With Costa Rica’s most famous active volcano – Arenal – behaving quietly for the past three years, tourists to this Central American hotspot are looking elsewhere for exciting fireworks. There are actually six active volcanoes in Costa Rica, and another 61 that are dormant or extinct. For the past 50 years, Arenal was the country’s...Read More

Central America forms a bridge literally between North and South America, which throughout its three million year history has served as a natural biological passageway between the two continents. In the last century, however, much of that corridor has been destroyed by farming and urbanization. Biologists have determined that biological corridors are one of the...Read More

What if I told you there was an animal without lungs that lives on land and can grow back any limb of its body? Crazy, you say? Well, in the Costa Rican Caribbean rainforest, there is a species of salamander that can. Salamanders are amphibians that are typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender...Read More

Your email inbox has 50 new messages. Your boss needs that top-priority presentation on her desk by midday. Your phone won’t stop ringing. Your smart phone is buzzing with more email and text alerts. Your work team has called an impromptu crisis meeting requiring your immediate attention. Your key assistant is out sick and your...Read More

Visiting Los Sueños Resort on Costa Rica’s spectacular Central Pacific Coast is an enchanting visit to a paradise that is worlds away from the fast-paced daily grind. As I sat on the balcony terrace of my luxury vacation condo, gazing out at the emerald green championship golf course, and further still to the azure waters...Read More

About 50 million years or so ago, Costa Rica was a series of underwater volcanoes. Over thousands and thousands of years, layers built up until eventually they surfaced and continued to grow, just as the Hawaiian Islands do today. The Cocos Plate shoving its way underneath the Caribbean Plate also helped things along, pushing Central...Read More

When I used to guide nature tours in Costa Rica, people would always ask me, “Are we going to see monkeys (or a sloth, toucan, etc.)?” I would always respond, “Well, it’s possible, but not guaranteed; it’s not like we put the animals out in their positions in the morning!” When we talk about the...Read More

Summer school breaks are coming up for North America and Europe, and with that the opportunity for student groups to enjoy educational trips. The Neotropical rainforest of Costa Rica in Central America, part of one of the most important reserves of biodiversity on Earth, is fertile ground for study disciplines such as Ecology, Biology, Environmental...Read More

Besides amazing looks, tropical architecture is all about working with the elements of nature to achieve thermal comfort in hot and humid climates. Tropical architecture, whether traditional, ultramodern or high-tech, uses passive design elements like sunshades, cavity walls, light shelves, overhangs, roof and wall insulation, and shading from large trees to block the intense tropical...Read More

Paradise and social responsibility – in recent years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a buzzword in mainstream tourism all over the world. Travelers are seeking destinations that uphold sustainable environmental and community values, and hotels, resorts, tour companies and the like are doing their best to create programs and keep up with societies’ demands....Read More

Dazzling white sandy beaches backed by tropical rainforest, shimmering tropical-warm blue-green water, fresh ocean breezes, and a diverse array of wildlife – Manuel Antonio is one of Costa Rica’s most popular beach destinations. Conveniently located on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast, here you can experience nearly all of the country’s enchanting attractions in one place....Read More

Sarapiquí is one of my favorite places in Costa Rica. Rust red-orange earth meets up with jade green water of the Sarapiqui River, next to fluorescent green grass and darker emerald-green, thick rainforest. Jewel-toned birds and butterflies swoop here and there, and this time of year, the cicadas bring a tumultuous cacophony to the sunshine....Read More

Once, Santa Teresa was a small fishing village, home to a handful of families who lived off the sea, along with small-scale agriculture and cattle ranching. Like many of Costa Rica’s top beach destinations along the Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa’s isolation from poor or non-existing roads kept this tropical paradise off the beaten track for...Read More

When traveling around Costa Rica, there’s nothing better after a big day of hiking, rafting, zip lining or other adventuring, than slipping gently into steamy thermal springs so hot they make you tingle all over. Decadent, sultry, igneous water laps your tired muscles into spaghetti-like relaxation. Finer still to have a frosty tropical fruit drink...Read More

They live in the sea, are on the World Wildlife Fund’s “Endangered Species List”, and frequent the waters around Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast Tortuguero National Park. Their lives, though on similar paths, are a bit conflicted. I’m talking about sea turtles and manatees. One draws crowds of up to 50,000 tourists each year; the other...Read More

Dreamy, breezy, sun soaked days. Should I lie in the sun on my terracotta tiled terrace, or splash about in my private pool? Or maybe I’ll go for a swim in the sea in an azure blue cove edging a blindingly white sand beach. Later, I’ll take a siesta on my cushy white sofa, terrace...Read More