Our Guestbook 2009

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Thank you Arturo, all went well with both of our tours. My wife and kids loved the 3x1 tour. The guides were pleasant and the tour paced about right, especially for kids.

Our private tour to the La Paz Waterfall Park also went well. Our driver was on time and, I assume since it was a Sunday, the traffic was not bad. We actually got to the park early but our driver spoke to the staff there and they allowed us to enter the park prior to opening since we had such a limited time there. That was a nice touch. As I'm sure you are aware about 1/2 of the lower part of the park, including trails to 2 waterfalls, remain closed as they undertake repairs from the earthquake. What was open was actually just perfect for the time that we had. On the way out I ran into the owner of the Park and he took the time to explain the repairs and improvements they had planned. Our driver got us to the airport right on time for our flight. Overall, an excellent day.

We were pleased with your company and would certainly seek you out again if we were to return to Costa Rica. In addition, we would also recommend you to any friends or family. I have included a couple of pictures for your guest book (My son Josh on the river cruise, my son Charlie on the treetop tram, my boys and I at La Paz Waterfall Park).

Thanks again, . 

Dear Arturo,

Yes, it was nice to finally meet you also. Just finished completing the photo album which is filled with wonderful memories of all our adventures in Costa Rica!  Fortunately, everything went well throughout our trip and I now realize how easy it is to travel there from Miami.........hopefully we will be back soon!

As far as your travel arrangements and Rainforest Tours, we were very pleased with it all. Jiroaldo (sorry for the spelling...how do you spell it correctly?) was wonderful. He was very efficient with all the scheduling and confirming the excursions etc. We also felt very safe with him as a driver even while heading up the muddy, rocky road to Monteverde!! A very pleasant individual to share our experience with. Alan also was a very pleasant and competent individual. As far as the accommodations, they were very good. Our favorite was Arenal Kioro which would have been even better if we were able to see the Volcano!! The whole hotel was beautiful, situated up on the mountainside and the lovely hot springs were quite relaxing. Fonda Vela was nice, but unfortunately it rained a lot there so we really could not take advantage of walking around the grounds. We also enjoyed the Cala Luna Hotel. Very beautiful and the bungalow situation was good for all of us. The only recommendation my family wants to share is that you definitely need air conditioning at the beach areas. Luckily we did choose the Cala Luna since it was quite hot while we were at Tamarindo. The tours you chose were all very good and most importantly, we felt safe while doing all the adventures. I would recommend the canyoning in Arenal, which we ending up scheduling while we were there..........it was one of the highlights for us! What a beautiful area to explore and the canyoning was quite an experience we will always remember.

I will try to attach some photos......not sure if it will work.

Take care and thank you again for everything....even bringing me some money to exchange when we met!
I will recommend your company to people in the furture.

Fondly,
Abbe, Larry, Elizabeth and Brian Kerr 

Hello Arturo,

I'm so sorry we didn't get a chance to meet you either! We had a wonderful trip. It far exceeded our expectations. The El Presidente was a great hotel and we had no complaints, they even upgraded our room a couple of the nights. 

The rest of the week was absolutely wonderful. Our guide, Alan was terrific!. Kudos to him.  The hotel in the Caribbean was the best. We loved it all !!!

Thank you so much. We will definitely recommend RainForest Tours to all our friends.

May God Bless you and your loved ones today,

Hector and Brenda McLoughlin 

Yes Arturo, that is the correct address.  Thank you for taking care of that. 

In regards to our trip, it was absolutely spectacular.  I was especially impressed with how organized and on-time all of the tour and transportation companies were.  None of them were on "tico time!"  The hotels were all wonderful.  The standouts were the Hotel Kioro at Arenal and the Rios Tropicales Lodge.  I highly recommend your company to anyone planning a trip to the area.  I am usually a "do-it-yourself-er," especially with the internet, but I found that no amount of research could equal your expertise.  We loved Costa Rica so much that we purchased a timeshare in Playa de Coco, and will be using your company for all our future Costa Rica needs.  Thank you again for everything.  Attached is a picture of us from the Venado Caves in the Arenal area!  Great tour! 

San Diego, CA 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for arranging a wonderful trip to costa rica for Ken and I and our friends Ted and Aida.   Drivers and guides were great -- especially Gerardo.  He was extremely knowledgable, helpful, flexible and we truly missed him after five days together.  He took us to several places not on the itinerary and really connected with us and our
interests. Costa rica is an amazing country and we definitely want to return for a second visit.   The hotel in Manuel Antonio was by far our favorite, small lobby was deceiving, but the cabanas with hammocks and beautiful gardens were wonderful -- complete with plenty of monkeys and birds and little critters.

Our list of flower and bird and animal sightings is much longer than we anticipated for a ten night stay -- including two quetzals in monteverde, large hummingbirds we didn't even know existed, and two different kinds of toucans in several locations.  Grandkids were delighted with photos of crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, sloths, iquanas, and more. amazing to see orchids and flowers growing wild that we know only as indoor ornamentals.

Fun to see shorebirds in tortuguero that may in fact be minnesota residents in summer -- we have a variety of egrets and herons right in our backyard about four and a half months out of the year.

Arrived home last night to six inches of new snow (flight was delayed almost four hours out of houston)and temperatures this morning hovering around 3 degrees fahrenheit. pretty extreme change. Glad we went with a package and things pre-arranged -- made for far less stress than some travelers we met encountered with rental cars and driving. please feel free to use our names as references if necessary.

Hi Arturo,

Sorry it has taken me a bit longer to get back to you with our comments. I have been trying to catch up with work and home obligations. Jeff and I talked over things and we agree that this trip was just fabulous, a dream vacation for us all. I know you might like some specifics so I will detail them below.

Will was waiting at the airport with a well marked sign and we found him promptly. He was very welcoming and we set off for La Paz and Arenel. We enjoyed our stop for coffee and the waterfalls, birds, butterflies and animals were such a great introduction to Costa Rica. The ride was long but Will made it very interesting by pointing things out to us along the way. In Fortuna, Will offered to stop at a grocery store and allowed us to pick up some snacks and beverages.

We really enjoyed the hotel in Arenal. Having a room with a large window and deck with a volcano view was great. That evening we sat outside for hours just watching the hot lava rocks tumble down the mountain. Our guide the next morning was a fountain of information not only about that we were seeing as we hiked around, but also about Costa Rican culture. It was fabulous! Afterwards we met our next driver, Arturo. He too was very pleasant and went out of his way to make sure we were comfortable. He even made arrangements with the hotel for us to eat lunch earlier so that we could have an earlier visit at Sky Trek. Yikes! That was insane! Words can not express what it was like to zip along the top of the trees. The people that worked there we extremely nice and made sure that you were properly outfitted. I was nervous but because of their professionalism and concern for safety, I actually felt that I was in good hands. Arturo was waiting for us and we set off for Monteverde. We enjoyed his company as he pointed things out to us and chatted with us. Our hotel there was a beautiful place. The view from our room was unbelievable! The food at the on site restaurant was kind of expensive but it was very tasty. The next morning we had another fabulous guide at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. We saw several queztels, sloths and countless hummingbirds. It was magical. Arturo took us for a beautiful ride to Manuel Antonio. We could see how the look of the land changed as we progressed down the mountain. We stopped at a souvenir shop, had a yummy lunch at Caballo Blanco and saw the cocodrillos below the bridge. When we said goodbye to Arturo we felt like we had made a friend. We were able to relax for a few days in the Manual Antonio area. The beaches were lovely and the hotel was pleasant and in a good location. We really liked the food and the ambience at the restaurant Barba Roja. We loved the park and the variety of plants and animals that we saw as we hiked around. Our shuttle arrived promptly and the ride to San Jose was fun because we met some nice tourists that we chatted with. Hotel Bougainvillea was great. The people that worked there were so friendly and the food was very good in the restaurant. The gardens were gorgeous. The variety of plants and flowers there was amazing. Our last full day in Costa Rica was spent river rafting on the Rio Pacuare. What an awesome adventure! Again, we felt as if we were with professionals that were concerned for our safety but also wanting us to have fun. It was so wild and beautiful, an exciting way to end our trip. Jeff truly enjoyed having the opportunity to play golf with you. Imagine our surprise when we saw that it was Will to pick us up for our ride to the airport. Matt and I felt as if we were seeing an old friend.

We felt that Rain Forest Tours provided us with very professional, friendly service. You listened to us and crafted a trip that was unique to our interests. Your guidance and suggestions were very helpful. I am so glad that you encouraged us to have drivers take us to each location. This way we all were able to enjoy the scenery. All of the drivers were prompt and extremely friendly. We especially enjoyed talking with Will and Arturo since we spent hours traveling with them. Not only did they get us safely to where we were going, but we learned so much about the people and culture of the country. We felt sad to say goodbye to them. Costa Rica is truly rich both in its beauty and in its people. 

I can not thank you enough for all your efforts in making sure that we had a worry free, outstanding vacation. I would certainly recommend Rain Forest Tours to others and hope that we can plan a return trip with you in the near future. (We are thinking Corcovado!)

With fond regards,

Hi Arturo,

I was just thinking of writing you today and here you wrote me first. It was a pleasure to meet you after all of our back and forth emails. All of your efforts helped us have a fabulous vacation with so many fond memories of a beautiful country and wonderful people. We hope to return sometime. Jeff very much enjoyed golfing with you and your friends. It was great that you followed up with him on that.

Since I am at work right now I can not give you feedback but I definitely will in the next couple of days. We were so pleased with every aspect of our trip and I would be happy to comment on it later.

I will talk to you soon. Again many, many thanks for all of your help.

Feliz año!