Costa Rica Auténtica This two-weeks tour leads you to very different geographical regions,so that you enjoy the country's variety of species to the full. You also stay in diverse ecotouristic projects of ecologically-oriented groups of campesinos and get a first-hand impression of life in the country. First you get to know the Peace University of the UN and visit a forest reservation which is typical of the enormous variety of species.At the beginning of the tour you go to the Volcano Irazu (3450 m) and watch the legendary quetzal. For the third night you stay in one of the most beautiful national parks of the Pacific with fantastic beaches: Bahia Ballena, the bay of the whales. On a boat trip you can try to see whales and dolphins; your success depends on the season. The next stop of your tour is Silencio, a cooperative of campesinos who have offered ecotourism for more than 10 years. Here you can normally the red and blue parrots. We also visit the Forest Reservation Los Campesinos, formerly a vanilla plantation, with beautiful water falls and walking paths. Passing the tourist region of Manuel Antonio we go on in northern direction to the peninsula of Nicoya and the Monte Alto Reserve, where an ecological initiative tries to protect the headwaters of the Nosara river. Here you can also visit the Beneficio, an ecological coffee production unit of a local cooperative that takes part in Transfair Trade. On the way to the dream beaches you get to know the second oldest colonial church of Nicoya and enjoy a healthy meal cooked on solar-powered ovens by a group of local women called Caimital. After another two days at the Pacific you return to the mainland, cross the Cordillera. We drive you around Lake Arenal to Fortuna, where you can see the most active of Costa Rica's volcanos and bathe in its hot springs. You also get to know a beautiful water fall, some medical plants of the rain forest and a lot of butterflies. Via the Volcano Poas National Park you get back to the Central Valley.