"Local Insider Guide and Driver were superb"
Excellent planning and conduct of the trip from pre-t thru entire trip Our Local Guide, German (pronounced Herman) was so knowledgeable and in tune with every aspect of the trip, from human culture and social challenges to all the challenges and successes for Costa Rican environments. The concept of sustainability was so evident in the coffee and cocoa plantations and the representatives of both of those were so personable in sharing every aspect of their production. Beyond that, or insider, German, was expert in bird identification and ecology which added so much to the experience. The hotels were all excellent although we did not favor the highly processed and bland food except that the fruit every morning was the best ever, so fresh and flavorful, and the coffee was superb. The food at the off-hotel places that our guide took us was wonderful, genuine and so enjoyable. All the people were so friendly and respectful and informative Our driver, Geraldo, was a gem! Very little English but we all had some Spanish and he had such a friendly, respectful and fun attitude and great driving skills. And with our small group, if we exclaimed "there's a sloth!! or "Monkeys!!" He immediately found a safe place to pull over and joined us with German to view and enjoy. German had a spotting scope and with that we could really see the monkeys, sloth, and many birds. We think the trip was carefully planned and a good value. It was our first guided trip and we do expect to enjoy more with Culture Trip
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