Arrive in San José and transfer to your hotel. Costa Rica is a small, peaceful country with a variety of flora and fauna that always seems to surprise first-time visitors. Your majestic hotel, located on a flourishing 30-acre coffee plantation, captures the elegance of a 16th-century colonial hacienda.

Families with children from age 5 to 11 join the Class I-II rafting excursion on the Pejibaye River; and those with children 12 and older participate in the Class III-IV Pacuare River program.

On the Pejibaye trip, there's plenty of time for swimming and tubing on the seven-mile run through Class I and II rapids. Stop for a picnic lunch along the riverbank lined with strangler figs and kapok and poro trees.

On the Pacuare program, soak in the natural beauty of the surrounding rainforest as the currents sweep you through the Pacuare Gorge. Stop for a gourmet riverbank lunch prepared by your guides and then continue to float and paddle downriver to Siquirres.

After your rafting adventure, board a private boat from the Caño Blanco dock and travel to Tortuguero and your lodge.

Early this morning, join your naturalist guide for a bird walk or sleep in until breakfast. Slow-moving tropical rivers define the essence of Tortuguero. Depart by boat for Tortuguero National Park, one of the last large areas of tropical rainforest in Central America. Explore the narrow canals in search of wildlife often hidden by thick vines and other flora that engulf your path. Originally intended to protect a major nesting beach of the Atlantic green sea turtle, Tortuguero National Park now protects over 50,000 acres. Search for spider, howler and white-faced monkey; threetoed sloth; river otter; caiman; iguana; river turtle; basilisk lizard; and poison dart frog, along with a multitude of bird species.

This afternoon, visit the village of San Francisco to glimpse local life in Costa Rica.

Head north by boat to Caño Palma (Palm Canal) for a day of adventure and exercise in kayaks. Choose your vessel and row through the wildlife-rich canal. Later, join your guide for a garden walk; then spend time at the pool.

Fly by private charter to Jacó, where a van waits to drive you to the waterfalls canopy tour (minimum age is eight). Begin your safety-certified canopy tour with a short walk along a trail. Search for toucan, aracari and scarlet macaw, white-faced monkey and the blue morpho butterfly.

Just past the waterfalls, take to the trees where, from a three-story tree house, you cross the rainforest on a gantry suspended by cables. Adventure seekers have the option to rappel 90 feet at the end of the tour.

After lunch in a local restaurant, drive to your hotel located near Manuel Antonio National Park.

Find white-sand beaches, cliffs, points, ravines, rivers, rainforests, varied wildlife and a hot climate in Manuel Antonio National Park on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast. Join your guide for a visit to this region, home to white-faced capuchin, paca, white-nosed coati, sloth and monkey. Among the airborne inhabitants are brown pelican, laughing falcon, white ibis, green kingfisher and jacana.

This afternoon, relax and cool off at the beach.

Join your guide to explore the Manuel Antonio coast along the route Christopher Columbus once travelled. The difference is that you climb aboard a fast-sailing catamaran and glide through crystal-clear Pacific waters. Marvel at unspoiled beaches and explore the mysterious islands that rest off shore. See jagged rock formations and towering cliffs that host nesting marine birds. Watch spotted dolphin and migrating humpback whale jumping in the Catamaran's wake. Stop in a protected bay for a swim and snorkel along the coral reefs near the gentle coastline.

While you're enjoying the surf and scenery, your crew prepares a meal from fresh local ingredients.

After a morning at leisure on the beach, drive to the Quepos Airstrip for a short private charter flight to San José. Arrive at your hotel where you will have the afternoon available to relax or perhaps enjoy some last-minute shopping. Tonight's farewell dinner is in a local restaurant.

Board your homebound flight.

This program contains some active elements, and a minimum level of fitness is required.