These days, Costa Rica is known for its dedication to eco-friendly practices, sustainability, and conservation. Countless organizations are dedicated to learning the best ways to conserve and protect the country’s natural resources and then taking it one step further and returning them to their former glory.

It doesn’t take long for visitors to Costa Rica to notice the variety of colorful flowers that grow almost everywhere in this lush, green, tropical oasis. They bloom on shrubs and hang from trees, climb powerlines, and seek refuge high in the jungle canopy overhead.

Today’s post is about one of Costa Rica’s most iconic and sought-after creatures. With its stunningly iridescent plumage and long curling tail feathers, the Resplendent Quetzal is a bird watcher's delight. It is also widely considered to be the most beautiful bird in the world.

Visitors to the Ocotea Boutique Hotel often ask us about our unique name, perhaps because the Ocotea Tree, from which the hotel derives its name, is more commonly known by another name.

Monteverde is an amazing place, with incomparable beauty and a unique collection of ecosystems, thanks to its location near (and occasionally among) the clouds in the Cordillera de Tilaran mountain range. This creates a range of elevations and, subsequently, a range of ecosystems that draws scientists, students, and nature lovers from around the globe.

I recently wrote an article discussing the interconnectivity of the natural world, specifically the rainforests of Monteverde. The ways in which elements of the natural world support and provide for each other got me thinking more about the part we play in the world around us and how nature affects us, both emotionally and physically.

One of the things that surprised me the most the first time I visited Monteverde was the biodiversity. Since Monteverde is famous around the world for just that, my statement probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but let me explain.

When you’ve been in the tour business for as long as we have you pick up on a few local favorites. Especially when you have watched them grow and evolve over the course of 15 years working together.

When I was a naturalist tour guide, I met a couple of amateur photographers who I traveled with for a while (I shared their passion for photography. We had been in different areas of Costa Rica and wherever we went, I could see their passion for finding beauty in the most simple places. But what they really taught me is that you can have and enjoy a photographic eye even without a camera (or phone) in your hand.