Testimonials
In this section you may find some of the testimonials sent by our
customers, about their experience with Iguana Tours.
Hola Randall !!!!!! Te iba a mandar un
correo este fin. Se fue mi familia hace un par de dias. Pasamos
increibles in M.A. El tour a Damas fue espectacular! Conoci a tu
hermano despues del tour. Fue uno de los highlights del viaje a
Costa Rica para todos.
Mil gracias por sus atenciones! Tambien, felices con el Titi
Canopy. Como me encanta M.A. Espero regresar mas a menudo ahora
que el highway esta abierto...regresamos puerta a puerta en 2
horas 15 minutos.
Bueno,....gracias, Debbie
We just returned home after spending 11 wonderful days in Costa
Rica. We experienced a wide variety of what Costa Rica offers
from white water rafting the Pacuare and hiking Monteverde to
seeing Aernal's eruptions and the animals of Manuel Antonio. Our
last four days in your fabulous country were spent at Hotel
Parador in Manuel Antonio. While there, we took your Mangrove
Boat Tour and your guided hiking tour of Manuel Antonio National
Park. The entire family - myself, my wife and our 2 teenage
daughters - thoroughly enjoyed these tours. The natural beauty
and animals certainly made the tour interesting, but our tour
guide - Andre - made the tours fabulous. Andre's passion and love
for the nature and the animals comes across as he gives the tour.
His excitement and enthusiasm got all of us interested and made
the tours one of the highlights of our 11 day stay in your
country. His ability to spot hidden animals and insects was
amazing.
Thank you for providing these tours and please pass along our
thanks to
Andre for a fantastic job. Andre makes your tours come alive - he
deserves
a pay raise.
Thanks,
Bryan Scruggs
My 7yr old son and I had the pleasure of doing the all day river
tour last week during our stay in Costa Rica. We both agree that
it was our favorite thing we did. I have to say though, that our
guide, JJ, is the reason why it was so great. Not only was he
extremely knowledgeable about your beautiful and special country,
he was friendly, funny and made my son feel completely safe. I
have been on rafting tours before, and many other excursions, but
they don't even compare. I feel so blessed to have had him as our
guide going down river, and am grateful for the wonderful memories
that I will always, always have. Thank you!!!!!!
Casie Kempke
Jonathan,
We did the rafting trip with you three weeks ago and I thought
you'd like to read my thoughts about it. I think you thought that
I didn't enjoy myself but as you can see after reading this part
of my blog, we had a great time.
A half hour later and after transferring into a rumbling
four-wheel drive van we left the main highway and bumped along a
dirt road past rows and rows of African Palms which are harvested
for their palm oil. Every so often the photographer would lean out
the window and rip something off a tree or bush that hugged the
road, then pass it back to our guide.
Welcome to the popular Tico game show "So You Think You Can
Smell!" The rules are easy. Grab a leaf or a pod from the guide,
mash it in your hand when appropriate and try to guess what it is.
"Mint?" I said holding a pod of tiny red seeds.
"No. Paprika," answered the guide with a laugh. "Rub it with your
finger."
So now I had a red finger and no Wash 'n Dries in my emergency
cylinder.
Next came a series of leaves.
"Mint?"
"No. Anise. It's like licorice."
Next a piece of something that looked like bark.
"Mint!" I said emphatically.
He looked at me warily. "No. Cinnamon."
Another leaf.
"Ah, now this is mint."
"No. Citronella."
By now I was having too much fun and both he and I knew what I was
going to say as I held the lemon grass under my nose.
"Mint?"
He just shook his head and scowled.
By then I was holding all of the samples and wasn't about to stuff
them in my pockets like some white-skinned composter. I gestured
towards the window and held my hand near the opening, receiving a
nod from the guide near me.
No sooner had I tossed the crap out the window that BOTH guides
yelled "NO!!" They were screwing with me of course but I must
admit I had visions of roasting on a spit in some village for
violating their local jungle laws. Little did I know that there
was more to come.
A stop for a drink at a local village and we were back on the road
bumping higher into the mountains, eventually coming to a bridge
that spanned the mighty Watchamacallit River in all of its
three-foot depth glory roaring past us with the ferocity of a
bunny eating lettuce.
The rafts were inflated, the gear handed out and the safety
instructions given: "Do what I say and don't fall out." Yeah.
Sure.
These guys know every inch of the river, every stone, every
boulder, every nuance and every place in which you can maneuver
the raft in such a way as to dump any one, two or three of its
riders.
The little eddy
that carried the raft forward, backward and back into the current
without any paddling or steering was cute as was the bus driver
routine our guide performed complete with sound effects and an
invisible steering wheel. The five-foot drop over a boulder that
dumped me out of the raft was not.
In I went but my safety training took over and I stretched out my
legs in front of me, turned to face downriver, held my paddle in
my right hand and flipped off the guide with my left.
He reeled me in, hoisted me into the raft by my life vest and
dumped me in the raft like a flounder but there were no hard
feelings. The water was pleasant enough and I was really enjoying
the entire experience.After the next "incident" our guide and
lifeguard Jonathan's pixie smile seemed mocking. By the third time
I could see he was really enjoying it. As I went over the side the
fourth time I caught an upside down view of his face and I could
swear he was mouthing the word "mint." I was pissed and I told him
so.
The rest of the rafting trip was more like It's a Small World at
Disneyland (without those scary Russian dolls near the end of the
ride) with Jonathan steering away from the more ominous rocks. His
sullen expression told me he felt bad so I tried to make nice and
encouraged him to regain the sadistic glee he had exhibited
earlier but my outburst had apparently deflated him. Perhaps he
thought it would affect the generous tip that he got anyway but I
think he was genuinely concerned that he had ruined the day for
me.
All in all black and blue water rafting was loads of fun---and
tiring. Man was not meant to spend two hours perched on the side
of a rubber raft with his legs folded beneath him like a pretzel.
As I hobbled up the bank to the bus my body agreed.
We boarded the bus and groaned our way back to the village for a
chicken
lunch where I discovered star fruit juice. Guess why it's called
"star fruit" but you'd better not say "because it looks like
Angelina Jolie?" Delicious---the juice and Angelina. Just don't
tell my mother that I ate and drank questionably prepared food in
a village in the middle of the jungle.
Final tally: I "went swimming" four times, Robyn three times
(once knocked in by me) and Jamie three times (once knocked in by
me and once when Jonathan decided to throw her in).
Hola Iguana Tours Family-
I wanted to send a quick note to thank you
for recognizing us at last Friday's event.
I am sorry that I was not able to attend,
as it sounds like an important and lovely ceremony.
Juan Pablo shared the plaque with us today;
what a special honor it is!
Truly, thank you not only for the fantastic
recognition, but for your continued support and partnership. It
is always such a pleasure to work with you all; and we value our
partnership entirely.
Ingrid Kuegeman
Director
Titi Conservation Alliance
Quepos/Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Hi Gilbert,
Just thought I would drop a line and tell you of the wonderful
service that your driver, Jorge, did for us this past November
26th. He drove our party of 8 from Manuel Antonio to Puerto
Jimenez on the Oso penensula.
He is a lovely, accomodating gentleman and you can be proud of the
service he provides to your customers.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robert Fields
Hi All-
I just wanted to send an extra note to say "Thank You" again for
all of your help with Saturday's Reforestation Event!
It is such a huge help to have your transportation donation; and
was truly a pleasure to have everyone from Iguana there to help
plant the trees!
I hope you're all having a great Monday!
All my best,
Ingrid
We just got back from an incredible white water rafting trip down
the Naranjo River with Roberto and Juan Jose. They were awesome
guides and we had a great time. Safety was never an issue.
We are already planning our next trip!!
Jenifer Piegaro
Dear Gina,
We've been back a week from our dream vacation in Costa Rica
and we're still in awe of your beautiful country. I don't think
I've ever been to a place where everything is so pristine and
the people are so very nice. Oh, and the food--- just wonderful.
I really want to thank you for your assistance in
putting everything together for us and being so accessible. We
are already passing your name and your company's name to our
friends for their travels to Costa Rica.
I will send individual emails to the tour companies, but I
especially want to applaud Leonardo with Flora and Fauna and his
delightful boat captain, Mango, who gave us the thrill of a
lifetime spotting wildlife in th Cano Negro. Also, Mauricio with
Iquana Tours for his guidance through the Manuel Antonio
National Park and for helping us to change our plans slightly
when we decided against kayaking.
All of the various bus drivers were also great and right on
time!! Everything was seamless, just as you want it to be on
vacation.
Thank you for rearranging the schedule for us and reserving
the room at Best Western on our last night. That was a good call
and a very restful way to finish the trip.
Gina, I sincerely hope that we can return to Costa Rica some
day and we will definitely let you and your company make all of
the arrangements. This was certainly an anniversary to remember.
Thanks again,
John and Pam Monroe
A group of friends and I just returned from Costa Rica...and we
took a lot of your tours (set up by Atilio). He was amazing to
work with!!! And we had some of the best guides ever...especially
Mel on our white water rafting trip and Andrey on our rain forest
walk and Mangrove kayak tour. They were both incredible quides.
We can't thank you all enough for making our trip so fantastic.
We will see you again on our next visit to Costa Rica.
Barry Brown
Hola Randall,
I just wanted to say thank you again for allowing me to experience
the
Manuel Antonio Park guided tour. I thoroughly enjoyed it, Andre
was an
awesome guide. I loved every minute and am happy to know our
clients are receiving a great tour!
Thank you again!
Aimee Pinnell
Adventures Around the World
Exploring the world, one adventure at a time...
I was on a mangrove trip a few weeks ago and the boat driver took
a picture. I wanted to confirm what it was - either a silky
anteater or a sloth. I posted it on snapfish.com. Below is the
link. Hopefully, you can open the picture!
Link>>
Thank you,
Lynn
My boyfriend
and I just returned from Costa Rica and one of the fun days we
had was touring Manuel Antonio National park with Andre our tour
guide from Iguana tours. He was so amazing and knowledgeable.
He would see reptiles, sloth's and birds in the trees which I
would have Never seen if I was with my boyfriend.
Andre is an
asset to the Iguana tours. If I was to return to Costa Rica
soon, I am definitely going to book a tour with Andre from
Iguana tours!
Thank you
very much for a memorable trip!
Lori and Dave,
Boston, MA
I just took the white water rafting tour with Damian, Edwardo, and
Mel.
They did an awesome job. I had such a great time; and I would like
to let them know this. They were very entertaining and
knowledgeable. Please let them know what a great job they did!
From Deanna in Chicago
Hi. I took a tour with Michael today in Manuel Antonio National
Park. I thought Michael was great and very knowledgeable. I
really appreciated that we had our fruit in a restaurant outside
of the park as opposed to in the park with the monkeys. I noticed
some of the other tours had their fruit right in the park and the
monkeys continued to come over and take it. With all the signs
saying "don't feed the monkeys", it seems counter productive to
serve the guests their snacks right where all the monkeys
congrigate. Thanks for doing the right thing to help keep the
monkeys wild and safe. I would be happy to recommend your tours to
a friend or use you again in the future.
Sincerely, Jenny Ftacek
I just wanted to give my greatest compliments to Jonathan and the
other members of your staff who conducted a kayaking and
snorkeling expedition for a VERY large group from Porter-Gaud
School (through Holbrook Travel) on July 13th. Jonathan did a
wonderful job organizing the entire event and he and the others
were very professional, knowledgable, and helpful with my group,
which included 19 students and 19 adults, one rather infirm. It
was his FIRST TIME to either kayak or snorkel and he was VERY
proud to have accomplished. THANKS SO MUCH to all who made this
outing great!! I will definitely book this and other outings
with Iguana Tours on future trips!!
Jane Settle (aka Jungle Jane)
Hey! No tenemos otra cosa mas que agradecerles por sus infinitas
atenciones hacia nosotras, tuvimos la oportunidad de viajar a su
hermoso Costa Rica y disfrutar del tour al Parque Nacional en dias
pasados y quedamos enamoradas de ese lugar.. de igual manera
enviamos un saludo a nuestro guia Andrey quien tan amablemente nos
explico todo el recorrido y nos mostro lo maravilloso que es ese
lugar. Nos traemos buenos recuerdos y sobre todo las ganas de
volver!!... Excelente servicio y compañia.
Saludos desde Chihuahua, México.
Sus amigas,
Eva e Ivonne
Hola:
Estuve
hace unos días en Manuel Antonio con Mundocolor e hice con ustedes
el tour de los manglares y el canopy. Ambos estupendos. Viendo las
fotos ahora que ya estoy en España, encontré esta en la que se
muestra el entusiasmo de Jorge enseñándonos cosas de los manglares
y se la envío aprovechando de nuevo para darle las gracias por sus
explicaciones y por hacernos tan amena la visita. Fue una pena
que terminara tan pronto.
Saludos muy cordiales desde Andalucía (España)
Alfredo Campos
Hola Randall, Muchas gracias por
todo! Ellos estuvieron felices con todo el tour!!! Por cierto,
el Rio Naranjo es Clase III o IV ? Me dijeron que estuvo bien
bravo (pero les encanto!).
My
husband, Sam & I went rafting with you guys on June 24th & 26th.
It was a wonderful experience.
We
had our grandson with us because the trip was a gift for his
high school graduation.
Sam & I were in your beautiful country in 1994 & this trip we
noticed you have had much improvement. Hope you get the bridges
finished in the near future.
The rafting trip on the 24th our guide was Joshua & Beto was our
driver.
This was a wonderful experience even though my husband fell out
of the raft twice but loved every minute of it. This happened
with no misguidance of Joshua even though I heard he is
concerned when things like that happen. Tell him not to worry!
It was great!!!
Our rafting trip on the 26th our guide was Mel & Beto was our
driver (great driver) & this also was an great adventure that
will be in our minds forever.
On
the way up the mountain Mel spotted a sloth & I took 3 pictures
of it. I offered to send them to Mel so they are below.
If
you don't receive them please let me know & I will figure out
another way to send them.
Mel is an excellent guide & very personable. He is one of the
reasons my husband & I will be returning to Costa Rica.
Thank you so much,
Martha Mobly
My husband and I just got back from the most amazing
vacation in your
beautiful country (May 25-June 3) and we have to
give thanks to your tour
company for helping to make this such an amazing
adventure for us! We
wanted to take the time to write to you and let you
know you have such an
asset to your organization with Andres. He was
simply wonderful. Very
professional, and such a knowledgeable guide. Before
getting to Costa Rica
we had booked 2 tours.
The first was to Carara
National Park and the second
was the Mangrove Damas Island
tour. Andres was our
guide to Carara and far
surpassed our expectations of what we would see
there. We were quite
amazed at what he was able to spot. We were picked
up right on time and
on our way to Carara he had the driver pull over
because he spotted a number
of Scarlett Macaws in the trees along side of the
road. His excitement and
enthusiamim is very contagious. At this stop along
side of the road, he also spotted a toucan and a parakeet that from our
understanding was a rare sighting. And this was only the beginning!!! Once we
got to Carara, not only did we see more Macaws, but we saw many birds
that Andrey explained you
don't often see (like the black chested Trogan), and
that we were very lucky
to see what we saw during that trip. Even on the way
back to Manuel
Antonio, he again spotted 4 Macaws in a tree on the
side of the road, and I
was able to get some incredible pictures (attached
to this email. Even my
husband (who is not a big fan of birds) enjoyed this
day and shared in the
excitement of what we were experiencing.
We enjoyed Andrey so much, that when we decided to
take a 2nd tour of Manuel
Antonio National Park, we specifically requested
him. During our time with
him at Carara, my husband talked to him about the
monkeys in the area, and
his desire to see all three species of monkeys in
Manuel Antonio. Andrey
remembered this when we went back to Manuel Antonio
National Park, and he
made it his mission to make sure we got to see the
white faced monkeys, the
howler monkeys and the squirrel monkeys. HE DID NOT
DISAPPOINT!!! We got
to see all three species, and got to enjoy the rare
treat of seeing the
howler monkeys be very active in the trees. It was
so amazing, that I could
not figure out who was more excited, my husband or Andrey! And once
again, I was able to get the most incredible
pictures (attached in this
email.
Again, Andrey is truly a gem and a tremendous asset
to your organization, he
had a direct impact on helping us to create and
capture memories of this
trip that will last a lifetime.
With our sincere thanks,
Leonard and Michelle Reback
Best part of a great vacation. Get Mega and Ronald as guides.
Be sure to buy photo's of a lifetime from Roberto.
Whole experience from drive to river, rafting, the waterfall,
snack, lunch were special moments in time I will never forget. My
wife and i will be back in august with our family to experience
the thrill again. I cannot speak any higher of the folks at Iguana
Tours.
Iguana Tours should be your choice.
Thomas Vravis
We took Horseback
riding tour with Don Gilberto. Don Gilberto was very
knowledgeable and he enhanced the tour tremendously. The tour
involved
riding through rivers and some beautiful land. The tour ended
with a fine
meal. Highly recommended.
Steve Rothenberg
The Mangrove
boat tour was fantastic. Our guide was amazing and able
to
point out so many animals we would never have been able to see on
our own.
His English was also outstanding. We were sure that he had spent
a few
years in the states, but we we asked him, we found out that we
were wrong.
We saw so much wildlife and enjoyed the dinner afterwards too.
Kathy Lacko
We had a terrific Kayaking
tour of the mangroves with Dixon. He was really
a great guide and we had a wonderful time. As well, the meal we
had at the
end of our tour was great! We certainly would recommend the tour
to
everyone!
Deb Lawrence
In February, 2007 my husband, daughter, son-in-law, and two teen
grand
daughters spent 10 days in Quepos. We booked all of our attraction
events
through Iguana Tours which is based in Quepos. We booked two
different
horseback riding trips
(beach & waterfalls),
night mangrove
trip, and
sunset
dolphin watching catamaran trip, and the
Manuel
Antonio Park tour all with
Iguana.
Everything was perfect! We were picked up from our hotel and
delivered back
at the exact times they indicated. The tours were great and
everyone in our
family had a good time while in Quepos.
I would highly recommend Iguana for all our your Quepos tours as
their
office is located convenient to making any last minute changes,
like our
adding the Manuel Antonio Park tour after we had been in Quepos a
week.
This was our 12th trip to Costa Rica and we have enjoyed every
trip and love
the country and the residents very much!
Regards,
Shen Smith
Boynton Beach, Florida & Traverse City, Michigan
What places would you like to go in Costa Rica –
We will take you there... Iguana Tours.
Iguana Tours Team
Manuel Antonio / Quepos
Costa Rica
