Testimonials of families who traveled with Gil (Gilberth) Calvo

Sarah-Paul, February 2024

Sarah Paul traveled with 2 familes, 5 kids ages 8-13
10 day Rainforest, Arenal Volcano, Cloud Forest Itinerary with eco-Plus & Upgrade lodges

Everybody had an amazing time!

Thank you Sarah-Paul for sharing this great video of all your tour locations: [coming soon when I figure out how to embed a video!]

Kate, April 2022

Mom of 10, 12, 14 years
10 day Rincon de la Vieja Volcano, Cloud Forest, Esterillos Este beach with ecoPlus lodge types

It was absolutely amazing!!
The experience you and Gil created for our family truly was a trip of a lifetime!

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Ofri, December 2019

Ofri, Mom of 10 and 13 r olds
8 day Volcano, Rainforest, Beach with eco-Upgrade lodges

We had a fabulous time and wanted to thank you for all of your help!
I also can’t stress enough how wonderful Gil was. He immediately connected with our kids and made our experience a great success. I don’t know if other guides do this, but he also took photos during activities and sent them to us. That was very appreciated since we didn’t bring our phones with us to several excursions. I loved that he was available on What’s App. I hope others do the same.

In regards to any feedback, just a few thoughts:

Los Lagos

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Antone, February- March 2019

Antone and Lauren, honeymoon
11 day Rincon de la Vieja Volcano, Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano

Lauren and I had a wonderful time and can’t thank you enough for your efforts to make our honeymoon the best vacation yet. Both Walter and Gil were excellent guides, completely professional, and were great at their job. Gil especially was amazing. His passion for the country and the wildlife that call CR home is contagious. All hotels were fantastic and easy to use. The locations were fantastic and we have no complaints with the facilities. And thanks for letting Hacienda Guachepelin know about our honeymoon. They gave us a bottle of wine, chocolate dipped strawberries and flower

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Leah, January 2019

Leah, mom of 5 and 7 yr olds
12 day Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano, Rainforest, Beach with eco-Plus lodging

Our guide, Gil, really made the trip so special. He was really wonderful, knowledgeable and patient with our children who weren’t always at their best! He always knew the best dish on the menu to pick, so “I’ll have what Gil’s having” was always a safe bet. He took wonderful photos of the wildlife we saw as well.

Other than Gil, highlights included the hot thermal pools in La Fortuna (Hotel Las Lagos), white-water rafting in Sarapiqui, and the volcano views from the Arenal lodge.

Definitely lots of memories for us all.

Lise, December 2018- January 2019

Lise traveled with family including grandkids (ages 10, 8, 7, 4)
9 day Volcano, Rainforest, Beach with eco-Plus lodging

For my 70th birthday, I took my family to Costa Rica with Global Family Adventures. We loved every moment. Our guide [Gil] was incredibly knowledgeable and obliging. Our driver was a pearl. There was something special for everyone in our group of 10 (6 adults and 4 children). Thank you Global Family Adventures!

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Jade, July-August 2018

Jade, mom of 11, 9, 5 yr olds
15 day Cloud Forest, Volcano, Rainforest, Tortuguero with eco-Upgrade lodges

Just want to say we had a fabulous time in Costa Rica.
It was amazing.
Gil was fantastic. He came across as very passionate about his job and his country. He had so much time & patience with my kids (particularly my non stop talking five year old).

We loved all of it.
The ziplining was amazing. We did it in both Monteverde and Arenal. The kids loved it so much and my 5 year old absolutely loved the tarzan swings. She is still talking about them.

We absolutely loved the accommodation in Arenal with

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Kristen, March 2018

Mom of 7 yr old who traveled with family friends
8 day Volcano, Rainforest, Beach Itinerary with combo lodging

Sorry my reply took so long-but we had such an amazing experience in Costa Rica! Gil was phenomenal and the tour you set up for us was great! Gil was extremely knowledgeable, Kind and wonderful with the kids. The accommodations were wonderful and I would not have changed any piece of it. We Could not have been happier and have already given your information to other people (one who is hoping to plan something for next spring break). It really was an amazing time and we will definitely utilize you next time we come down.
Thanks so much!

Magga Dora, May 2018

Magga Dora, mom of 6 yr old
13 day custom itinerary Rainforest, Volcano, Cloud Forest, Manuel Antonio beach with eco-Plus lodging

Thank you SO much for organizing our trip around Costa Rica! We had a fabulous time, and we are in constant awe of our fabulous guide Gil who lead our 6 year old on adventures every day up and down nature tracks, examining every single creature that we came across (and they were many!) while teaching us about it with enthusiasm and deep knowledge.

We are recommending Costa Rica, this tour and your company to everyone within earshot! 🙂

Magga Dora, Hjalmar and Omar

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Mats, October-November, 2017

Mats, dad of 6 and 9 yr old from Sweden
14 day Cloud Forest, Volcano, Rainforest, Beach with eco-Plus lodging

We had a great time in Costa Rica. We loved all the places we visited. For the nature experience Monteverde with the cloud forest and the canopy walks was the top experience for me. In La Fortuna we had a great time with ziplining and hot springs. In Sarapiqui we had a beautiful and enjoyable rafting experience (we had the whole river for ourselves). Generally there were very few people on all activities, which was nice. No crowds and no waiting. We did shorter walks (around 2 km) in the rainforest in Monteverde, Arenal, Sarapiqui and Cahuita. The kids were

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Cinnamon, July-August 2017

Cinnamon traveled with daugher, 9 yrs.
10 day Rainforest, Volcano, Cloud Forest itinerary with Plus & Upgrade lodges

I wanted to thank you for arranging an absolutely wonderful trip for Matilda and me. We have traveled a lot, but I can tell you that this was truly not only the best vacation we have ever had, but also one of the best life experiences, especially for Matilda, who really blossomed over the course of the 10 days. I really cannot thank you enough for arranging for Gil to be our guide. He was remarkable in every single way – knowledgeable, kind, patient, dedicated, and just all around a lovely human being. Matilda felt so safe and comfortable

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Dana, March-April 2017

Dana, mom of 4 yr. old
9 day Arenal Volcano, Rainforest, Caribbean Coast Beach with eco-Upgrade lodges

Thank you for planning such a wonderful vacation. Luis and Gil were great and attentive guides and Silvia [babysitter] was simply amazing. She was basically part of the family by the end of the trip and Tommy still talks about her. We cannot say enough positive things about her and her presence made this trip so much better for all three of us.

A couple of things about our stay:

Arenal – we loved our hotel and although we tried out a place to eat in La Fortuna, the food was reasonable at El Silencio. We did the hanging bridges

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Deana, March 2017

Deana, mom of 10 and 12 yr olds
Deana planned her own trip and booked her lodges, Global Family provided guides and general Costa Rica info

We had an amazing trip, and thanks to you for helping me plan it. And we loved both Gil and Leo, they were so sweet!! We miss Gil :-(. He was so much fun for the kids, a great conversationalist, and such a warm heart. He went out of his way to get us where we needed to go always!

-We loved the sloth sanctuary and the baby sloths!! (doing the behind the scenes tour is a must)…it was so worth it 🙂
-our visit with our sponsored child was very cool too
-The Nayara Resort [Arenal Volcano]

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Greg, December 2016-January 2017

Dad of 9 and 6 yr olds
14 day Cloud Forest, Volcano, Rainforest, Beach itinerary with eco-Plus lodging

We had a wonderful time and it will be a vacation that the kids will remember for a long time. We felt that the itinerary was very well assembled and we got to experience a lot of the best that the country has to offer. Our tour guide, Gil, was absolutely fabulous. He had the perfect blend of knowledge and excitement, and really made us feel like we were his first priority. If you wouldn’t mind sharing his email with us, we’d like to contact him to exchange pictures. Also, here are a few small suggestions and impressions that

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Kelly, January 2016

Mom of 7 and 5 yrs old and 15 mo old
16 Day Rainforest, Volcano, Cloud Forest, Samara Beach Custom Itinerary

“Our adventurous family holiday to Costa Rica was amazing! Thank you, Jenny, you’ve been excellent! Your extremely quick replies and thorough checklists made me feel very prepared to take our family of five on this trip. We had a great time the entire time we were in the country but definitely saw and experienced the most diverse parts whilst on our Global Family Adventures tour. Our guide, Gil Calvo, was a perfect fit for our family. He’s so professional, and made travelling with our 7yr old, 5 yr old and 15mo old comfortable and seamless. It was actually relaxing

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Jacqui February 2015

Jacqui, mom of 5 and 2 yr olds
14 day Cloud Forets, Volcano, Rainforest, Beach Itinerary with eco-Tico lodging
Just wanted to drop you a line to say how great our holiday has been. I could write a whole book on our adventures 🙂
Highlights I think were the hanging bridges in Monteverde, zip lining at the Ranarium (the girls fell in love with the instructors!!) and the Don Juan Finca tour in Fortuna. The Jaguar Rescue Centre in Puerto Viejo is a must for people staying in Cahuita and should be included in your Things To Do handout. It’s a not for profit organisation dedicated to the rehabilitation of mistreated, injured, orphaned animals and
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Kristy, February 2015

Kristy, mom of 3, 5, 7 yr olds
4 day mini-tour of Cloud Forest with drop off at resort family had booked themselves

Well we have fallen in love with Costa Rica and Gil [guide] is so wonderful! It was very rainy and windy in Monteverde but we didn’t mind at all. Tons of rainbows! We are so glad we used Global Family for the  start of our trip: put our minds at ease! We will be back again for sure!

Beth, August 2013

Beth, mom of 8 and 10 yr olds
9 day Volcano-Rainforest-Beach Itinerary with Eco-Plus lodging, August 2013

“Our trip to Costa Rica was absolutely wonderful.

We went with our 8 year old son and our 10 year old daughter. They were the perfect ages to take to Costa Rica and they loved the trip. Our guide, Gil, was amazing. He had wonderful suggestions of activities to do with the kids and really worked hard to give us a fabulous Costa Rican Vacation. He is so knowledgeable about the animals and plant life of Costa Rica. We would be driving down the street or out on a hike and Gil would stop to point out a plant or

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