Citizens of the World Tours Costa presents Rica April 5-16, 2010 With VPR Commentator Ted Levin
Citizens of the World Tours Costa presents Rica Swimming at La Cangreja Waterfall Bird watching at Corcobado National Park Boat trip to Isla del Cano to see dolphins and whales Forest canopy of Monteverde tour by zip-line Trip Highlights Horseback ride to Nayaucu Waterfall Ostinal, world's largest sea turtle nesting area Mondeverde Cheese Factory and Butterfly Garden tours Delicious local cuisine Price per person for 12 days is $4995.00. Single room supplement $300 Flight Itinerary Monday, April 5, 2010 05:25am American Airlines Flight# 2061 From: Boston MA, USA To: Miami FL, USA. Arrive 08:50am 10:10am American Airlines. Flight# 971 From: Miami FL, USA To: San Jose, Costa Rica. Arrive 10:55am Friday, April 16, 2010 02:20pm American Airlines Flight# 972 From: San Jose, Costa Rica To: Miami FL, USA. Arrive 07:10pm 08:55pm American Airlines Flight# 1640. From: Miami FL, USA To: Boston MA, USA. Arrive12:10am Saturday Included: Round trip airfare from Boston's Logan Airport All hotels All meals Bus transportation Boats, horses, charter flight from Corcobado Local guides All national park and private reserve entrances All organized activities like canopy tour, bridges, night walks, etc. Airport taxes Gratuities Baggage allowance: the airline allows one checked bag & one carry on per person. Additional checked bags are $50 each way. Register by phone (toll free 800-639-2192) e-mail Ty Robertson: trobertson@vpr.net
Citizens of the World Tours Costa presents Rica Day One, 5th of April, 2010 Depart for San Jose We'll meet up with host, VPR Commentator Ted Levin, at Logan Airport for a group flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Gil Calvo from Tropical Angel Travel, will meet us at Juan Santa Maria International Airport and drive with us in a comfortable, air-conditioned bus to check in to our hotel in historic San Jose. We will briefly tour the capital city and then dine at one of San Jose's finest restaurants. During dinner, Gil and Ted will discuss our itinerary and introduce us to the kaleidoscopic nature of Costa Rica, the emerald soul of Central America. About the size of West Virginia, politically stable and democratic, peace-loving Costa Rica has conserved more than 25% of its land as national parks and wildlife reserves and supports 5% of all the known species on Earth. A panoply of dry-forests, jungles and cloud forests, lowlands and mountains, laced by rivers and streams, punctuated by active volcanoes, Costa Rica's bio-diversity is astounding and thrilling. We'll have the chance to see noisy howler monkeys and neon-blue morpho butterflies as big as saucers, American crocodiles and speckled caimans. Bird watching in Costa Rica is unparalleled. We'll see resplendent quetzals and scarlet macaws. In all, there are more than 820 species of resident and neotropical migrant birds. We may see pokey three-toed sloths, slow and deliberate enough for algae to grow on their backs, jaguars and ocelots. Five species of sea turtles nest on the shores of Costa Rica, including Earths' largest arribada - between 400,000 and a million olive Ridleys - so thick that the beach at Ostional looks like a cobblestone boulevard paved with turtle shells. After dinner and our introduction to this spectacular country, we'll return to our hotel for a well-deserved rest before continuing our journey. Day Two, 6th of April, 2010 Vieja National Park We'll travel from San Jose to Rincon de la Vieja National Park in Guanacaste, a province on the Pacific Coast south of Nicaragua. Our bus ride will include several stops to view wildlife. Lunch will be served at the hotel restaurant. After lunch we'll explore Rincon de la Vieja ( old woman's corner ), a twin-peaked, active volcano, pocked with nine craters, cut by streams and waterfalls. We'll walk to La Cangreja waterfall, a pristine natural swimming hole (bring your bathing suit). Then we will visit boiling mud pools and fumaroles - one of the eeriest geologic formations on the planet, something out of the dawn of time - before returning to our hotel for dinner. After dinner we'll review the next day's activities, then go for a walk to search for nocturnal birds: pauraques (tropical whip-poor-will), owls, and for the elusive Neotropical Rattlesnake. We'll enjoy lunch and dinner at Rincon de la Vieja Lodge.
Day Three, 7th of April, 2010 Gautil/Ostional Today we'll take a bus ride from Rincon de la Vieja to the reservation of Guatil, home of the Chorotega culture, whose legacy can be seen in the unique and striking indigenous pottery. We'll spend the day at Guatil learning about their culture and art. The Chorotegas will prepare an authentic lunch for us. From Guatil we'll travel to the remote Pacific Coast beach of Ostional, a wildlife refuge that is home to the largest sea turtle nesting assemblage on Earth. Every year more than 400,000 Olive Ridley Sea Turtles lumber ashore to lay tens of millions of eggs. The Costa Rican government permits the rural townspeople of Ostional to harvest eggs on the first night of the arribada; in return, villagers patrol the beach against egg-poachers for the remainder of the nesting cycle. This is a rare example of the mutual protection of an endangered species and the preservation of an indigenous culture. We'll have free time to wander the beaches and observe these nesting habits before dark. In the evening, park rangers will give us an illustrated lecture and then lead a night walk along the nesting beach. We'll enjoy dinner in Ostional at a local restaurant, after which we'll head to our hotel for check in. Day Four, 8th of April, 2010 Monteverde Early wake-up call. After breakfast, we'll travel by bus to Monteverde (which, as any Vermonter will attest, means green mountain ), crown jewel of Central American cloud forests. Monteverde sits on the continental divide's 3500-foot plateau. Our bus will climb through breathtaking mountain scenery on the way to Santa Elena, a village founded in 1951 by American Quakers. We'll explore Santa Elena's cultural attractions - Butterfly Garden, a local women's co-op, and the famous Monteverde Cheese Factory before heading to our hotel for lunch in the cloud forest. Dinner will be at a local restaurant where we'll hear the sad canary in the coal mine story of the golden toad, once considered the most beautiful toad on Earth. A night hike into the heart of the Costa Rican cloud forest will conclude our activities before we return to our hotel. Day Five, 9th of April, 2010 Monteverde After an early breakfast, we'll go for a walk to search the mist-enshrouded cloud forest for the resplendent quetzal, the most sought after bird in Costa Rica. The electric red and green quetzal is more than a foot tall and sits bolt upright in the shadows of the forest. Ancient Mayans treasured the male's green, curling 30-inch tail plumes. We'll visit the Hummingbird Gallery in the late morning, where rufus-tailed, violet saber-winged, and fiery-throated hummingbirds gather on a patio to sip nectar. In the afternoon, after lunch at a local restaurant, we'll tour the forest canopy, either on the elaborate network of suspension bridges or from the adrenalin - rush of a zip line-where you can see both the Pacific and the Caribbean coasts as you zing along the famous cable, high above the cloud forest. The choice is yours! We'll be looking for swallow-tailed kites, three - waddled bellbirds, howler monkeys, white-faced capuchins, agoutis, and many other species of tropical wildlife. We'll have dinner at our hotel.
Day Six, 10th of April, 2010 Dominical After breakfast at our hotel, we will check out and make our way to Dominical in the South Pacific section of Costa Rica. We'll tour the Tárcoles River on the outskirts of Carara National Park. The Tarcoles is home to both the largest American crocodiles in the country, some over 15-feet long, and one of the biggest gatherings of American crocodiles in the hemisphere. We should see mangrove swallows, seven species of herons (including tiger and boat-billed), caracaras (both crested and yellow-headed), turquoise-browed motmot, southern lapwing, and both Amazon and green kingfishers. We'll also meet the Croc Man, the legendary, eccentric proprietor of the Tarcoles River. With luck we may spot a scarlet Macaw. At the end of our river adventure, we'll bus to our next hotel, Baru. Along the way, we'll pass African oil palm plantations and watch the Pacific dry forest grade into the lush South Pacific Rainforest. Our hotel is in a private protected area called Hacienda Baru, a National Wildlife Refuge 1.6 miles north of the village of Dominical. The refuge has an ecological interpretive center and hosts 300 species of birds. Lunch will be in Tarcoles and dinner will be at Hacienda Baru. Day Seven, 11th of April, 2010 Domincal Today, after breakfast at our hotel, we'll enjoy an easy and leisurely horseback ride to the 200-foot-tall Nayaucu Waterfall at Baru, one of the most beautiful horseback riding tours in Costa Rica. We'll have a picnic lunch and swim at the falls. After a full day of exploring, we'll relax on the beach and watch surfers ride the Pacific breakers. After dinner we'll night-walk through the national refuge property, home to anteaters, ocelots and jaguarondis, tayras and kinkajous, and several species of monkeys. We'll enjoy lunch in the Nayaucu waterfall area and dinner at Hacienda Baru. Day Eight, 12th of April, 2010 Corcobado National Park After an early breakfast at our hotel, we will check out and transfer to the remote Corcobado National Park across the Gulf of Dulce from the Osa Peninsula, along Costa Rica's southwestern frontier. Corcobado, biologically the richest natural area of Costa Rica, has a reputation as one of the finest natural history sites in the Americas. Here the jaguar roams the jungle and the Harpy Eagle, one of the largest predatory birds on Earth, hunts the canopy for monkeys and sloths. Corcobado is also Costa Rica's stronghold for the blue and red scarlet macaw, one of the largest, most beautiful parrots on the planet. Twelve hundred scarlet macaws (the largest population in Central America) flash their color above the park. To reach our destination in the national park, we'll travel by bus and boat, and even do some easy hiking. Lunch and dinner will be at our hotel.
Day Nine, 13th of April, 2010 Corcobado National Park After breakfast, we'll enjoy a full-day expedition through Corcobado National Park, the little Amazon of Central America. The only way to see Corcobado is on foot. We'll hike all day, at varying paces and distances, while looking for the treasures of the tropical lowlands, which include more than 400 species of birds. Peccaries and tapirs are common in the park and often visit water holes at dawn and dusk to drink and bathe. Toucans brighten the canopy and poison dart frogs brighten the leaf litter. Monkeys are abundant. Hawksbill and Pacific Green Sea Turtlestwo of the park's 115 species of reptiles and amphibians-nest on the pristine beaches. Corcobado supports twenty bird species found no where else on Earth, and is a masterpiece of bio-diversity. Lunch and dinner will be at our hotel. Day Ten, 14th of April, 2010 Corcobado National Park Today we will tour Isla del Caño, a biological reserve 10 miles west of the Osa Peninsula that was once a sacred burial ground for pre-columbian Indians. Caño consists of 740 acres of evergreen rainforest and primeval beach. We'll visit the island's archaeological site. On the boat ride to and from Isla del Caño, look for dolphins and whales, which often congregate in the warm waters offshore. After lunch on the island, we'll have time to beach comb. Back at our hotel, we'll prepare for a night walk (weather permitted) in Corcobado, where amphibian and insect choruses amp up when the sun sets. Remember: it's possible to glimpse almost anything on a dark night in the Corcobado. Dinner will be at our hotel. Day Eleven, 15th of April, 2010 San Jose This morning we return to San Jose by boat and charter plane. After checking in to our hotel, we'll visit the agricultural town of Sarchí, a staple on the tourist trail. Sarchí is famed for its artisans, who produce wood and leather rockers and hand-painted, miniature oxcarts. This will be a wonderful opportunity to buy an original Costa Rican gift for your friends back home. We'll have the rest of the day to explore before enjoying a farewell dinner at our hotel. Day Twelve, 16th of April, 2010 San Jose - USA After breakfast, we'll ride to Juan Santa Maria Airport for our flight home.
GENERAL INFORMATION Tour Administration This tour of Costa Rica is designed by Vermont Public Radio and Tropical Angel, Inc., to give an in-depth look into the culture and natural history of this Central American country. VPR commentator and naturalist Ted Levin will host the tour. A tour director will accompany the group throughout the program. A portion of the tour benefits Vermont Public Radio, but is not considered a tax-deductible contribution according to IRS regulations. Air Travel Arrangements Group flights are scheduled on American Airlines from Boston Logan Airport. A customized air itinerary can be also be arranged for those individuals traveling from other cities. Flight arrangements will be booked with Milne Travel/American Express. Accommodations During the tour, accommodations will be arranged in the best possible hotels in double occupancy rooms with private shower or bath. Single rooms can be arranged for a supplementary fee of $300 and are based upon availability at the time of your request. The hotels are selected to provide a balance between central location, excellent service, character, amenities, and price. They are 3-4 star hotels, and each has a unique character which will result in variations in room size, breakfast menu, and some amenities. Circumstances may arise between now and departure where the hotel may be changed. We will do our best to arrange a replacement hotel of the same quality. Changes in the Itinerary VPR and Tropical Angel, Inc., reserve the right to alter the order of events or to make changes deemed necessary for the comfort, convenience, and safety of the participants. Every effort will be made to adhere to the printed itinerary, but weather conditions, transportation difficulties or other circumstances beyond the control of VPR and Tropical Angel, Inc., and the local suppliers could force the cancellation or substitution of events or specific services. Reservation Procedure You may register by phone (toll free 800-639-2192) or e-mail trobertson@vpr.net. Registrations will be accepted in the order in which they are received. Please remember, space is limited. Payment Policy & Schedule Tour payments may be made by check, payable to Vermont Public Radio. After your initial deposit of $1500, the balance payment is due by January 10, 2010. Deposits and payments are refundable if written notice of cancellation is received 120 days or more in advance of departure, less a $100 per person non-refundable administration fee. 90 days prior to departure: Full refund less $1000.00 per traveler. We regret that refunds cannot be made for cancellations less than sixty-five (65) days prior to the departure date. Travel insurance is highly recommended and can be purchased at an additional charge through Tropical Angel, Inc. Cancellation charges also apply to additional accommodations reserved prior to and after the tour. Tropical Angel, Inc., cannot assume responsibility for any fees relating to the issuance and/or cancellation of air tickets. REGISTRATION Please reserve place(s) for the following individuals on VPR s Tour of Costa Rica, April 5-16, 2010. A tour deposit of $1500 payable to Vermont Public Radio is enclosed balance due January 10, 2010. NAME (as it appears on valid passport): Address City Phone(days) Email Travel companion name(s) on passport: Travel preferences (please check all that apply) Double occupancy with traveling companion I would like a single room I (we) have read the itinerary and terms and conditions as found above and agree to abide by all the stipulations contained therein. SIGNED DATE Please make tour checks payable to Vermont Public Radio and mail registration to: VPR, 365 Troy Avenue, Colchester, VT 05446 For more information call: 1-800-639-2192 or email Ty Robertson: trobertson@vpr.net