Natural and Cultural Wonders

Welcome to Costa Rica! One of the most diverse countries on Earth! At your arrival your driver will be waiting for you at the entrance of the airport to drive you to your hotel.

Depending on your arrival time you may have the chance to visit the Central Market and start getting to know the Costa Rican culture.

Overnight at Rosa del Paseo or similar. Included: transfer from airport, Guided Central Market Visit & lodging.

After breakfast we start the drive all the way up to the highlands. On the way we will visit Chieton Moren Shop, it means "A Fair Deal" in Brunka language. This is a shop in which you will receive an interesting explanation of the different crafts you will find from the 8 different indigenous territories. The visitor will find information about their culture, way of life, crafts and how they make them. It is a fair-trade shop so you will be helping the ancestral artisans as well.

You continue your way to Cerro Las Vueltas, where you will spend the next 2 nights, learning about the Paramo and how this family decided to leave all and start a new life in their sustainable farm.

Overnight Las Vueltas Lodge.

Included: breakfast, rental car, lunch, dinner & lodging.

Today you will wake up with a breathtaking view and the chance to learn to milk the cows.

After breakfast you will hike the magic paramo and find medicinal plants on the way and the local guide will explain their uses.

During the afternoon you will learn the different processes they do in order to have a sustainable farm.

Overnight Las Vueltas Lodge. Included: breakfast, rental car , guided hike to the paramo, farm tour, lunch, dinner & lodging.

Providencia is a magical paradise with abundant nature, waterfalls, coffee plantations and giant oaks, part of an impressive forest of high altitude. Adrián Fonseca has been the pioneer with the vision of creating a small oasis in the mountain, receiving visitors from all over the world and sharing the treasure of this region with the vision of being and living a self-sustainable and happy life.

During the afternoon you will have the chance to walk around town.

Overnight & dinner at Riviera Lodge or Homestay (your choice!) Included: Breakfast, rental car, lunch, dinner & lodging.

After breakfast you will visit EL Salitre waterfall, a secondary forest with many waterfalls is known for the concentration of salt found in its stone walls and the animals frequent to suck it, these lands were created by subduction from the bottom of the sea. Strategically located in the Savegre River basin, the cleanest in Central America, where bird species from the upper and lower parts of the Cerro de la Muerte converge, second highest mountain in Costa Rica.

During the afternoon you will meet The Agüero Cordero family, exemplary in the use and handling of plastic, paper, wood, cardboard, among others, to turn them into great works of art, giving a respite to a planet saturated with bad practices. Using waste materials, they show their participants how to make jewelry, earrings, portraits, bracelets, testing the creativity of this family.

Overnight at & dinner at Riviera Lodge / Homestay. Included: Breakfast, rental car , guided waterfall tour, handcraft lessons, lunch, dinner & lodging.

After breakfast you will enjoy one of Costa Rica´s way of protecting the forest and at the same time enjoy an adventure from the forest canopy.

The activities begin with the climbing of the fig tree (hollow trees) taking advantage of the unparalleled view from the tops of the trees to descend by means of abseiling at a height of 40 meters. Continuing with the tour, we will cross a field of high ropes, the first with a Lianas

Pass of 30 meters and the second a Monode Bridge 50 meters long, with a maximum height of 10 meters in the highest part of the platform. Continuing along our natural self-guided trails, we arrive at the next activity that combines a Canopy shot of 70 meters long with an unmatched Tarzan Swing to descend from a height of 25 meters.

During the afternoon you will visit the Valverde family house where you will learn how they use local fruits such as blackberry, tomatoe or tomatillo, naranjilla and others, to demonstrate the process of pulping the fruit and processing it for commercialization.

Overnight at & dinner at Riviera Lodge/ Homestay.

Included: Breakfast, rental car , Extreme Forest Adventure tour, marmalade lessons, lunch, dinner & lodging.

El Trapiche, typical Costa Rica country farm which is run by a local family is the perfect place to experience the cozy and easy-going lifestyle of the Tico campesinos. Trapiche, which translated means Sugar Cane Mill, is a super fun cultural day trip that will take you to a still active sugar mill farm. Learn about the process of making sugar step by step, from the raw sugar cane freshly cut until the stage. You will help making the tapas de dulce and the traditional sobado. The farm also has other crops that include the typical products that the local farmers had been producing for over 60 years.

Overnight at & dinner at Riviera Lodge. Included: Breakfast, rental car, sugar mill experience, lunch, dinner & lodging.

After breakfast we will continue our way to the southern part of the country, to the Indigenous Territory of Terraba. The origin of the Brörán, proper name of the Térrabas, which means mass of fermented corn, is known to be of Chibcha ancestry as well as other indigenous peoples that inhabit the South of Costa Rica. Studies indicate that the presence of these indigenous peoples over the region dates back approximately 5000 years, developing practices and knowledge techniques such as agricultural, astronomical, science, fishing, sea routes, and the manipulation of materials such as gold, clay, mud and stone spheres.

Upon arrival the local guide will welcome the group in the center of town. A brief review of the history and current affairs of the Indigenous Territory is given.

After lunch you will receive a presentation on the process of roasting and grinding cocoa. Take a tour to learn about the cacao plant and its importance within the Térraba culture. Then they will explain how the seed is prepared for the process of roasting in a wood-burning stove until it is grinded with a stone or a grinding tomb, to finally enjoy a hot chocolate

Overnight & dinner at El Descanso. Included: breakfast, rental car, lunch, cacao experience, dinner & lodging.

After breakfast visit the petroglyph. You can observe carefully the symbolic drawings that were there sculpted years ago by ancient Térraba and the meaning of these in their culture.

During the morning we will drive for 20 minutes to the indigenous town of Boruca. Daily life in Boruca reflects a self- sustaining agricultural village, but one where the majority of the economy is supported by artisan crafts and ecotourism. You will get to know Margarita, the visionary of the community, she will share part of their history. Then you continue to learn and do your own carved wooden mask and help in the process of weaving. Boruca has a long tradition of hand-dying threads from naturally found colors from sources including leaves of the sangrilla tree, bark of the carbonero tree, clay, indigo plants and occasionally the ink of a mollusk. After spinning thread from locally-grown cotton, they use a loom to weave the thread into handbags, wall hangings, coin purses and more.

Overnight & dinner at El Descanso. Included: breakfast, rental car, petroglyph, weaving and masks lessons, lunch, dinner & lodging.

Early morning you will drive towards the Osa Peninsula, specifically to Rincon, a small town in the South Pacific. El Chontal is a small Ecolodge, owned and operated by a local family of four. Doña Azucena, the chef-owner, her husband Don Jorge, and their sons Eric and David. Eric manages the property together with his father while marine biologist David focuses on keeping track of the Gulf’s dolphin population and monitoring the state of their habitat by means of amphibian biological indicators.

Overnight & dinner at El Chontal. Included: breakfast, rental car, lunch, dinner & lodging.

Today after breakfast you will be helping David and the Cetacean Research Center of Costa Rica monitoring the dolphin population at the Golfo Dulce. It is one of the most important locations for cetacean reproduction. You will be on a boat into the Golfo Dulce looking for dolphins and writing that information into a binnacle.

During the afternoon you will learn more about conservation in the Osa Peninsula with your local hosts.

__Overnight & dinne__r at El Chontal.

Included: breakfast, rental car, lunch, boat research experience, lecture, dinner & lodging.

Today after breakfast you will have the chance to experience Golfo Dulce in a different way: on a Kayak! After dinner you will receive a final presentation in which you will be able to see the results of the monitoring you have help done in the past days.

Overnight & dinner at El Chontal. Included: breakfast, rental car, lunch, guided ocean kayaking, dinner & lodging.

After breakfast you will start you drive back towards the Central Valley. On the way you will stop by Finca 6 - an archeological site. It has 4 areas:

• mounds: they served as the basis for housing structures,
• alignments: 5 spheres in situ make two alignments, one of three stone spheres and the other of two spheres,
• Spheres in transit: consists of about 20 spheres recovered by the National Museum and
• Point 5: it is an area that concentrates ceramic fragments and sculptures. Because of the importance and unique stone spheres this archeological site was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Overnight & dinner at Rosa de America or similar.

Included: breakfast, rental car, Finca 6 entrance & lodging.

After breakfast you will drive back to the international airport. We hope you leave the country with a new perspective on how ecological & cultural tourism help to protect the environment and the culture of local communities.

Included: Breakfast & transfer to airport.

Included

• 1 Nights at Rosa del Paseo, Standard room
• 2 Nights at Las Vueltas Lodge, shared rooms
• 4 Nights at Riviera Lodge or homestay with 3 meals per day
• 2 Nights at El Descanso
• 3 Nights at El Chontal
• 1 Night at Rosa de America, standard room
• Rental Car from day 2 to 14 (4 x 4 Automatic, basic insurance, GPS)
• Meals as Specified in itinerary
• Central Market Visit (depending on arrival time on day 1)
• Chieton Moren visit and lecture
• Guided Paramo Hike
• Las Vueltas Farm tour
• Waterfall Hike
• Sugar mill Experience
• Handcrafts lessons
• Extreme Forest Adventure
• Marmalade lessons
• Chocolate Tour
• Petroglyph tour
• Boruca weaving and masks lessons
• Dolphing Monitoring
• Ocean Kayaking
• Finca 6 entrance & guided experience

Not Included

• Tips
• Personal and / or medical expenses
• International flights
• Optional Activities or tours
• Meals not specified in the program

Accommodations can be adjusted to match your style! Here's more info on the specific lodges included in this example itinerary:

Rosa del Paseo, standard rooms- located in the heart of the Costa Rican capital. In one of the last remaining Victorian homes in Costa Rica. Build in 1910 by wealthy coffee farmers, Preserving the enchanting style of this old mansion, were the magic of our history is preserved in a modern-day family hotel.

Las Vueltas Lodge, is an educational organic farm and eco lodge situated in the high mountains of Costa Rica.They specialize in unique and life-changing experiences for ecology students and nature lovers of all ages. Rooms with different bedding, share bathroom.

Riviera Lodge**, Little rustic lodge, has wifi and can accommodate up to 28 people (20 people accommodated in cabins and 4 private rooms), shared bathrooms, hot water, kitchen and dining area, is located in the center of the community of Providencia de Dota.

Rosa de America, standard rooms, private bathroom and hot shower, some with walk-in closet, ceiling fan, cable TV, clock/radio, very comfortable beds, gorgeous hardwood furniture, room safe (in most rooms), covered patios, WIFI, and access to all the hotel’s amenities.

El Descanso, bungalows- private bathroom, terrace looking the forest, different bedding.

El Chontal, cabins are literally carved out from the surrounding mangrove forest, using fallen trees and sustainable wood species. Their rustic and unique architecture is rich in design and ingenuity and favors ventilation. The cabins are spotlessly clean and well kept. Beds are firm and comfortable, bathrooms impeccable. At night, a cool breeze and rich jungle sounds from the surrounding forest enter the room. All cabins include: private bathroom, towels, fan, daily cleaning

**Homestay (optional) - for lodges marked with asterisks above, you can also choose the option to stay in the home of a local family where you will be treated as a member of the family. You will have a private room and share the bathroom with your host family.