Our travel coordinator in Costa Rica, Ericka, met us at the airport and drove the three hours to the Parador Nature Resort and Spa and stayed with us the entire trip, giving us a lifelong resident and expert’s experience. She will also be with us throughout Writing in the Rainforest.

We did a run-through of everything participants will experience at the Writing in the Rainforest retreat will experience. We stayed in the hotel, went on the excursions, ate the food, drank the all-fruit smoothies (awesome), hiked the trails, inspected the beaches, and basked in the beauty of paradise. It was a tough job, but hey, someone had to do it.

I’m glad to say that every part of the trip exceeded my already-high expectations.

Our welcome to the hotel included four sloths, including a baby, lazing in the trees just outside our room. Parador’s twelve acres of rainforest is an official release site for orphaned and rehabilitated sloths.

We saw lots of white-faced capuchin monkeys and iguanas roaming the grounds. Howler monkeys made for great wake-up calls as long as we were on their schedule.

Black iguanas regularly made cameo appearances, and one named Pedro had an official residence at the hotel.

As retreat participants will experience during the Writing in the Rainforest, we toured Manuel Antonio National Park, night-hiked through a private rainforest preserve, and cruised the mangroves by boat with certified, expert guides equipped with in-depth explanations, stories, and high-powered telescopes for amazing close-up views.