DAY    1            DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA - ARRIVE SAN JOSE
                          (4 NIGHTS)
We will be met at the airport by our tour manager/guide, where we will board our own private coach and transfer to our hotel in San Jose.

DAY    2            COFFEE PLANTATION TOUR & SAN JOSE
Costa Ricans call coffee grano de oro, the grain of gold, and with good reason. The humble bean lifted the nation out of obscurity two centuries ago, bringing wealth to countless farmers and to the country as a whole. This morning we will take a Coffee Plantation Tour where we will learn from experienced personnel the origins of coffee-growing, one of the major exports of Costa Rica. This very amusing and informative tour is a multimedia presentation for all ages, using actors to bring to life the coffee production experience. This afternoon we will take a guided San Jose City Tour. We will view all of the city's most important sights and landmarks including the University of Costa Rica, the Supreme Court, Democracy Square, the Metropolitan Cathedral, elegant residential homes, and many sights that display the finest in Costa Rican architecture. During our tour we will also visit the National Theater. Designed after the Opera House in Paris, it is considered to be Costa Rica's most important architectural landmark. Our afternoon concludes with a visit to the Museo del Oro, featuring an impressive collection of pre-Columbian golden treasures. Time permitting, we will also visit the Museo Nacional, in the former Bella Vista Military Fortress, which today houses pre-Columbian artifacts along with art, historical items, and natural science exhibits.

DAY    3            IRAZU VOLCANO & INBIO PARK
Our morning commences with an ascent to the breathtaking summit of the Irazú Volcano, the highest active volcano in Costa Rica. We will enjoy impressive views of the massive crater and its lake, an almost perfect circle with steeply inclined walls (sometimes the lake is lime-green and other days it is red). The name of this sub-conical volcano is derived from an indigenous word meaning thunder and earthquake mountain. After an exciting tour of the volcano and the National Park, we will visit INBio (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad), run by the National Biodiversity Institute. The Institute is part-museum, part-educational center, part-nature park. We will begin with an Informational Video, followed by a tour of the two large pavilions that explains Costa Rica's biodiversity and natural wonders. Next we will enjoy a Hike on Trails that re-create the ecosystems of a tropical rainforest, a dry forest, and a premontane forest. There is also a good-size butterfly garden, a plexiglass viewing-window into the small lagoon, and a series of wonderful animal sculptures donated by one of Costa Rica's premiere artists, José Sancho.

DAY    4            ZOO AVE & BUTTERFLY FARM TOUR
This morning we will visit Zoo Ave where we will view dozens of scarlet macaws, reclusive owls, majestic raptors, several different species of toucans, and a host of brilliantly colored birds from Costa Rica and around the world. We will enjoy a stroll along the paths where we will get a close look at many birds, large iguana, deer, monkeys, and a 12-ft. long crocodile. Zoo Ave houses only injured, donated, or confiscated animals. Costa Rica features over 1,250 species of butterflies, more than all of Africa and one in ten of all known species worldwide. This afternoon we will visit a Butterfly Farm, where 30,000 pupae are bred and exported every year to zoos around the world. The offspring of some 60 native species are allowed to flap freely through a lush world secured by netting. During our guided tour we will follow pathways and learn about the complex life cycles of some of the world's most beautiful butterflies. We return to San Jose for the evening.

DAY    5            SAN JOSE - OROSI VALLEY - LANKESTER GARDENS -
                          LIMON AREA (3 NIGHTS)
This morning we depart San Jose and journey to the Orosi Valley. Our scenic driving tour will take us into a Shangri-la canyon edged to the south by the dauntingly forested flanks of the Talamanca Mountains. The rivers that drain into the valley have been dammed to form Lago de Cachi, around which the road and our tour will loop. Our tour will be highlighted by Mirador Orosi, offering amazing views over the valley; the village of Orosi, including the charming Iglesia de San Jose de Orosi; the shores of Lago de Cachi, which attracts large numbers of waterfowl; the rough-hewn Casa El Sonador (House of the Dreamer), a wooden and bamboo structure adorned with primitive carvings; the Presa de Cachi (Dam); and Ujurras, renowned for its ruined church, Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Conception, which dates from 1681. Next we will visit Lankester Gardens, created in the 1940s by an English naturalist, where no fewer than 800 species of orchids are on display. The University of Costa Rica now administers the gardens and their primary goal is to preserve the local flora, with an emphasis on orchids and bromeliads. We will walk along Paved Trails that meander from open, sunny gardens into shady forests. In each environment, different species of orchids are in bloom. After time to visit the Information Center, we continue to our hotel in the Limon area.

DAY    6            TORTUGUERO NATIONAL PARK
Today we will explore Tortuguero National Park where four different species of sea turtles nest: the green turtle, the hawksbill, the loggerhead, and the giant leatherback. The prime nesting period is from July to mid-October (with Aug-Sept being the peak months). We begin our day with a visit to the Caribbean Conservation Corporation's Visitors' Center and Museum, which provides information and exhibits on a whole range of flora and fauna. The center's primary focus is on the life and natural history of sea turtles, including a short informative video. Next we will take a Tortuguero National Park Boat Tour in the park's rainforest, where we will see an incredible variety of wildlife that live there: jaguars, anteaters, howler monkeys, collared and white-lipped peccaries, some 350 species of birds, and countless butterflies. This afternoon we will enjoy a guided Hike in the Park.

DAY    7            AVIARIOS DEL CARIBE & CAHUITA NATIONAL PARK
Today will be a good day for bird-watchers as we visit the Aviarios del Caribe, where more than 325 species of birds have been sighted in the immediate area. We will take a Canoe Tour through the surrounding estuary, followed by a visit to the Sloth Rehabilitation Center. This afternoon we will enjoy a Glass-Bottom Boat Tour of the Cahuita National Park Coral Reef. The reef contains 35 species of coral and provides a haven for hundreds of brightly colored tropical fish. We return to our hotel for the evening.

DAY    8            LIMON AREA - AERIAL TRAM TOUR - SAN JOSE (1 NIGHT)
Today we depart Limon and return to San Jose. En route we will enjoy an Aerial Tram Tour through one of Costa Rica's most unique eco-tourism and research facilities. The tram takes us on a 90-minute, one-mile-long excursion through the rain forest canopy and reveals details of everyday life in the treetops where 75 percent of all rain forest species dwell. We will come eye-to-eye with monkeys some 200 feet above the forest floor and will view an abundance of plants and animals hidden at the tops of the tall rain forest trees. We will return to San Jose for a Tiquicia Dinner and Show, which includes a show of native Costa Rican folklore dances and a buffet of local cuisine.

DAY    9            DEPARTURE FROM SAN JOSE
Our rewarding tour will come to an end as our tour manager/guide accompanies us to the airport for the return flight home.