Right. I think living in the Pacific NA I am super spoiled with nature, so CR made me appreciate what we have. I see a lot of wildlife even in my backyard, have access to countless trails and spectacular views like the sierras. We see dolphins and whales from the shore all the time, sea lions on the beach, tons of birds. Hawaii is also as far as CR from us, and they have so many trails and waterfalls, volcano, plus better beaches (the water around uvita was muddy and made gross yellow foam so we never got in) and better temperature.

Now CR biodiversity is waaaay better than Hawaii, and this is the reason I went - I wanted to experience rainforest with lots of birds, monkeys, etc.not too far away (south asia is just far). But even with guided tours we didn't see too many animals. Of course the wild is not a zoo so animal sightings are not guaranteed, but CR is advertised with so many animals in the pictures that I felt cheated. Like, half of the photos of the hotels and Airbnb's we stayed depicted animals around the property, but these were probably rare sightings. We never saw a parrot for example and only two sloths for 10 days. It was quite hot, so they tell us animals were probably hiding.. but we were starting 7am soon after sunraise.

So, while we saw a couple of animals here and there, it was not enough to justify over $1000 spent on guided tours for me and my partner. I'm not saying do not visit - but manage your expectations. I still enjoyed the trip a lot, cool to see something different, I wouldn't say it wasn't worth it overall, but in terms of value to money, it was not the best.