Heath, June 2024

I wanted to let you know that we had a absolutely wonderful time in Costa Rica and felt that the entire process of setting this trip up was as easy as could be for an international trip. We felt that you were always helpful and got back to us very quickly with the phethora of questions that we had leading up to the trip. We planned this for my son’s graduation and birthday present and he couldn’t have been happier. He is an aspiring herpetologist so we are very grateful that you were able to set us up with Gil. I cannot imagine a better guide than Gil. Very easy going, knowledgeable (of all wildlife), and an absolute delight to spend time with. My kids really enjoyed spending time with Gil, whether at the meals, herping at night, or simply carrying on conversation in the van. We cannot say enough about Gil and would recommend him with the highest accolades to anyone. The van was a great mode of transportation. Not sure what we were expecting but it was a great way to get around with a lot of room available for my family of six, and great visibility.

Here is a quick rundown of the various locations and parts of the trip.

Arrival. It was very easy to get through customs. The only difficulty we had was in meeting up with the shuttle out front of the hotel. We waited about 30 minutes but never saw the shuttle. We had to contact Hotel Buena Vista to ask them to send the shuttle. He then came to get us. Just a minor inconvenience.

Hotel Buena Vista. Very nice boutique hotel. Staff was very nice and the rooms were great. We enjoyed the grounds as they were beautiful and the view was fantastic. We enjoyed staying at this hotel to begin and end our trip.

Tarcoles. This was the most pleasantly surprising part of the trip. I was not sure what to expect of this location as I was more focused on Manuel Antonio and Osa, but we thoroughly enjoyed Tarcoles. Gil had us setup for what ended up being a private river tour. We saw as much wildlife (birds, alligators, lizards) on this excursion as at any other time on the trip. Gil was able to educate us on the birds of the area and got some unbelievable pictures. Villa Lapas Village had wonderful grounds for searching out wildlife (frogs, lizards, snakes). The only issue we had there was that one of our rooms was quite a hike from the other two, which were next to one another. On the way back through Tarcoles at the end of the trip we went to a new reptile museum/zoo (Reptilandia), which was fantastic. My kids, especially my oldest, really enjoyed this. The owners had very clearly put a lot of money and thought into this wildlife display.

Manuel Antonio. We really enjoyed staying at Hotel Costa Verde. Great location, bungalow was fantastic, and saw plenty of monkeys. In fact, we had about 20 monkeys welcome us to our bungalow out on the back porch area. The restaurants were very good and there was plenty of different options. Of course, we appreciated Gil’s recommendations here, and at all the locations. Manuel Antonio Park was very nice and the beach enjoyable. A number of the tour groups were quite large so we were thankful to have Gil leading just our family of six.

Osa. Osa was a very beautiful area. It was quite secluded as we had expected. Though we did not see quite as much wildlife on our tour there, it was still very fun and our guide very knowledgeable. We definitely saw a good bit of rain there, but we expected this in a rainforest during the rainy season. Snorkeling at Cano Island was great. This was a highlight for a few of my kids. We saw rays, fish, and sea turtles. Drake Bay Wilderness Lodge was fantastic. We had a small villa with three rooms, each with two of us. We essentially had the entire lodge and grounds for ourselves as we were the only guests for most of the days. The grounds were beautiful, the food great, and the staff the best of anywhere we stayed. Very high praise for this lodge.

Hacienda Baru. We enjoyed the pool and seeing macaws overhead in the morning. It was a fun experience to have iguanas all over. The butterfly garden had closed and the lookout tower was being renovated. The only thing I would have changed is that I would have liked AC in the rooms. They got a bit hot and stuffy, but the front office staff was nice enough to give us an extra fan for each room to help us cool off.

My son, who we had planned the trip for, said he could not have imagined a better trip and said this was the best experience of his life. He is already chomping at the bit to go back to Costa Rica, and specifically to spend time with Gil, whom he really developed a great relationship with. The six of us had a wonderful time, and I frankly feel fortunate to have stumbled upon Global Family Adventures while researching on the Internet. The locations, tour guide, transportation, food, and lodging made for an unforgettable adventure. I could go on and on about the trip, but figure this email has already taken up a good bit of your time. Please let me know if there is any specific information other than that above that I can supply to give recommendations to others on using you and your company.

Thank you very much.