Costa Rica with EF College Breaks
My Costa Rica trip was a total of 12 days, and I chose to travel with EF College Breaks. For anyone that doesn't know about EF, look them up! They are an awesome company, and I definitely recommend them to anyone that is beginning to travel, or is looking for a vacation that is completely planned out ahead of time. (more about EF at the bottom!)
SO I'm going to show you a few of my favorite moments of this trip.
>>These are a few pictures that were taken on the guided tours we took.
Here is a tiny praying mantis in the palm of our tour guide. This picture was taken in INbioparque. This was one of our first stops in Costa Rica, and I really appreciated it because we learned a great deal about the biodiversity of Costa Rica and how everyone works hard to conserve their environment and replenish rainforests and other habitats that were destroyed by factories and other human processes. After learning this, I really noticed that the majority of Costa Ricans are very environmentally conscious, and it's admirable.
Honestly, I think I just took this on the road. The hills there were breathtakingly beautiful.
I think I was the only one that didn't get the memo to bring a rain jacket to Costa Rica because we were going to be taking tours in RAIN FORESTS.. So yeah my hair is wet, and so was my leather jacket, but you know what, I had a great time.
Well these animals are called koatimundo. They look like a hybrid between a raccoon and an anteater. Our tour guide warned us that they can be extremely aggressive because they think that people approach them to give them food. I dare say I was the first out of the bus to get a close up look at these guys. I'm so glad I did, they are the cutest little things, and we were all cautious, but none of them seemed aggressive at all.
Who knows what a coffee plant looks like?? Well now you know. And that's what a small coffee plantation looks like.
Oh yeah here's an on-the-road selfie with a rainbow, no big deal. We thought the rainbow looked so beautiful that we made the bus driver pull over on the side of the road so we could take pictures. LOL I guess you can say we are tourists, we made the bus driver stop so we could take pictures of everything.
>>Here are some shots I took as we were horseback riding through the hills of Costa Rica :)
The ride wasn't exactly smooth, but horseback riding never is. Nevertheless, it was absolutely beautiful, and it was an awesome experience. I thought it was kinda cool to be in the middle of the line, to look forward and see a line of horses, and to look back and see a line of horses.
>>La Fortuna Waterfall
It was actually quite the hike down several flights of stairs to reach this waterfall, but boy was it worth it. But of course, I'm a complete sucker for waterfalls so I was in heaven.
>>Poas Volcano
I've gotta admit, I don't have any pictures of the Volcano itself. BUT that's only because we were unable to see it! We got there and it was so cloudy that we couldn't see a foot in front of us, nevermind the volcano hundreds of yards below us. However, the trip wasn't in vain because the squirrels there made it worth it. They were such characters, jumping into a person's lap one second and climbing up someone's leg the next second.
>>Arenal Volcano and Lake
This is Lake Arenal, it's actually a manmade lake to cover an entire town that was destroyed when the Arenal Volcano errupted many years ago. It was an eery feeling that there were probably a few bodies still in the lake, right under us as we were kayaking.
This was probably my favorite hotel that we stayed at, because the chill spot on the roof was AWESOME. We would come up during the day to get some sun, and at night to share some beers. Yeah that, in the backkground? That's the Arenal Volcano.
>>Puntarenas Crocodile Tour
Yeah, I touched the butt. It was great.
>>Manuel Antonio National Park
We went to the beach in Manuel Antonio, and these bad boys were insane! Talk about sticky fingers.. These clever little guys took any food that they could get their hands on. Those are my can of pringles, and somehow he got into Maria's bag and took them. He even knew how to open the can and get pringles out. They were taking just about everyone's food. If they weren't so awesome, I would've been a little bit upset.
>>Monteverde
After the tour we took of the Santa Elena Cloud Forest, I decided to go out and take a trip to the suspension bridges. I honestly thought there were going to be some rope bridges, but this was alright for me. I basically did a tour of the cloud forest again, except this time I was in the canopy level.
This macaw was so calm while taking pictures with everyone else, but he wasn't too keen on taking a selfie with me. I barely moved in time, he almost took my eye out.
Unfortunately, I can't find many pictures actually ziplining (I can't remember if I took any or not). Here's a photo of a few of us girls waiting in line to continue zipping.
>>Whitewater Rafting!
One of our last adventures that we had together, and it was a great one. I can't remember where we went whitewater rafting, but the tour guides were so sweet. They were a little cheesy, but funny. They loved what they did and they made sure we loved it too.
~Pura Vida!
**This is from my experience with my trip in Costa Rica, I have not been on any other trips, so I can't speak for all of the trips that EF has available.
The reason why I say that I recommend EF to beginning travelers, is that they take care of every little detail for you; everything from airline tickets, to transportation, to hotels, adventure tours, and cultural experiences. They have everything covered from top to bottom, so everything runs smoothly. The hotels that are included in the package aren't exactly 5-star resorts or anything like that, but they aren't run down either; I honestly really liked the hotels that we stayed in and I'm quite picky. They are generally in the city, or close to the city, so it's easy to walk around and do any shopping or explore the night life. The tour guide is also extremely knowledgable about the culture, and the area, so if you have any questions, they should be able to answer them or find the answers for you. In my case, I wanted to book additional activities that ventured away from the accomodations, and my tour guide Jonathan was able to answer all my questions and help me book the most convenient and affordable option.
On the other hand, I wouldn't quite recommend this program for experienced travelers, because everything is already planned out for you. For beginners, it takes away the stress of planning it all, but as an experienced traveler, there is a certain thrill in planning everything out yourself. Planning out your own trip is a great learning experience, because you have to take a lot of things into consideration and compensate for things that don't go as planned. Making your own itinerary also has its pros; you pick and choose everything that you put in your schedule, so you don't end up going on tours that don't interest you, or hiking trails you don't want to. You pick and choose what you want to do so that you don't spend your time and money on things that you don't want to do.
Another aspect to keep in mind, is that EF College Break trips are generally pretty large. This can be both a positive and a negative thing. It makes it easy for groups of friends to travel together, meanwhile it also allows individuals to sign up for trips on their own and meet new people in the group.
My group consisted of about 30 people, so a lot of the hikes we did through rain forests were slow-paced and crowded, but I got to meet a lot of really cool people that also have a passion for traveling.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and I would definitely recommend it to others.
