Archive for product reviews
Spotlight Costa Rica – Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge in Osa Peninsula
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I’m in Costa Rica, now what? Well Osa Peninsula is my advice for today… but what is there? Well for starters I have to say that it’s one of the most biologically diverse places on earth and is home to Corcovado National Park. When traveling to this side of Costa Rica your best lodging option is Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge.
Here you will find bungalows, two rental houses, hammocks, easy chairs, a solar-powered restaurant, a pool and more, all within the beauty of the rainforest.
If you have kids don’t worry, this si a kid friendly lodge in the middle of the rainforest where they will be surrounded by a safe yet fun environment with plenty of space; take it from a mom with a 6 year old boy who had the time of his life here.
Bosque del Cabo is so special because it offers a perfect blend between a lush rain forest and the beauty of the sea coming together. It is the perfect place to make it your base to go on every adventure tour that this area has to offer plus it is a peaceful environment which will make you forget that there’s a world outside so don’t you dare to miss it!
Contact me for great discounts for a spectacular stay at Bosque del Cabo Lodge!
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Here’s what people have to say about them and if you don’t believe them, I dare you to try it!
I visited BdC for the second time in June. I was blown away by the place the first time I visited in 2007, and enjoyed my second stay immensely as well.
The staff is really top-notch; warm, welcoming, and helpful. The lodge owners, Kim and Phil, are very involved in the day to day operations, and are also very nice and helpful. The cabinas are comfortable, the food is terrific, and the setting is beautiful. The location on the tip of the Osa Peninsula is excellent if wildlife viewing is one of your goals. There is a terrific range of activities to choose from; hiking, swimming, surfing, fishing, horseback riding, kayaking, visits to an animal sanctuary, or just hanging out in the hammock at your cabina overlooking the Pacific. It’s an incredibly tranquil place where much has been done to be ecologically responsible and co-exist peacefully with nature.
I love to travel and Costa Rica is one of my favorite places. Bosque del Cabo really is a prime example of why Costa Rica is so fantastic. I hope to visit BdC again soon!
And
All the fantastic reviews about this place are completely accurate so I won’t repeat myself but for those people with young children who are unsure about going to the osa peninsula with little ones – take it from us (our kids are 5 and 3) this place is wonderful. I extensively researched nearly every place in Costa Rica and this one kept jumping out at me (for very good reasons) but lots of people on the forums said this area was not suitable for young children, so I was worried but booked it with trepidation. The flight here alone was a highlight for my 3 year old – Nature air was on time, very efficient and great fun. The lodge itself is brilliant for kids – lovely little pool, exciting walks and trails (we made sure our kids did a little bit of hiking before we went to get them used to it – but the trails are not long and so interesting our kids never once complained or asked to be carried – warning they are hot and in some places bit steep) and the food was pretty much what the kids asked for – chicken fingers, cheese sandwiches, pancakes, pasta – all prepared just for our kids. On food – I am a veggie and had a special meal prepared for me every evening – which was always delicious. The place is like an open air zoo (monkeys in the shower really does happen!) and my husband spent the rest of our vacation with a torch attached to his head at night (ask Philip). The kids never once asked for TV and we spent the nights slurping cocktails and rocking in the hammock listening to the (very loud) noises of the rainforest. It will be hard to beat this wonderful family adventure.
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Safari Chapin- Much More Than an Animal Park
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Are you ready for an all day adventure! Auto-Safari Chapin is all that and so much more.
Besides having an amazing collection of exotic and predatory animals for the car safari, you’ll eat like a king, flop around in a huge pool, and take a gorgeous ride in a boat. And if that’s not enough, you can also take a leisure walk around their zoo!
You don’t have to have a car to enjoy the whole experience. For the same price you can drive up close to the animals in a cozy van supplied by the park. And when I say up-close, I mean you can reach out and pet a lion if you want. Just be careful – he can reach out and pet you just the same!
The best part about this park, besides everything! Is the entrance fee. For $8 you get the safari, pool and boat ride. For $12 you get the whole shebang: the safari ride, the pool, the boat ride, the zoo and an enormous lunch with a drink and dessert. (Kids are a slightly discounted rate.) Take my advice, buy the package. The food is much more expensive if you buy it separately. 
In between the safari exhibits you can take a little rest stop, while the kids run around and burn energy on the playground as you stretch your legs and get some respite from the heat under huge trees.
After the ride you head over to the enormous cafeteria, and if you bought the package, to eat an insanely large meal (which you can barely finish) before heading either to the overcrowded pool or a ultra-relaxing boat ride. I definitely recommend the boat ride, it’s sooooo gorgeous, calm and full of animals.
To top the day off enjoy a last hoorah by walking through a wonderful small-sized zoo.
I’ll be honest with you. When I paid for the entrance fee never did I think that I was going to get sooooo much for my money. It was worth every penny and the experience of it all will last a lifetime.
Turu Ba Ri Adventure Park in Costa Rica – The Park
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Turu Ba Ri covers over 90 sq. hectares of tropical forest. During the intense park tour, our guide managed to explain in an entertaining manner what an orchid is, how bromeliads grow, and the importance of banana plants.
He also told us that male green iguana’s faces turn bright red during mating season and that American crocodiles can reach lengths of fifteen feet in their lifetime.
But the best part was the delicious traditional Costa Rican style buffet that gave us the fuel we needed for the second part of the day: The Adventure Part.
Turu Ba Ri Adventure Park in Costa Rica- The Canopy Tour
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Costa Rica is world-famous for canopy tours. There are over 120 different locations throughout the country that you can zip over the tropical rain forest. Beware, not all of them are well done or meet the correct standards for secure zip-lines. That’s why it’s extremely important to go with tour companies that uphold their reputation for quality equipment and well maintained machinery. Turu Ba Ri is without a doubt one of the best ranked canopy tours in the country.
Before getting on the zip-line you are fitted with a harness, helmet and gloves. Then the main guide demonstrates to everyone how you should sit and brake while flying through the air. After all is said and done there are at least two people at each platform who will be helping you brake and clipping you on and off the line.
My son had his own private guide that is trained to work with kids. I don’t think I had ever seen my son smile so much in all his five beautiful years. He was 
soooooo excited and so amazed by this experience that after it was over he couldn’t stop talking about it. And I knew he was in good hands when all he did was ask if Luis (his guide) could be his friend!
For me and my son this was the highlight of our MONTH! However, it takes a bit more to satiate my husband and get his adrenal glands pumping. Turu Ba Ri is well aware of these people, and have the right activities in mind for them! Such as rappelling & Climbing.
Ecover Products – The Power of Nature – Product Review
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Living in Central America really limits my ability to buy eco-friendly cleaning products. There just doesn’t seem to be a big enough market here. Yet, some companies, that truly believe in improving our the state of our Earth are working their butts off to get these products in every nook and cranny of the world. I’m not sure how they’re doing in other parts of the world, but I can gladly say they have arrived to Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Naturally, I ran out and tried them out. Yes, they are quite pricey in comparison to local brands, but the difference is remarkable.
Ecover Products have won my vote over and over again.
Thes are the products I’ve chosen as a permenant fixture in my household:
This is an easy to use bathroom cleaner. Normally, whenever I use any cleaners in my bathroom, I have to run out gagging from the chemicals that are in each product. This freshly lime scented product worked well on the grime, and left my bathroom air light and easy to breathe.
It’s chrome friendly with plant based ingredients.
My other favorite product is the Washing Up Liquid Dish washing soap. Normally my skin gets all pruney, and old looking after spending too much time washing the dishes. Not that I like to spend too much time doing it, but sometimes you just have no choice. Plus, dishwashers aren’t really the norm here just yet.
I’ve had many people tell me, don’t use soap, just hot water. I tried that tactic for a while, but it just doesn’t feel like you’re cleaning them. Finally, after finding this product, i feel like I’m washing the dishes in a smooth shower gel. My hands feel soft after working them!
I know that the products are costly, however, if you use a little it goes a long way. And just think of all the great benefits you’re doing to our Mother Earth!
Cahuita National Park in Costa Rica
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The gateway to this gorgeous, well maintained and managed national park is a bridge from the town of Cahuita to the registration office. Here, you’ll sign in and if you’re feeling generous, donate money for the entrance fee.
The majority of the park is marine based. There is a well-marked and super-easy trail that will lead you parallel to all the gorgeous beaches. Besides being a fantastic place to fully relax and get away from EVERYTHING, you can enjoy some of the best snorkeling in all of Costa Rica.
I would highly recommend a visit to this park, even if you’re staying in Puerto Viejo.
Panaca – A Hot Adventure!
Posted by: | CommentsTwo themes last with you throughout your Panaca experience:
* Heat
* Walking
No matter what you do you will never escape either one or both of these recurring elements.
The fee at the door is $15 per person with a slight discount for the child. This only includes the entrance to the park and the shows. For each additional animal ride or interaction you are charged. The fees are nominal $1 – $2. However, considering that each family has two kids or more and they want TO DO EVERYTHING you can easily spend over $150 for the day. Not a cheap day trip.
The park is located in San Mateo on the way to Jaco, in the Central Valley of Costa Rica about 1.5 hours from San Jose. This area of Costa Rica is known for its intense heat and dryness. If you’re mentally prepared for it, it’s not a big deal. But since I don’t go to this area often and from my prior experiences of animal parks being rather small and shady, let’s just say my son and I were so not ready for it!
The park’s central theme is to educate about domestic animals and livestock. Two categories of animals that go unnoticed by most people, or rather we take them for granted because everyone in Costa Rica either has a dog, a cow or a chicken. So, the idea truly intrigued me since I really don’t know much about these animals.
To start off with the parking lot is a good kilometer walk from the first thing you will see is the bovine exhibit. Each exhibit has 30 min shows to entertain you while you relax from the heat and the long walks. Since the majority of the people visiting here would be families, I would have expected an engaging show. Instead, we were shown different cows from around the world with a couple of adult-only volunteer acts that barely kept me awake. So you can understand how little it did for my five year old.
In between each exhibit (cow, dog, pig, and horses) are the animals. First there are sheep, cows, water buffalo, pigs, dogs, horses, etc… You can feed each animal, ride a buffalo, ride a horse, and milk a cow. This can add up rather quickly without you even knowing it and take up about ten seconds so that the kid is on to the next paying attraction.
Our next venture was the doggy show. There is a huge exhibit of pedigree dogs who are housed in teeny tiny cages, but do put on a cute show. Afterwards, you can walk each dog for $2 on a leash in a teeny tiny green area for no more than five minutes. Since, I wasn’t going anywhere near another dog, we’ve got a billion in the residential where I live, we jetted to the next exhibit.
The Pigs! Again, we added an extra 500 meters to the walk in the scorching heat. My son was barely coherent as we slomped down a hill and crawled up a rocky hill to see the swine. The staff was extremely helpful and friendly and almost overly concerned for our well-being, yet they have completely neglected to do so for the animals.
I know absolutely nothign about pigs, and quite frankly don’t want to learn too much. However, any amatuer could see that they were full on suffering. Their little cages were dirty, stinky and full of shit. The pigs were literally frothing at the mouth from dehydration and probably starvation. It was such a sorry sight that I couldn’t pull my son away fast enough. The show wasn’t too start for another hour and the staff kept on begging us to stay.
Mumbling from my practical heatstroke, I asked where the last exhibit- Horses – was. He pointed down. Gratefully, a horse and buggy which was part of the amusement, was standing by ready to take us for a fee. Instead of going for a joyful ride around the pig station, I commanded us to go the horses.
This was a good kilometer, maybe more, down a hill with zero sun coverage. Let’s just say it was the best two bucks I’d ever paid. And my son was thrilled and even more thrilled when I told him we’re about to leave, cause he’s been begging me to go home.
The horse station was great fun for two reasons:
1. They really did have a wonderful selection of pure breds and even a zebra thrown in for good measure.
2. We could see the exit which was a one kilometer walk down hill.
Maybe if they had a little tram or shuttle to take you from one activity to the next it wouldn’t have been as tiresome and exhausting as it was. Maybe if they actually cared for the animals they were exhibiting it wouldn’t have been as dissappointing. So my overall recommendation: if you’re going to go, make sure it’s an overcast day and have lots of extra change with you so your kids can enjoy the full experience.
Turu Ba Ri Adventure Park in Costa Rica – Rappelling and Climbing
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To push my husband’s adrenaline glands into overtime we signed him up for the rappel/rock climbing wall. Turu Ba Ri is awesome, we’ve already done the Canopy tour and even had my husband fly at 55 mph with the Superman Zipline, yet they know how to satisfy the extra adrenaline junkie. You don’t have to do both, if you want you can simply rappel down and walk back up or you can walk down and climb up. It’s your call. In our case, my hubby’s call was both.
For this attraction three trained guides worked with us. Now that’s what you call service! One guide educated and dressed my husband up in all the right gear. The next guide was in charge of the ropes and the last guide rappelled down to make sure he arrived to the bottom safely.
Apparently the rappel was a cinch, as my husband later told me, although the wall was a bit of a challenge for him. Every year there is a competition in Costa Rica that takes place at this 85 meter climbing wall with some of the top climbers. 
The best time so far is two minutes fifty-nine seconds. My husband is a rock climber, so to say the least, he has experience. He completed the wall in seven minutes flat.
Think you can do better?
Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo – Review
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Way before my days of being a mommy, I traveled on my own – a lot! I learned quite a few traveling do’s and don’ts for solo women travelers the hard way and wished that there was a guide to help me along the way.
Well, Beth Whitman from the fun traveling site Wanderlust and Lipstick, heard our calling and wrote a fun, easy to follow and even inspiring travel book for women traveling on their own.
Beth has traveled way-too-many miles to mention here over the past 20 years collecting enough data to prepare any woman to get her bags packed and out the door with confidence and a knowing-ness of what they need to have the best experience ever!
The book is filled with resources and tools that are up-to-date and helpful for planning where to go, how to get there, health and safety, overcoming cultural barriers, dealing visas and other obligatory hold-ups, and most importantly how to enjoy yourself no matter the city or country you are visiting.
Plus, you’ll get an inside glimpse of over 50 stories, tales and good advice sources from solo women who have been there, done that and are doing it again. But this time they are beckoning you to get out there and join them!
You’ll love this book. Once you take it on the road you’ll be reading and re-reading it constantly for new ideas, answers to your questions and just for inspirational stories by other fellow women travelers.
Beth Whitman is found on twitter: @wanderluster
So buy it now for just $10 and go traveling!
Turu Ba Ri Adventure Park in Costa Rica – The Welcome
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OK, so we know about the Disney and Universal theme parks. How about a nature, adventure park where the theme is all part of Mother Nature’s own design with a few embellishments and adventure zones thrown in to ignite all of our senses! It is located in near San Jose, in the Central Valley of Costa Rica.
I’ve lived in Costa Rica for six years, and have heard about this park for ages. I’ve never had a chance to visit before because I was either pregnant or my son was way too young to get the full experience. Finally the time had arrived and we ventured forth to see what all the hype was all about.
The organization and guidance given by the park staff impressed us the most.
Turu Ba Ri works kind of like a restaurant, you get a menu and have options of what you’d like to experience. For example, you can order the park tour, a canopy tour, the Superman zip-line, horseback riding, rappelling and climbing the 85 meter wall, and/or the Tarzan swing. It’s up to you, so live it up.
We chose the park tour, the canopy ride for the whole family, and my husband (an adrenaline junkie) got to fly like Superman and rappel down the super steep, never ending rock wall and climb back up.
