Monteverde – Monteverde Lodge (2) 

Day 1 USA – San José

Depart the States for your flight to Costa Rica. Upon your arrival in San José, you are met, and go by private car to your hotel, the Camino Real Inter-Continental. The huge atrium lobby blends stone, marble, polished wood, and glass with a soaring mural.

The afternoon is yours to settle in and relax beside the cloverleaf pool and surrounding gardens. The hotel also has a fitness center and tennis courts as well as a beauty center, massage service, and smart shops.

This evening, you are joined by your tour manager and travel companions for a private cocktail reception and dinner. The à la carte menu features French-inspired selections as well as local specialties in a formal restaurant replete with chandeliers, botanical murals, and piano music. (D)

After a morning drive, you arrive in the region known as Monteverde near the town of Santa Elena, and check into the Monteverde Lodge – the finest inn in this area. Your hotel has soaring picture windows that provide an open view of the lush gardens, the forested valley, and the Gulf of Nicoya beyond. After lunch, you visit the nearby Butterfly Farm, where you see a host of butterflies in a multitude of shapes, sizes, and every color imaginable.

Your spacious guest room has polished wood walls and flooring and angled windows with forest views. After dinner in the restaurant serving delicious international dishes and regional specialties, watch a very interesting slide show about the Cloud Forest. (B,L,D)

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve is one of the most successful biological sanctuaries in the world. There are over 25,000 acres holding six different life zones; within this incredible bio-diversity, there are 2,500 species of plants, 400 species of birds, 120 species of amphibians and reptiles, and more than 100 mammal species.

Today while you are on your natural history tour, look for the rare Quetzal, ancient holy bird of the Mayans, distinquished by iridescent green feathers and a tail up to 3 feet long. In addition, larger animal species, including the Jaguar and Ocelot, inhabit the Preserve’s boundaries.

Return to the hotel to relax with refreshments in the in the lounge before dinner. (B,L,D)

Traveling by air and land, this morning you move southward to El Parador Hotel & Beach Club located on a jungle-clad promontory overlooking the beach. This new pueblo-style inn has elegant public rooms and an impressive collection of Iberian antiquities.

Your hotel is adjacent to the Manuel Antonio National Park; many naturalists consider it to be Costa Rica’s most beautiful reserve. Pristine natural surroundings combined with abundant wildlife and picture-perfect beaches are all here. (B,L,D)

During your guided tour through Manuel Antonio, you follow well-groomed paths and look out for three types of monkeys - howler, white-faced, and squirrel – as well as coatamundis, iguanas, sloths, and hundreds of exotic birds. You pass numerous half-moon beaches and bays bordered by the rich rainforests.

Later in the afternoon, relax on the beach or take a swim in the pool that extends to the brink of a slope, complete with waterfall, before joining your travel companions for dinner. (B,L,D)

This morning, you fly to Costa Rica’s capital for a day of sightseeing and shopping. You drive through the La Sabana Metropolitan Park and lovely residential areas on your way to the National Theater, where you see wonderful tapestries and Venetian glass. You also visit the Gold Museum before taking time to stop at the Moravia shopping area where you can browse for leather goods and fine handicrafts.

Tonight you stay just outside the city at the San José Marriott, an attractive ocher-colored colonial lodging set amidst 29 acres with dramatic views of the distant mountains. The interior evokes 16^th-century Spain - stressed timbers, flagstone floors, and an array of antiques that Sotheby’s would covet. (B,L,D)

This morning, you fly to Belize City and drive on to the Cayo district in the western part of Belize. This country was settled by the Maya as early as 1500 BC, and their civilization reached its zenith between 250 – 900 AD.

Your destination is Chaa Creek in the verdant foothills of the Maya Mountains; it is one of the most popular wilderness lodges in the country. Bungalows under neatly clipped thatch are scattered across the sprawling lawns of this orderly 290-acre property sloping down to the forested banks of the Macal River. Sign-posted paths wind through neat gardens where flowering plants and exotic trees attract up to 190 species of birds.

After your four-course candlelit dinner, retire to your charming private white stucco cottage adorned with Mexican tile floors and colorful Guatemalan weavings. (B,L,D)