had a fantastic trip to Costa Rica.

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Rancho Margot, Costa Rica

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Rancho Margot Bungalow

Let's travel to Costa Rica to the Arenal volcano area and visit Rancho Margot.  Rancho Margot is a self sustaining organic farm located near the Arenal  Lake with  great views of the Arenal volcano.  This is indeed a unique experience for tourist in Costa Rica.  It is  400 acres of rain forest  and borders the Children's  Eternal  Rain forest  of Monteverde.  Juan Sostheim and his family bought the property and  turned it into a working ranch where everything is grown organically.  Electricity is generated on the property by a turbine driven by water power.  Internet and cell phones service comes  from satellite.  A string wide  river runs through the middle of the property.  The Sostheim family welcomes  tourist and have 10 beautiful bungalows and a bunk house to house their guest.  You can take a tour of the ranch and learn how things are run.  You visit the organic garden,  see the cows and pigs,  plant a tree, take a horseback ride to the highest point on the property.  Here you see the beautiful Lake Arenal as well as the Arenal volcano.  You see toucans and howler monkeys.  Also, there is a yoga center on the property l0cated on the banks of the river.

We stayed two nights and three days and enjoyed every minute of it.  It was the month of July and we got rainy afternoons with big thunderstorms and lightening which was great.  Mornings were sunny and pleasant.  There is a pet toucan down by the restaurant.  He lives in a very large wired area.  I had never seen a toucan up close like that.

Rancho Margot is like a botanical garden with all sorts tropical flowers and plants.  Just strolling around the bungalows was a delight.  You really feel like you are in the jungle.  Early morning we were awakened by the sounds of howler monkeys  near by.

Juan showed us the school buses he ordered on  E Bay and they actually were delivered to Costa Rica!  Juan had them painted jungle green with colorful birds all over them.  Quite a sight!  These buses are used to transport the guest from La Fortuna over to Rancho Margot, about a 20 minute ride.

Juan  also has an animal rescue station right on the property.  He showed us a small monkey which had been brought to the station the day before.  It had been hit by some school kids, and later rescued and brought to the Juan and his staff.  They had several other monkeys which were being nursed as well as two baby deer.

Juan explained that their overall mission is to protect and preserve the  rain forest.  They bring local school children to the ranch and teach them about protecting  and preserving the rain forest.   Tourism was incorporated into the project to help raise funds to run the operation.  It is a lucky tourist who gets to experience Rancho Margot.  It is indeed a unique place!    You can find them on the web  www.ranchomargot.org  and find out all the details if you want to visit the ranch.

Experience Rancho Margot first hand because it is featured in our recently filmed  DVD "Costa Rica A Travel Adventure Spectacular" travel video.  You can order this full length Costa Rica travel video by going to Costaricalearn's home page and go to top and click on "buy our video"  There you will see a 3 minute preview of the movie and the instructions how to order it.  If you are thinking of vacationing to Costa Rica this video is a must see!  All the popular tourist destinations are featured on it.

Where is Rancho Margot located? Arenal Volcano and Lake Arenal,  La Fortuna, Costa Rica.

How to get to Rancho Margot ? When you make reservations Juan will provide information  on  how to get to the ranch.

Best time of year to visit? Mid December thru mid April rains less.   However, this area of Costa Rica is a very rainy area.  But most of the time you will get sunny mornings.  Remember you are in a rain forest which needs rain to keep it green.

To visit this unique place contact Ann "The Costa Rica Expert"  She is the owner of The Costa Rica Learn Travel Company

Contact Ann  anncreed23@gmail.com for an individualized vacation itinerary to Costa Rica suited just for you.

Read all about this at  www.costaricalearn.com