Testimonials

Hi Mauricio,

We were very pleased with the arrangements and enjoyed the trip. Please find the trip assessment below. 

Jan 25 - Arrival into SAN JOSE
Hotel Britannia for overnight. The hotel was a little far from the center so it was not easy to get to restaurants. Service was good but not remarkable.

Jan 27,28 SAN JOSE / TORTUGUERO
Turtle Lodge  Pickup went smoothly and the tour guide was excellent giving good commentary in English and Spanish to a mixed group. The hotel was good and the excursions on land and boat were very good and enhanced by the good tour guide.

Jan 29,30,31 TORTUGUERO / SAN JOSE/Alajuela
Buena Vista. The hotel was wonderfully located and very central for our excursions in the area. Service and food were excellent.

Feb 1, 2 SAN JOSE / PUERTO VIEJO de SARAPIQUI
Selva Verde Lodge  Excellent! Rooms good, local guides good.Hotel facilities, free and paid for tours were very good with lots of birds spotted, especially on the boat and coca tours. Only problem was our room was far from the main facilities, but close to the river.

Feb 3, 4 PUERTO VIEJO de SARAPIQUI / ARENAL
Arenal Kioro The hotel was a wonderful surprise in great style. The room faced the volcano but no spitting of the volcano. The hot baths were cold and the alternative offered by the hotel near town was only mildly warm. Service was very good in keeping with the style of the hotel.

Feb 5,6 ARENAL / MONTE VERDE
El Establo hotel. The last 40 km of the road here were really bad as was the road out. The hotel was very interesting with the grounds extending up the hill to their own cloud forest. Very nice setting.

Feb 7,8,9 MONTE VERDE / MANUEL ANTONIO
 El Parador. Quite a grand hotel, enjoyed pool and looking out to the Pacific from the dining area. We had reserved an garden view room but opted to upgrade to an ocean view room. This made the experience much better. The setting of the hotel was delightful and we particularly enjoyed the dining room setting although the food was too salty for our tastes. The road for the last 2 KM to the hotel was particularly bad. The general location of Manuel Antonio was very enjoyable although the park trails were very crowed by 9am. Beaches were fine

Feb 10 MANUEL ANTONIO / JACO
Canciones del Mar Great location for hotel and quiet. Here we again had a garden view room on the ground floor, but for one night it was satisfactory. The town was not very attractive but the hotel has a simple charm and very good bird watching within the grounds. We were surprised by the very good dinner we had in their dining room.

Feb 11 JACO / SAN JOSE
Our stay at the Hampton Inn was unremarkable. The location was very convenient for the airport departure. No dining room, but hotel provided transportation to “Steak House” which was on the highway (noise) and near jets taking off.

Overall we were very satisfied with the arrangements and the choice of hotels

Please let us know which other areas you cover and perhaps we can work together next winter.

Kind regards,
John Blank

Mauricio, you’re the MAN!!!!!!!

-AWESOME CAR
-AMAZING PICK UP AND DROP OFF SERVICE AT AIRPORT

A+++++++

Have friends coming down around Jan 07, 2010 and they will need largest Luxury SUV for week or so.

I’ll be back again shortly thereafter.

Best,

Seth

Hello Mauricio,

I have returned home from the wonderful vacation that we booked. We wanted to let you know that we had an excellent time, all of the arrangements were top notch.

The transfers were promptly on time, which led to a stress free and enjoyable vacation.

Thanks,
Mark and Alesa Tagtmeyer

At Latin Discover it's all about location.  The right room in the right hotel with a beautiful view.  Keep it up Mauricio, you've done us proud to date!

Patricia Birchley

Mauricio We had a wonderful time and would definitely like to visit Costa Rica again. We mainly followed your suggested route with some variations. The car was very good, the GPS was essential as was the cellphone.

The hotels we enjoyed were: Gran Hotel San Jose, The Sapo Dorado in Monteverde - probably our favourite The Samara Pacific Lodge - run by a very nice French couple Rancho Casa Grande in Quepos The Quality Inn in San Jose Thank you Mauricio for all your help it was a wonderful holiday for all of us. best Nicholas

Mauricio, We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica. The transfers were great: we loved Eli (not sure if that is his name but the first driver) we also liked the second driver but we spent more time with Eli. They were both very cautious and friendly. The Arenal Springs is a very nice place to stay and to start the trip. I loved sitting on the porch and watching the hummingbirds. The concierge was very helpful and the b'fast was good.

We went to do the zip line and for the people who did not zip we just hung out at the pool and had some cocktails. We all enjoyed it. The Buena Vista is something else, beautiful and fun. The Villas had everything u could want and a beautiful view. The concierge was a great help you just call for service and he sends the bus to take u where u need to go.

We went to Manuel Antonio Park and we went out on a boat, we had massages in the villas and just hung out at the beach watching the monkeys. The breakfast was really good at the Tulamar.

Thanks for all you help. We all loved it an everyone wants to go back someday. I am hoping u can give me some ideas for next years trip, i here Belize is beautiful. Where in Central and South America can u recommend for Americans to travel? It is going to be my other sisters birthday, she will be 60. Janine.

Mauricio Tuvimos una vacacion fantistico!!! Tortuguero was the best! The people at Pachira lodge were wonderful, especially Manfred. They were knowledgeable, showed us so many beautiful plants, insects and animals. Manfred was especially good with my youngest, Jessica. The tours all went smoothly and we loved it.

The canopy tour was so much fun. The trip along the canal was awesome and we were treated to the spider monkey show, jumping from tree to tree. Mornings began very early with the howler monkeys greeting at 4 am! The black sand beach in the village was beautiful. The turtle tour was exciting for Stefani and we saw a green sea turtle laying many eggs and then bury them. The walk there was a little difficult as the landscape was uneven and it was extremely dark but I think it was worth it. Stefani was thrilled. Jay loved the rhinoceros beatle he found and held it for all to see. He even put it on me for a picture.

He and Jessica also found some really big blue crabs and yellow crabs at Pachira Lodge. Jess made a friend from Spain and neither spoke each others language but children always find a way to communicate and they had a great time swimming and playing together. The spiders everywhere we so colorful and big!

Volcano Lodge was beautiful. We loved the landscape and the rooms were also roomy and had a fabulous shower area. The pool was also very nice. My children loved the swim up bar area. (Jess thought it was "cool" to order her lunch and eat it in the pool.) The trip to the volcano was awesome. The tour guide, Roy, was also really great with Jessica and made her a grasshopper he made from leaves! We saw hot lava rocks coming out of the volcano and lots of gasses. It was amazing. The climb was a little difficult but lots of fun.

Tabacon Springs was also a lot of fun and the food there was the best of the vacation. Roy showed us how to take pictures through the binoculars. Tulemar was also very nice. I had thought that we had a 2 bedroom bungalow but we managed with the day bed in the living room. The views from our bungalow were breath taking and we even found a small anole (lizard) in our room that hopped from my hand to my face to Jessica's shoulder. That certainly made everyone laugh.

We had fun in the (Manuel Antonio) national park as well, seeing the white faced monkeys, raccoons, lizards, birds, and crabs. The beach at Tulemar was a little rough so we had Jessica wear her life vest but she and Scott really enjoyed riding the waves. We used the free kayak also. Stefani and I explored among the many rocks and found lots of beautiful shells and coral. The transfers all went smoothly and everyone was on time. Only one driver did not speak any English but we managed with our limited Spanish.

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation. The weather even behaved for us. Not too much rain. We will have many memories and hundreds of amazing pictures. Thank you so much for all of your help in planning this vacation. Sincerely, Kathy

Mauricio, We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica. Everything was great. We stayed at the Shawandha Lodge which was beautiful.

I am giving your name around left and right. It seems everyone wants to go to Costa Rica these days. Thank you so much for putting this together for us. Talia