Today we woke up in Arenal, Costa Rica, excited to go touring. We chose Arenal Jungle Tours because of the great reviews it has online and let me tell you it did not disappoint! It was one of the best days I’ve had experiencing Costa Rica.
We started with a combo tour that let us see the story behind some delicious products. We not only learned about all that goes into making chocolate and coffee but were fully immersed in the steps. We could see the plants growing, notice when they were ripe, identify different kinds, watch the seeds dry in the sun roasted over a fire. We could smell the difference between light, medium, and dark roasts, grind the coffee ourselves, and taste test, of course. This is a family friendly tour that includes all of your senses. See, touch, smell, taste the delicious pure coffee and chocolate. All the while, hearing the sounds of tropical birds. This is Costa Rica at its finest.
Our guide, Isaac, was wonderful. He was very knowledgeable and answered our many questions. He went above and beyond, sharing his Grandma’s secret hot chocolate recipe. He was entertaining and informative. Do you enjoy learning interesting facts like why bananas are often grown near cacao or why leaves are left around the bottom of the trees and where coffee and cacao plants originate from? You will learn these and many many other facts.
After tasting coffee and chocolate in many forms, he brought us some fresh cut sugarcane. We learned how to use a machine to squeeze the juice out from it. As a cherry on top, he taught us about a local liquor, called cacique, which we mixed with the sugar cane juice. Each was good but the combination was even better!
The homemade coffee, hot chocolate, and sugar cane juice was the perfect way to start the day.
After a quick stop at the restaurant, we continued on to a second tour with the same company, this time enjoying the wildlife, especially sloths.
Our guide, Nathan, was very experienced at finding animals we would never have noticed on our own. He pointed out both two and three toed sloths (one carrying a baby!), both species of poisonous frogs, and a snake. He was brave and took some spiders off the web to show them to us up close. We made a stop along the way to see ants carrying leaves, learn why they do this and what they eat. It’s not the leaves they carry but the fungus that grows on them after they are left for a while. He explained the four types of ants in that colony and the job of each. Did you know they only live one week? He even dug up the part where they bury the dead ants. That was really interesting. We saw tons of birds, too. He had a telescope and was great at taking pictures through it. We will remember what we saw and enjoy the pictures for years to come.
On both tours, the guides were professional, knowledgeable, and made sure everyone was included. They were really friendly and you could tell they love their jobs. Everyone we met from the company, from the stand in town where you get info about the tours available to the reception staff at the tour location were all kind and helpful. I highly recommend booking a tour or two with Arenal Jungle Tours.
Book at the website for Arenal Jungle Tours
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