Puntarenas To Guataquil

Costa Rica's major Pacific port on the Gulf of Nicoya is renowned for its unspoiled nature and beautiful scenery, and is a convenient departure point for trips into Costa Rica's interior. Volcanic beaches along the coast give way to verdant jungle and coffee plantations further inland.

Tequila Herradura is a tequila distiller located in Amatitán, Jalisco, Mexico. It was formally founded in 1870 by Félix López and the business remained in the family for over 125 years.

Wild, scenic and incredibly bio-diverse, Golfo Dulce is not on most tourists itineraries. The name, says it all, Golfo Dulce or sweet gulf, in English. After a well justified visit to the Golfo Dulce, located in the South Pacific region of Costa Rica, and adjacent to the Osa Peninsula, visitors will be delighted and perplexed, wondering why they would ever leave this wonderland. Several coastal hamlets reside along this enchanting gulf, namely Puerto Jiménez, Golfito, Zancudo and Pavones, as well as the Piedras Blancas National Park.

Remote, roadless and some say terrifying, the Darien Jungle is one of the last true undiscovered places left on Earth. The Darien has an almost mythical quality to it; it is the only break in the 30,000-mile Pan-American Highway, which passes through 14 countries as it winds from Alaska to Argentina. The Jungle’s reputation precedes it; one of dangerous paramilitary groups, poisonous frogs and impenetrable vegetation. Certainly the Darien has to be undertaken with caution. But the beauty of this forgotten 60-mile stretch of land is that it is largely untouched by modern society. Plant life is rife, wildlife (yes, even those poisonous frogs) is wildly exotic, and with no roads, transport is by dugout canoe. Unsurprisingly, it is one of the world’s top ten birding sites: the colourful Crimson-collared Tanager, Chestnut-fronted Macaws and Snow-bellied Hummingbirds all call the Darien home, as does the endangered Great-green Macaw. Mammals include black-headed spider monkeys flying from treetop to treetop and stealthy Pumas padding silently in the shadows. The exceptionally ecologically diverse flora and fauna earnt the Darien National Park its place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park welcomes fewer than 1,000 annual visitors, so those who have stepped foot on this hallowed land are considered very, very special. The park can and does sustain human life, with three tribes, the Embera, the Kuna and the Wounaan living traditionally in open-sided thatched huts along the side of the river.

Nuqui is a coastal town and municipal area in Colombia’s Choco department. Located on the shore of Utria Cove, Nuqui has a small airport, a high school and hospital and serves as one of the entry points to the Utria National Park. From the coast and tropical rainforest to the mountains in the interior the park covers an area of 54,300 hectares. This is one of the wettest regions in the world with around 10,000 millimeters of rain per year. View less October is the rainiest month, but on an average 300 days per year have rain. Some 3,000 inhabitants live in the municipal capital. The majority of the 3,000 inhabitants are Afro-Colombians and members of indigenous tribes are also present. Utria National Park’s forested area has a rich and diverse fauna and flora with seven different mangrove species along its shore -yet it is the ocean and marine wildlife and specifically marine mammals that attract visitors. Dolphins can be found year-round, whale sharks have been registered, and humpback whales are common visitors between June and November, giving birth to calves from August to October.

Isla Gorgona is a beautiful tropical island and a national park. Packed with lush green rainforest, palm trees and beaches full of black volcanic rocks, this little island off the Colombian coast was used by Pizarro and his thirteen followers before they eventually went south to inspect and later conquer Peru. The island is named after its plentiful supply of snakes, which might have been one of the reasons to utilize the island until the 1980s as a prison.