Evelyn Gallardo

Seasonal terms can be confusing in tropical places like Costa Rica where online resources and guide books may describe them in different ways. Some terms refer to the weather itself, while others refer to tourism.

If you've booked a luxury vacation rental home in Costa Rica and you've rented a car to get there, you'll want to familiarize yourself with some of the twists and turns of the road. Driving in a foreign country can be intimidating, especially if all the road signs are in Spanish!

Manuel Antonio, the emerald of Costa Rica where the color green was conceived. I first came here 20 years ago as a freelance wildlife photographer. Primates are my specialty and Costa Rica has 4 species. I'd photographed gorillas in Rwanda, chimps in Uganda and orangutans in Borneo and was looking for primates in a place that didn't take 2 days to get there from Manhattan Beach, California.

Planning on renting a luxury vacation home? No more tiny hotel rooms, sharing a pool or bumping into strangers in the hall. The money you save, the privacy you'll enjoy and the great experience you'll have will likely change the way you travel forever. You'll have the best vacation of your life if you just avoid these common pitfalls.

One of the many attractions to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica is the abundant wildlife particularly its primates - capuchin, howler and the endangered Red-backed squirrel monkey. Having Manuel Antonio National Park in such close proximity to many vacation rental homes gives vacationers the added thrill of seeing wildlife in their own backyard.

One of the beauties of staying at a vacation rental home is you have the option of eating in. However, you're most likely to venture out for a few meals during your trip. Eating at a restaurant in a foreign country is intimidating, especially when you don't speak the language or understand the cultural nuances. If you're headed for Costa Rica here are 3 tips that will help you feel and act like a local.

If you're heading for a vacation rental home near Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica, you're in for an incredible nature adventure. In addition to iguanas, toucans, coatimundis and more, there are 3 species of monkeys indigenous to the park.

If you're an animal-lover looking for an over-the-top nature experience, spend some time in a vacation rental home near Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica just a 10-minute drive from the town of Quepos on the Pacific coast.

If you're looking for a vacation hot spot Costa Rica is the place for you, literally! Out of Costa Rica's five volcanoes three of them are active to different degrees and all are national parks. It will be worth the trip just to watch your neighbor's jaw-dropping response to your volcano vacation stories. Arenal is by far the most spectacular. Poas and Irazu have rain water filled lakes and much of the action takes place underwater.

Are you losing sleep over your family's next foreign destination vacation? Are you worried they'll get sick, they won't be safe or just be plain miserable with your choice once they get there? Stop and take a deep breath then let out an enormous sigh of relief because these hidden truths about Costa Rica are about to make your decision a whole lot easier.