Avispas Adventures

Family of Friends From Canada Jan/Feb 2010

We were in Costa Rica the last week of January and first week of February 2010.  Our group included myself, & my two siblings, our spouses, my son and two good friends.  We booked two tours through Avispas Adventures.  I had read about Avispas on-line through reviews of our resort.  Although the reviews were geared toward the resort, I lost count how many folks
commented on Avispas Adventures and the great service/value they received.  I cannot say enough about their service.  We booked ahead by e-mail and got a phone call from Amy (to us in Canada) to discuss what experience we were looking for.  Customer experience/service is their number 1 objective and they really deliver - in spades.  Not only do they understand what
experience you are looking for, they anticipate your needs.  I also felt like our group was the only customer Avispas had (and I know they were extremely busy with excursions the weekend we were there).  But, everyone was very attentive.  They want to make the experience as personal as possible for the group.  No tour buses - just you/your group and the guides.   Amy accompanied us the Fiesta at Coco Beach and it was like going with your sister/aunt - very much like family (yep, she even had to put up with my two brothers - kudos for that one, Amy).  We left a video camera on the bus and returning it to us was absolutely no problem and they did everything they could to get it back to us quickly (so as not to miss taping any of our vacation).

Our first tour was to Miravelles Volcano.  What a day.  I won't go into the actual tour as it has been written about many times.  But let me tell you about our experience.  Hugo Boss and young William were our guides and they were fantastic.  We had a blast.   There was nothing they wouldn't do for us.  You want to stop and take pictures, just say so.  You want to stop and go shopping, just say so.  The day is yours.  I'm sure if we wanted to stop and skinny dip, they would have obliged (don't worry Amy, we didn't - lol).  Their knowledge of Costa Rica was beyond anything I would have expected.  And trust me, we had some pretty off the wall questions.  Learning about the culture, flora, fauna, language, food, etc. of Costa Rica was an added bonus to experiencing the excursion.  And, the champagne served to us in the hot springs was a nice touch.

The second tour was a trip to a local Fiesta (like a small town fair) in Coco Beach.  We tasted the local food and it was delicious.  We watched the bull riding and what an experience.  Local people running around teasing the bulls after the rider was finished.  Talk about entertaining
and scary.  The people were right on the field with the bull running around and would climb up the fence when he came to close.  It was great fun to watch.

Again, I can't even put into words how great this tour company is.  All I can say is....Amy you've got a gem of a company and you should be proud. Your customer service surpasses anything I've ever experienced and should be held up as a standard for other service industry companies to achieve.


Pam - Canada

SPECIAL Friends!

We were in Costa Rica over Thanksgiving and couldn’t have been more thankful to have spent nearly the entire time with the team at Avispa’s Adventures. From the moment Amy (owner and operator with Jose) responded to my e-mail with “we’ll take you wherever you want to go whenever you want to go”, I knew that her team was extraordinary.

When we were met at the airport, it was even more apparent that this tight-knit group of knowledgeable, accommodating, genuine, dedicated and fun-loving guides was going to exceed expectations every step of the way. We took and I highly recommend their most popular tours including the Arenal Volcano, Miravalles Volcano, Palo Verde and Turtle tour. We also took a day-trip to Nicaragua, had a lovely woman named Ana come and cook us a traditional meal and spent others days on personalized trips planned by Amy to accommodate our sense of adventure and desire to get to really see this beautiful country.

If there was an alligator on the river… they found it.

If there was a party in the community center… we stopped to see the tamales being made.

If we were driving through the country-side… we laughed, learned and were comfortable on the way.

Amy and Jose run the kind of business that gives back to the community and their ability to cultivate strong relationships with those at the “must see” sites in Costa Rica, as well as their ability to develop fabulous rapport with clients, leads to an unparalleled experience in this magical place. Everyone I know who has been to Costa Rica has loved it but no one I’ve ever spoken to has had anything that compared to the vacation that Avispa’s Adventures can provide.

Friends from Villa Sol

My husband I and came to Costa Rica on our honeymoon from July 20-25th, 2009 and had a great time. We did a bunch of research on the area and looked online and heard good reviews about Avispas tours so decided to book a trip with them. We are from Wisconsin and don't know Spanish that well, so were happy that Mario, our guide, was such a great translator for us along the way. We got taken care of pretty well--we even had someone pick us up from the airport the day we got there and dropped us off at our hotel and again dropped us off at the airport the day we left at 6am. And of course the van was always stocked with delicious Costa Rican munchies and drinks.

We did the Miravalles Volcano Adventure the second day we were in Costa Rica. In the end, it was just me, my husband, our own tour guide, Mario, and our personal driver, Carlos. It really was more personalized to what we wanted to do..The Mega Adventure was a whole day of fun--we went on a zipline canopy tour, which was my favorite part. For this part, we had Mario as our translator and guide as well as two other zipline specialists who assisted us. It was our first time doing this, so we were a little scared at first, but by the end we were even ziplining "Superman style"! Next we stopped for lunch at this excellent restaurant...we liked the salsa for the rice so much that Mario showed us a store that sold it and we took a little side-trip. After that we went horseback riding to the rainforest and then hiked with a new guide. On the whole hike, we were again the only people there. Beautiful waterfalls, trees and vines were everywhere. Next we rode our horses back, then went to this volcano area and ended up in a mudbath and then a natural hot springs. Mario brought us Costa Rican wine to enjoy as a treat in here. It was a busy day, but defintaly worth our money! We stopped at an ATM on the way back to the hotel. After we were dropped off, I noticed I lost my wallet! I called Amy in a panic and they cleaned out their car and Mario even went back to the market where we were last and asked around and looked for it. Luckily in the end another American had found it in the street where we got out at our resort (was I relieved!), but I was still very impressed with everyone's help at Avispas Tours.

At our hotel we saw a few buses come by with other travel agencies, but there were always about 50 people on the tours and maybe one guide...and from what I heard cost more for seeing less. Like I said, we only booked this one day trip and wanted to keep our options open, but after we had so much fun, we booked a second trip going on the river boat tour. Carlos and Mario picked us up from our hotel and on the way we saw some howler monkies and some crazy, huge catillars--so they pulled over so we could take some pictures. Again, on this trip were only my husband and I, so it was very personalized. There were other people besides us going on the tour, so since they were 25 minutes behind schedule, the boat guide took us on our own mini-boat tour for a half hour while we waited. The other boat guides did not speak English, or at least not much, so we were very happy that we had Mario with us. He was very good at identifying the animals and telling us more informaiton about all of them. We saw alligators, white-faced monkeys, howler monkeys, all kinds of lizards, all kinds of birds, and much more. It was another great tour I would recommend. We also stopped for lunch on the way back at a traditional Costa Rican restaurant. We had a great time and I know if we go back around the area we would defintely pick Avispas Adventure Tours again. Both tours were very personalized and unique...we had a great time! PURA VIDA!
Maureen & Tom

Lifelong Friends

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. We learned about Avispas tours online and arranged in advance for the Palo Verde River trip and also the day long Miravalles Adventure. We have traveled internationally and usually avoid tours, but we were absolutely delighted by our experience with Avispas. Amy was fantastic in helping us choose the excursions we would enjoy most, and Jose, our guide for both trips, was knowledgeable, eager to please, and just a fun traveling companion. We saw fabulous wildlife on the river trip, enjoyed a great lunch at a small local restaurant, and had the chance to experience a bit of what community life is like off the beaten track. Jose was happy to give us extra time for a shopping side trip. The five hour tour stretched into a leisurely 7 hours with no extra fees. We quickly saw that this is the hallmark of Avispas Tours. The itinerary always remained flexible, and we were never rushed. On our Miravalles day trip, we were the only travelers. However, since we had booked in advance, Amy was gracious enough to give the standard group rate. We began with a morning of zip lining. We'd never done this before and were a little nervous about it, but the guides at Papagayo Canopy Tours walked us through the process, and two of them escorted us all the way, never pushing us to go more quickly than we wanted. It was the most fun ever! Then we enjoyed another beautiful meal at an open air restaurant including traditional Costa Rican coffee service. Then it was on to go by horseback to the hiking trailhead for Miravalles falls. The views were breathtaking. After the horse trip back down, we were able to hike around the volcano crater and enjoy the relaxing volcanic mud soak followed by a sauna and nature hot spa. We weren't sure about the mud bath, but Jose really encouraged us to try it. If you take this trip, it is not to be missed! I've never felt so relaxed in my life and didn't have a single sore muscle the next day. Again, our day was leisurely and self paced with time for shopping and even a stop at the grocery store for airplane snacks and bags of coffee to take home with us. On our way back to our hotel, Jose pointed out a small town that would be hosting a bull riding competition the following night. "That sounds like fun." we commented, and he immediately offered to take us if we were interested. We arranged it with Amy and for a ridiculously small charge for transportation, off we went. This may have been our favorite part of the trip. Everyone in town was there from the grandpas to the babies. Outside the bull ring was a small carnival and vendors selling, among other things, delicious barbecued ribs. We arrived early, so Jose took us to experience beers and a local shrimp dish at a small neighborhood bar. The bull riding event itself was a slice of local color and excitement. Amy came by to meet us as well bringing warm cinnamon churros for us to snack on . As we enjoyed the evening together, she also shared a bit of how Avispas is giving back to the community through events like the children's Christmas parties that were going on during our stay. We were grateful for the opportunity to help purchase some of the food for one of those outreaches and so excited to meet someone who is committed to making a difference in the surrounding community. As an ESL teacher, I've volunteered with similar projects in Ethiopia, and felt such an immediate kinship with Amy's passion for impacting kids' lives. While in Costa Rica we stayed at a large resort hotel that offered a variety of very corporate group tours. We were so thankful that we had connected with Avispas. We were never just a customer or "one of many." When we left we felt we had become lifelong friends with Amy and Jose. While we hugged and said our goodbyes, we knew that we would heartily recommend Avispas to anyone we knew lucky enough to be visiting Costa Rica! As we said to Jose and Amy both, "How do you thank someone for a priceless memory?"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! September 2009

I brought 20 friends to Costa Rica to celebrate a special birthday. The group wanted to experience a little bit of Authentic Costa Rica, while staying away from the crowds of American tourists attempting to do the same. We were lucky to have found Amy from Avispas Adventures to help us out. What can I say? She and her staff were amazing!!!! Not only did she plan individualized group dates for us, but ensured we were taken care of like family. Our comforts were not overlooked, she was more than happy to be flexible to the needs of the group and to ensure that we did everything we set out to do. We did an all day zip lining/canopy/volcano mud bath/horseback riding/hot springs trip. We were alone most of the day, able to experience everything at our own pace. Our safety and comfort were paramount to their team and we had an amazing time and the pictures to prove it. To make it even more special. Amy ordered a cake, celebrating the birthdays in our group!!! What service!!! Later, we rented a van and driver to take us to some local beaches, including Playa Conchal, which is not to be missed if you go to this area of Costa Rica. Following that we did the Palo Verde nature boat ride. We saw monkeys, birds and of course crocodiles, who seemed quite hungry!!! If you want a personalized, caring guide in a foreign country, Amy is the one to beat! Daniela Lungu, California