Welcome! Costa Rica´s stunning scenic heritage unfolds in an ever changing panorama of steaming volcanoes, forested mountains, dramatic skies and bucolic countryside. Dark lowland jungles give way to rolling savannahs; Pacific surf crashes against rocky headlands, in sharp contrast to the tranquility of palm fringed Caribbean beaches. We recommend you to travel with a very light luggage. 2 long pants, 2 t-shirts per day, swimming suit, tennis shoes, sandals, sun lotion, insect repellent, hat, light rain jacket, binoculars, sunglasses.s

DAY 1

Your hotel in San Jose D

7:00p.m Our bilingual tour guide will pick you up at the hotel for a welcome dinner at a local typical restaurant. This will give us a perfect moment to give you all the information for this unforgettable trip.

DAY 2

Almonds and Corals Lodge L D
7:00a.m Breakfast at your hotel in San Jose.
8:00a.m Transfer to Almonds and Corals Lodge
Arrival and check in.
12:00p.m Lunch at the lodge’s restaurant
2:00p.m Crazy Monkey Canopy Ride
7:00p.m Dinner at Almonds and Corals Restaurant
8:30p.m Night tour - Guided walking at a private trail in the heart of the rainforest.
Overnight at Almonds and Corals Lodge

DAY 3

Almonds and Corals Lodge B L D
5:45a.m Fresh coffee and toasts
6:00a.m Breakfast at Almonds and Corals
6:45a.m Transfer to Cachabri Indian Reserve for a one day tour with box lunch
4:30p.m Back to Almonds and Corals
7:00p.m Dinner at the dinning room
Overnight at Almonds and Corals

DAY 4

Almonds and Corals Lodge B L D
5.45am Coffee and toasts
6.00am Guided walking and birdwatching at the Natura Park
8.30a.m Breakfast
9:30a.m Biking and snorkeling to Manzanillo
12:00m.d Lunch at Almonds and Corals Restaurant
Free afternoon to enjoy the beach.
7:00p.m Dinner at Almonds and Corals Restaurant
Overnight at Almonds and Corals Lodge

PLEASE HAVE YOUR PASSPORT HANDLY

DAY 5

Bocas del Toro Island - Panamá
Hotel Bahia B L D
7:00a.m Breakfast at Almonds and Corals Lodge
8:00a.m Transfer to Panama's border in our way to Bocas Del Toro Island
10:00a.m Panamanians time, arrival to Bocas Del Toro Island
Check in at the Hotel Bahia
12.00m.d Lunch at the Bahia Restaurant
2:00p.m Half day Snorkeling tour.
7:00p.m Dinner at Bahia Restaurant
Overnight at the Hotel Bahia.

DAY 6

Hotel Bahia B L D
8:00a.m Panamanian time, breakfast.
9:00a.m Visit to an Indian Community and snorkeling tour including lunch
4:00p.m Back to the Hotel Bahia
7:00p.m Dinner at the Bahia Restaurant
Free evening
Overnight at the Hotel Bahia.

Day 7

Drake Bay B L D
Bahia Paraiso Hotel
7:00a.m Panamanian time Breakfast
9:00a.m Local flight to David (l hour flight), city at the Pacific coast where a van will be waiting to transfer the group to Costa Rica (this is a 45 minutes drive)
11:00a.m Costa Rican time, from the border to Sierpe is a 1 1/2 hours drive, at Sierpe we will be taking a boat to be transfer to Bahia Paraiso at Drake Bay, in the Peninsula de Osa, closed to Corcovado National Park.
Arrival at Bahia Paraiso Hotel
1:00p.m Lunch at Bahia Paraiso Restaurant
2:30p.m Guided walking tour for the private trails in the Farm.
7.00pm Dinner at Bahia Paraiso Restaurant.
Overnight at Bahia Paraiso Hotel

DAY 8

DRAKE BAY B L D
BAHIA PARAISO HOTEL
7:00a.m Breakfast
8:00a.m One day tour to Isla Del Caño, snorkeling is available
at Corcovado National Park with lunch included
7:00p.m Dinner and overnight at Bahia Paraiso Hotel.

DAY 9

Manuel Antonio- B L D
Verde Mar Hotel
7:00a.m Breakfast
10:00a.m Transfer by boat to Sierpe
10:30a.m Transfer by land to Manuel Antonio National Park (two hours drive)
12:00m.d Lunch at a local Restaurant
Arrival and check in Verde Mar Hotel
Free afternoon to enjoy the beach
7:00p.m Dinner at a local Restaurant
Overnight at Verde Mar Hotel front ocean Hotel

DAY 10

San José D
7:00a.m Breakfast
8:00a.m Visit to Manuel Antonio National Park with snacks
2:00p.m Check our of the Verde Mar Hotel
3.00p.m Transfer to San José
Arrival late afternoon
7:00p.m Dinner at a local restaurant.
Transfer to your own hotel.
END OF THE TRIP.
PURA VIDA! THANKS FOR BEING WITH US.

Some extra information........
Cachabri Indian Reserve

The tour for today is unique. We are not selling this tour except for large and specific groups because of its complexity. 10 days in advance we have to go to Cachabri requesting a permission to take the passengers there. And we have to wait until the headquarters authorize the visit.

Today passengers will have a visit to Amubri, Bribri and Cachabri Indian Village located 3 hours from Almonds & Corals, going into the Talamanca Mountain Range. With the private bus, passengers will get to Sixaola River, here we will transfer them by boat to the other side of the river.

Our van will pick up the people at the hotel at 7:00 a.m. At 9:00 a.m. they will catch the public bus that Indians use to be transferred to Amubri, as we ride along the road, we will see the every day life of the community. We will see cocoa plantations, bananas, thatch roofed huts, chicken, pigs, dogs and the simplicity of life of this people. We arrive to Amubri and then to Cachabri on the bus after 45 minutes driving time and at Cachabri we will be met by an AWA (Indigenous medicine man). He will take us to the “USURE” which is the conical thatch building that they use for ceremonies and he will tell us about their traditions, their beliefs and about some rituals that they perform.

Your guide will translate you the information. Right by the “USURE” there is the OROWE, another construction, this one for social meetings. After this introduction we will walk to their botanical garden at about half hour walking distance from the village, and the AWA himself will explain about the purpose of the garden, about the different plants they use for the different cases and about the preparation of them. On the way back to the village, we will see the big flat stone they use to grind their grains and we will hear the story about bringing this one from the river. We will return to the OROWE for a picnic box lunch.

At 2:00p.m. passengers must catch the public bus back to the Sixaola river and then back to Almonds & Corals. On the way back we will visit the Iguana Project from the Bribri Indians also. Passengers will be arriving back to their hotels around 5:30 p.m.

BOCAS DEL TORO

Island Colon is on the coast of Panama's Bocas del Toro province. The province is mainly covered by humid tropical forest and banana plantations but terrestrial habitats also include pear swamp forest. The coastal marine ecosystems are characterized by a complex distribution of sea grass, coral and mangroves in two main bodies of water, the Laguna de Chiriqui and Bahia Almirante.

The coral reefs occur mainly in Bahia Almirante, where 57 species have been reported with more than 30% cover. The coral reefs are not will developed in the Laguna de Chiriqui which is fringed by large mangroves. Dwarfed mangroves line the coast and form small islands in Bahia Almirante. Sea grass meadows with Thalassia, Syringodium, Halodule and Halophila species well developed in siliclastic sediments in Laguna de Chiriqui and on calcareous substrates in the Bahia Almirante.

Bocas del Toro holds vast fossil deposits documenting the formation of the Isthmus of Panama and the resultant biological upheaval. these outcrops have been used to document the order of isolation of each island in the archipelago. Ages of the islands range from 1.000 - 10.000 years. The amount of morphological divergence of populations of some animals between the islands has been shown to correlate with the age of the islands.

Finally, Bocas del Toro is a complex region anthropologically, with several indigenous cultures and languages. The area is also one of the oldest known regions of traditional cultivation of cacao, the source of commercial chocolate.