Whenever someone mentions Costa Rica, I think of wilderness, birdlife, and wild white-sand beaches. My memories are saturated in colour as I recall scarlet macaws, green-billed toucans, rose-breasted spoonbills, and the hummingbirds that paint the air like miniature fans. 

And then there are the inexplicably hypnotic two and three-toed sloths. The first time I saw a sloth, in Manuel Antonio National Park, I watched it inch along a telegraph pole for at least half an hour before a sudden and intense tropical downpour sent it bounding into the rainforest. 

Costa Rica is one of the most ecologically diverse places on the planet. It packs a lot for a small country wedged between Panama and Nicaragua in Central America. There are hundreds and thousands of bird, plant, mammal, and butterfly species.

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Costa Rica Waterfall
a majestic waterfall within the dense rainforest: photo credit jamie lafferty
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