Costa Rican Highlights With White Water Rafting Adventure Extension

The vaporous clouds of this area were once said to hide a witch, a local princess whose angered father had thrown her husband into the volcano. The devastated princess retreated into the volcano’s shadow, where she spent the rest of her life concocting spells for the town’s residents. The volcano’s name, “The Nook of the Old Woman,” comes from this legend. View this haunting landscape of bubbling craters as you approach this 6,285-foot-high, very active volcano.

Soar through the treetops for the unmatched close-up of the New World’s best wildlife refuge. Harness yourself to cables that run between platforms high in the trees, then step into thin air and zip from tree to tree. Experience a true bird-eye view from your new aerial perspective.

Had enough hot lava? Cool off with a leisurely ride on horseback to the hacienda’s waterfalls, where you can splash to your heart’s content.

Glide along the still waters reflecting the perfect cone of Arenal Volcano and the surrounding rolling hills. Lake Arenal, the country's largest, is also among its most scenic, and the area has become popular area to kayak, windsurf, sail, fish, and hike.

Because of its humidity and latitude, the entire city of Monteverde can disappear in a second under a massive cloud cover. Founded by Quakers in 1951, the city boasts the best in Costa Rican creatures. Observe a proud display of howler monkeys, revered quetzals and native frogs in the dense cover of the cloud forest.

Take the opportunity to enrich a Costa Rican school with gifts of notebooks, pens, erasers -- all basic supplies that few students here can afford. Learn how rural communities are working to give their children educational opportunities in extremely difficult conditions, often with dozens of students in all different grades taught in a single classroom. We will stop to pick up supplies before visiting, but feel free to bring donations of school supplies like chalk or paper from home, too. (If schools are not in session, you'll be able to give gifts of t-shirts, socks, and other clothing to local children.)

Rrribbit. Venture to a frog sanctuary at night for an amphibious symphony. Most of Costa Rica’s famous frogs are nocturnal, making this evening activity a great opportunity to both hear and see the colorful creatures. The tiny Tink Frog, often no more than an inch long, is making the metallic clanging noise you hear (hence its name), while the flashes of red you see might be the Red-Eyed Tree Frog hopping from leaf to leaf. Get up close and personal with 25 other species at this frog museum, where crayola-perfect reds, greens, yellows, and blues mark the inhabitants. Just watch which plants you stand under -- mistletoe is also native to Costa Rica, and not every frog will turn into a prince!

Mosey on through Costa Rica’s “Old West.” Cows, horses, and sauderos (Costa Rican cowboys) ride across the sun-struck landscape of this arid region. Seek out the local Guancaste tree, whose oddly shaped seedpods have given it the name “Monkey Ear Tree.”

Located at the base of the Tenoria Volcano in the island’s verdant Guanacaste province, the powerful flow of the Tenoria River will take you—and your licensed guide—on a wild water ride through the lush Costa Rica rainforest.