First of all, thank you, thank you. This was an incredible trip and in no small part because of your support putting it together. We had a blast and made incredible, lifelong family memories. The Arena volcano hike, hanging bridges and ecotormales was a win. The hikes/pools themselves were fun, but what made the day great was our guides. Tony was our nature guide and Francisco was our river/logistics man. can’t say enough about them. Personable, knowledgeable, funny. Tony has ESP for finding animals and was able to answer questions that showed a knowledge well beyond the average plus his ability to share it with us in a non-native language. Francisco was equally a pleasure to be with and gave us great recommendations in La Fortuna. The two of them made the day such that I commented to that they may have ruined the rest of the trip since I couldn’t imagine future guides measuring up. The Congo Tour and Night walk were the tours I found and asked you to book for us. Lesson learned. Leave the travel agent stuff to the travel agent. The Congo was terrible and the night walk wasn’t bad, but did not measure up to the Arenal hike or sloth/coffee tour. Speaking of, our driver for the sloth/coffee/chocolate tours, Minor, proved my concern about guides unfounded. He was equally fantastic. I interrogated him about life in Costa Rica and he was informative and funny. He took us on a surprise visit to a waterfall/swimming hole which was a win. The guides for the sloth and coffee/chocolate were also great and the day another to remember. On the topic of guides/drivers, special shout out to Humberto who brought us from Lomas de Arenal to Mangroove. Super nice guy. We asked to stop for a lunch and he took us to a delicious place. He was not put out at all by the extra stop. And most of all, after I forgot my phone in his van, brought it back to me even tried to take responsibility as if it was his fault (which it definitely wasn’t). All told, a great first visit to Costa Rica.

Everything was taking care of in a professional friendly manner. We travelled with 8 of us to a ski vacation in Swiss alps. Hyla took care of all the planning and executing. From the planning and recommendations, to a driver from the airport, to stop off excursions, to fantastic hotels and restaurants, day trip to skiing in Italy and last day in Zurich. Could not be happier. Everyone had a great trip and special lifetime memory.