Costa Rica Highlights, El Silencio and Bajos del Toro
Once travelers touch down in San Jose, they’re often in a rush to drive to Arenal Volcano or Monteverde and the Cloud Forest. That’s unfortunate, because you’re missing one of my favorite parts of the country, the farmland on the backside of Poas Volcano, only an hour’s drive from the airport. 5,000 feet high, also considered part of the Cloud Forest, this is as green and cool as the country gets. The verdant terrain features some of the best waterfalls in the country, plummeting down to rarely seen lakes. At Peace Lodge and El Silencio, we walked by ourselves to a series of waterfalls, all more dramatic than the next. El Silencio is located in the farming community of Bajos del Toro. One afternoon, we went horseback riding up the hillside, stopped to milk cows and meet the locals, then wandered back through town to our room. The view from our deck was a stunning flank of the volcano, surrounded by the lush foliage. Adding to the allure are the multitude of hummingbirds found in this part of the country.
Only an hour by boat from Cartagena, the Rosario Islands are home to the only underwater national park in Colombia. We snorkeled for 45 minutes with a guide and spotted wonderful coral formations and large schools of neon-colored fish. You also have the option of scuba diving or sea kayaking in the mangroves. Then we had a glorious lunch of fried red snapper and an Aguila beer, before going for a dip in the warm waters and passing out on my chaise lounge chair. Several couples on our boat spent the night at 
Based on the highly successful 
On the last day of our recent safari in Botswana and Zambia, we visited the community of Nakatindi, not far from where we stayed in Livingstone, Zambia. We would learn that the villagers here once had to walk through a national park to get their water from the Zambezi River and were frequently attacked by wildlife. Thankfully a water pump was donated to the community and people can now get fresh water piped to their village directly. This was the impetus behind this year’s charity donation. 
Let’s be serious. You’ve just traveled at least six hours from the West Coast to Hawaii, another seven hours to Guam and yet another 90 minutes to this cluster of 200 sparsely populated islands, which Cousteau called the best scuba diving site in the world. You’re going to have to get motivated to do much else but dive on Palau. From your home base on the capital isle of Koror, head to the Big Drop-Off, considered the best dive wall on Earth. It starts in knee-deep water and then abruptly plummets almost 1,500 feet into an abyss. Nearly as mind-boggling is Blue Corner, a large coral cavity where three ocean currents meet. Hunker down and watch schools of tuna, white-tipped sharks and 3-foot-tall giant clams (where’s the melted butter when you need it?). While you’ll have a tough time immersing yourself in traditional island culture here (read: no jerk chicken or Bo Derek-style hair braiding), Palau’s real attraction is its remote beauty. Rent a sea kayak and check out a few of the Rock Islands, which stretch for 20 miles south of Koror. Then dry off at the 
Exhausted from far too many 5 am wake-up calls, 90-minute drives in and out of Quito to the airport, and long longboat rides in the Amazon, my family was in poor spirits when we arrived in the Galapagos Islands for the last segment of our summer trip to Ecuador. But it’s amazing how a motorboat cruise on the ocean and all that water can wash away the toxins of travel. Listening to our iPods and watching the dolphins and orcas swim beside us, we were relaxed by the time we reached the sea lions lounging on the docks of Floreana. A driver brought us to our lodging for the next two nights,