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Ines,

Thank you so much for your assistance. Jim and I went on the Tour to Tortuga Island and the Tortuguero 1 Day that you booked for us and we had the best, best time. Especially the tour to Tortuga Island on the catamaran. Both tours were just fantastic. In fact our whole trip to Costa Rica was very special. We met some of the greatest people, Ticos and Americans. We'll be back!!! Sorry to say, we have to go home tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your assistance again, I will definitely recommend you....

Have a great day!

Ines:

I just wanted to tell you that we had an outstanding vacation in Costa Rica and your service was excellent.  The Itinerary you arranged was great and we had absolutely no problems.  The hotels, activities, and rental car were all great. Your input was valuable and made our trip stress-free.  It was a great adventure.

I'm sure it would bore you but I've posted a few short video highlights on YouTube

There are a total of 5 - you would fine the Canyoneering and Water sports clips the most entertaining - the Los Lagos pool and monkey in our room are just funny clips. 

Dear Arturo,

Thank you very much for helping us prepare a very special vacation. Your services were wonderful - especially when you helped us change plans in the middle of the trip. We recommend that you caution you future clients that the Brazilian restaurant in San Jose is a tourist trap. Aside from that we could not have been happier and we will recommend your help to all that we know. You have a magnificent country.

Good Afternoon Arturo

The trip went off perfectly.

Jillian & I had a great time and all your planning was greatly appreciated. We both would have no problem in providing your name and company to others.

In fact, even while on travel in Costa Rica we mentioned our pleasure with your service to others that were not as fortunate.

• The car rental worked great, very pleased, easily done if you are patient – as roads and signage is not always clear to a tourist. We do get use to our own country and the use of maps; signage is not quite the same in Costa Rica.
• Loved the hotels in Arenal and Manuel Antonio.
• Loved your recommendation for the Hanging Bridges at Arenal. Probably the best tour we had. Thank-you for your persistence in your recommendation.
• Really enjoyed the natural beauty of Manuel Antonio; even when taking a tour where you end up walking a gravel road as a trail, with 100 people crowding around 1 poor bird, or 75 people starring at a sloth, which makes you feel like being at the zoo. Although the sheer numbers of tourists were large, the volume of tourists did not deter from Manuel Antonio’s beauty, but it sure raises concern for future sustainability. 

You were right on with your first thoughts about the hotel in Tamarindo. It would have been our first choice at Tamarindo, but at such a late booking date, what can I say. We were still very pleased.

• The Beach at Timarindo is perfect for surfing, had a great time.
• We loved that you could have a nice long walk from Timarindo over to Playa Longusto. The variety of action at Timarindo, to the remoteness of Playa Longusto, is perfect.

In close, I really appreciate your interest and follow-up communication. To me the follow-up says a lot about both you and your company. You have our full appreciation of your help provided, and will heartily recommend your expertise to others that ask.  Our experience with Rain Forest Tours and you Arturo was excellent.

Thank you.

Hello Arturo,

Our trip to costa rica was wonderfilled. I so enjoyed the people ,the beauty and CPI. It was such a great mix of travel and learning. Eventhough we didnt get to meet you in person we felt well taken care of and the plans went smoothly. I am recommending you and rainforest tours to all my friends and family. If you need a tai chi or qi gong teacher on any of your cruises please let me know. I am a certified instructor and experienced 12 years now in the internal arts. You can see on my website at marymulligan.com

Have a nice end of summer,
Gratefully,

Hello Ines!

We had a WONDERFUL time on our trip and learned a lot about things to see and places to go if we return in the future. Our favorite experiences were the zip-lining/rappelling/horse-back riding, hot springs, and everything at Manuel Antonio. I appreciate the $100 reimbursement, as well as your flexibility with our changing plans. It was VERY frustrating to miss the white-water rafting (what I was looking forward to most!) because of travel delays.

Once again, I would like to thank you for your diligence in planning and executing our itinerary--it really was an amazing trip & we look forward to coming back.

Pura vida,

, Chicago IL

Dear Arturo, my apologies for the delay in responding until now, however, it continued to be an action packed trip and I have only returned to Australia recently. Volcanic ash cloud delays in Miami and Argentina were frustrating as you could imagine?

Pickup at the Marriott was very convenient given I was staying in Heredia. The drive was comfortable and air-conditioned until we reached the last section of 20 kms unsealed road. As I had been informed I expected the rough ride and narrow road with 2-way traffic, sometimes large trucks. I was delighted that the entire trip took only 3 hours and found myself in a tropical paradise by lunchtime. I would urge all tourism operators to lobby the Government to fully seal the road to encourage more tourism to this beautiful location with so many activities to enjoy regardless of age.

The hotel was very friendly and professional and met all my needs of a cooler experience of Costa Rica. The spectacular view on arrival, lunch on the balcony, and discovering the jacuzzi and the health spa centre was stunning. My room was clean and comfortable with a minimal view because I could not accept a 4th floor room with a great view because of stairs (no lift).

The restaurant was more than adequate for breakfast, lunch and dinner and staff responded quickly to any issues in the room, e.g. Non access to the safe, changeover of faulty DVD player.

I was particularly delighted with the hotel's environmental policies and their dedication to meet the needs of guests within that commitment. I would suggest this be emphasized more in the advertising. Hotel reception staff were particularly helpful and I informed them the comments on Trip Advisor were outdated as the additions were not in place when written. I assured them I would write a very positive update (done) and suggested management request the website to remove the old negative comments. I also suggested they upload photos of the pool, gym, spa centre and jacuzzi on their website.

My host in Costa Rica has since taken a group of friends (professionals) to Monteverde and at my suggestion and all agreed it was stunning!!

My trip to Monteverde is the highlight I speak of to all my friends and I will continue to encourage people to visit Costa Rica. Thank you for a wonderful memory.

Hi Ines,

I hope you received the backpack from the driver in San Jose. We returned on Sunday from a nice stay at Tamarindo. We enjoyed our stay at the Tabacon Resort. It was a gorgeous place and we enjoyed the hot springs. . . All of the drivers were great and Jose was especially nice since he stopped at the suspension bridges for us at our request when we were on our way from Arenal to Tamarindo.

We have given your name to another bank employee who is retiring this September and planning to come to Costa Rica in February. Her name is Laurie.

Thanks again,

Pura Vida.

Hello Arturo,

Thank you for your hard work. The trip was an overall success. Everyone had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the entire trip. I would have liked to meet you, but I'm sure I'll be back and we can meet then.

I would appreciate it if you could thank Gerardo for me once more, he was great and very knowledgeable. My entire group loved him showing us around.

Sincerely,

I want to thank everyone for a wonderful tour I was there this past Saturday and had a wonderful time. Everyone in the staff from Edgar to Donald the drivers to the canopy tour staff where wonderful and will refer anyone going to Costa Rica for a canopy tour to your company. I will also be back with friends to experience this again.

Thank you again see you in the future

Hola Ines,

All the families that visited Costa Rica are back and they had an amazing experience. One of the moms told me it exceeded her expectation & she had the best time of her life.

Thank you for all the hard work and your dedication. You were a pleasure to work with and I hope to see you soon in person.

Thank you for the gift that you sent me, the coffee will help me to stay awake on my late nighters

Have a great day,

Ines,

Just wanted to let you know how much I Enjoyed Costa Rica. It was a fantastic vacation. All accommodations were fine.

Thanks for your Effort in making it possible.

Hi Ines,

Thanks for all the work you did in preparing our itinerary and arranging transportation to each location. We did enjoy our trip very much and learned a lot about the country.

You were right about the hotel you recommented in San Jose being a very nice hotel - we just got a small room, likely because there were 2 Ryans registered. We didn't venture out to other restaurants because we really enjoyed the hotel food and service and ambiance. We went to the Gold Museum, which was interesting, and walked through the Central Market. We would likely fly to Liberia next visit though - enjoyed the rest of the country much more than the city.

Corcovado was beautiful but we were stuck inside each afternoon and night due to heavy thunder storms, which were "early" this year I guess. The drive to Manual Antonio is well worth the time - nice coastline scenery, and not too long a drive.

The hotel at Manuel Antonio was very very nice - we had a king bed and 3 balconies from our room. It is quiet and has good views and good service to the room and at the pool and nice breakfast on the patio. Good restaurants in the area, but the hotel restaurant is not recommended for dinner. It would be helpful to have a car just for your stay there because we spent a lot on taxis to go to the National Park and out for dinner each night. We didn't spend time at the beach because that would have been yet another taxi. The beach in the park is gorgeous, but by the time you do the nature hike you are desperate for a cold drink, which you cannot buy in the park. We could have gone back that day with our park pass but we were just too hot to make the trek back. We would likely go back to Corcovado and Manual Antonio.

The hotel in Arenal was lovely - great room with fabulous view of the volcano and nice patio. Again we could have used a car to go to other restaurants in the area and to go to the Tabacon Hot Springs at our leisure. The hot springs were wonderful, but I would not go there for dinner again. The drive from Manual Antonio to Arenal was 5 hours - We did enjoy the stop to see crocodiles and a tree full of beautiful birds.

Flamingo Beach is beautiful and the only mistake we made was traveling during the national Easter holiday week. Nice to have a private beach, and great restaurants close by and also the huge public beach within walking distance. We really liked this area and the close proximity to Liberia airport.

We golfed at Reserva Conchal Golf Club which is a 15 minute drive from Flamingo Marina Resort. It is a nice course and we were well looked after but it is expensive at $180. per person per round including a cart, plus $25. each for club rental. The golf was good but we would not stay at the resort because it is too spread out and you have to take shuttle buses everywhere, which we don't like.

Looking at the map, I can see that there are many many beaches along the Pacific in the Nicoya Penninsula area so it would be interesting to see some of them next visit.

We were especially impressed with the transportation services you booked for us.

Again, we would certainly avoid the national holiday week in Costa Rica but otherwise the trip was well planned.

Thanks again!

Hello Ines,

Francisco and I just want to say thank you. Our one day tour in Costa Rica was great! We enjoyed ourselves very much and just wanted to say thank you!

Dear Arturo, Ines,

I want to thank you for the wonderful trip I had with my father for his 80th birthday. I signed the guestbook and told everyone what a wonderful trip I had with your help.

Everything was wonderful and the trips were perfect. Our driver, Allen was punctual, courteous and knowledgeable. He along with our bird guide Aramondo made the trip a memorable one. My father booked 100 new species and was able to see the Resplendent Queztal on our last day. My father was so happy! Thank you again and I look forward to our next visit.

Sincerely,

Ines, thank you so much for all of your help with my group – we had a great time and everything went very well.  Christian, our driver, was a real pleasure to work with him.  He was very professional and a very nice guy so thank you.  The Friday tour of the Rainforest went well and the group loved it.

Thank you again.

Good Afternoon Arturo

The trip went off perfectly.

Jillian & I had a great time and all your planning was greatly appreciated. We both would have no problem in providing your name and company to others.

In fact, even while on travel in Costa Rica we mentioned our pleasure with your service to others that were not as fortunate.

• The car rental worked great, very pleased, easily done if you are patient – as roads and signage is not always clear to a tourist. We do get use to our own country and the use of maps; signage is not quite the same in Costa Rica.
• Loved Linda Vista and Costa Verde.
  
• Loved your recommendation for the Hanging Bridges at Arenal. Probably the best tour we had. Thank-you for your persistence in your recommendation.
• Really enjoyed the natural beauty of Manuel Antonio; even when taking a tour where you end up walking a gravel road as a trail, with 100 people crowding around 1 poor bird, or 75 people starring at a sloth, which makes you feel like being at the zoo. Although the sheer numbers of tourists were large, the volume of tourists did not deter from Manuel Antonio's beauty, but it sure raises concern for future sustainability.
• Found both the "El Estabio" and "Diria" over rated – lacking Costa Rica's charm. I think for us, we probably would have chosen the lodge at the Monteverde reserve over "El Estabio". Having rented a car being in the town was not important. However, we never thought to tell you that additional piece of information.

You were right on with your first thoughts about the hotel at Tamarindo. It would have been our first choice at Tamarindo, but at such a late booking date, what can I say. We were still very pleased.

• The Beach at Timarindo is perfect for surfing, had a great time.
• We loved that you could have a nice long walk from Timarindo over to Playa Longusto. The variety of action at Timarindo, to the remoteness of Playa Longusto, is perfect.
• We did on the last day of travel to Liberia, take the monkey trails from Tamarindo to several beaches (right up to the RIU – I am glad we were not able to book the RIU, however many of the other beaches such as the Flamingo, Conchal and Danta were beautiful).
  Thus I did not find it easy to reach you while in Costa Rica.

In close, I really appreciate your interest and follow-up communication. To me the follow-up says a lot about both you and your company. You have our full appreciation of your help provided, and will heartily recommend your expertise to others that ask. Our experience with Rain Forest Tours and you Arturo was excellent.

Thank you.

Hi There,

I just want to tell you what a great trip i had from the driver that picked us up and took us back by the way does he work for your company or another i would like to get his name and E-mail so that i can say thank you for the great start and finish to my trip.

The hotel that you chose was one of the best hotels and service was out of this work right down to the tours that i took. I have added your website to my facebook page to let every one know when they travel there to book with you once again thanks.

Arturo,

We hope you have been able to receive the credit card payment for the balance on our tour. The credit card company was hesitant about the large amount of the charge even though we had let them know that we were traveling to Costa Rica. I hope it has not caused you too much inconvenience. We have authorized the payment by phone last night --- immediately after we received their message upon returning home.

The tour you arranged for us was wonderful! Thank you so much!. The individual attention we received from all the guides (especially Ronald on the Rio Paquare raft tour) was very much appreciated. The accommodations were more than expected and the hospitality was most gracious at the lodges and the hotels.

We will be passing on this reaction to several of our friends and acquaintances who have expressed an interest in traveling to Costa Rica.

Another enjoyment for us was to meet the many "Ticos" and learn of the culture. Our fellow travelers in the tours were also very interesting-----from many parts of the US and the world.

Hope you had a nice visit with your daughter in Florida.

Sincerely,

Dear Ines,

We had a super holiday. The whole trip went off so smoothly. Everything happened on time as you had scheduled. Will & Alonzo (sp?) were great drivers/ guides. The accomodations & food were excellent throughout the trip. We were both healthy the entire trip.

We will recommend Rainforest Tours to our friends. Perhaps Will told you but the unexpected surprise of our trip was meeting our good friends from California at Rancho Naturalista !! We had a great 2 days with them. They were there with a birding group of 12 people. I think they were a little jealous of our arrangements. The tour that morning to the Hanging Bridges was very good (it was crowded & took longer then scheduled, possibly because it was Tuesday morning and it's closed on Mondays ???).

On a positive note for your information we booked a Sarapiqui Wildlife Boat Ride, our guide was Jose, and we were very pleased with what we saw in terms of birds & mammals. The guide spoke no English but he knew the names of the birds & animals & was an excellent spotter. Costa Rica's handling of tourists is impressive. I'm not sure why but with the exception of not speaking Spanish we felt quite at home. Costa Ricans seemed quite "Canadian".

Thank you for organizing our great trip.

Sincerely,

Greeting Ines,

We enjoyed our 3 in 1 tour today and look forward to our tour on Monday to the coffee plantation. Our guide was excellent & our driver took great care & we felt very safe. Thank you & your team!

Ines,

Thank you for all of your help in planning our Veragua Rainforest Tour. The group all had a great time. The Eco-hike and tram was very informative, and the zipline invigorating. Got home late Saturday and today it is snowing and 28F. We miss the warm weather!

Hope to work with you soon,

Hi Arturo,

We had a great time at the lodge in Osa, it is wonderful just as you said and a really good place to stay. Their guide Carlos was really good at birds and very enthusiastic. We are now back in the UK after our bird tour but wish we could have stayed in your lovely country longer! We look forward to returning to Costa Rica as soon as we can.

Thanks for all your help.

Kind regards,

I am so pleased to let the company know that I had a very good experience booking my trip to Costa Rica with Ines Silva. During my booking process, Ines gives good suggestions, helped me planing my hotel, tours... very professional and patient, I am very happy with her service and look forward to my trip to Costa Rica.

I would like to let the company know that I made a booking for clients of mine through Arturo at your company and was exceptionally happy with his service.

Fabulous - thank you.

Arturo, what a trip this has been.  Thank you very much for putting this together.  It has surpassed our expectations.  It has been the most adventurous trip we have ever taken as a couple or a family.  We kept saying how it has felt like a 3 week vacation (in a very good way).  It has been a stressful few months of work for my husband and this has been the perfect stress reliever.

Thanks again,

PS - The hot springs yesterday was a beautiful way to wind up the trip.

Dear Ines,

I want to thank you for planning some wonderful experiences for us in Costa Rica.  Our trip to Manuel Antonio with Alfredo was perfect in every way. Alfredo is a terrific guide and he filled in lots of gaps for us. The hotel was a gorgeous spot, and we loved the park and the local guide we had there. We only wish we could have stayed longer.

Our day trip on the catamaran was a great way to spend our last vacation day and Christmas away from home.

The two night trip to Arenal and Monteverde had many highlights as well. The group tour to Arenal and the Tabacon Spa was lots of fun and very interesting. The overnight at the Hotel you recommended was so special. Again, we wished we had another night there. 

Our experience in Costa Rica was wonderful and we will contact you again if we're ever able to return.

Thanks very much.

We went on the ATV tour except my husband and had a great time. Thanks so much Ines, we had a fabulous time. We are home and our so grateful to you for arranging a fabulous adventure tour.

Many thanks,

Hi Ines!

The trip was great. The hotel was beautiful, comfortable and I was well taken care of. I accomplished everything I wanted to do fishing.  The fishing charter put me on the fish and I caught mahi Mahi,Yellow Fin Tuna, Rooster Fish and a 225 pound Black Marlin. I took a couple of tours. I spent one afternoon in Quepos buying a couple of t-shirts and sat an outdoor cafe drinking cold Imperial. The whole trip was great. Good job, thank you. I am attaching a couple of pictures.

Ines,

We had a great time on the tour your arranged for us. The driver/tour guide you provided, Allen, was absolutely the best. We had a great time (even though we couldn't see the Poas Volcano in the rain.) I will definately recommend your company to others, and will give you a call the next time I am in  Costa Rica. I love your country! I have attached a few photos. Feel free to use them.

You can also see many more photos on my Facebook account - http://www.facebook.com/witchcityhomes

Thanks again.

Jim Armstrong