Great trip. Eric Antonio Martinez and Joshua Covill are tremendous guides. Couldn't have asked for better birds, practically swept all the available endemics in the region. We had a great group too and excellent food. Tour was well run.

Awesome trip: All the West Mexican endemics--check! Many other great birds, familiar and new--check! Finding three rarities for west Mexico, including a country first--check! Delicious food in the land of seven moles--check! Fascinating visits to a rug maker & coffee plantation--check! Joshua Covill and Eric Martinez are extremely knowledgeable about both birds and traveling in Mexico and were helpful in challenging situations, especially Josh. Thanks for an incredible experience!

This was my first international birding trip. I was very impressed with both guides. Eric and Josh were great at hearing the birds, IDing them and making sure we all got on the birds for the most part. Thanks to them we even got a Mexican first during our trip! The food/restaurants and cultural stops(Monte Albán, etc.) were also very good and informative. All and all a great intro to international birding for me. I will definitely travel and book again with Hillstar. -John

This was an amazing trip on many levels. Costa Rica and the locations we visited are beautiful, and rich in flora and fauna, including diverse bird populations, and the birding spots were well scouted in advance. We also saw monkeys, sloths, and other interesting and attractive mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects including butterflies and moths. The leaders and local guides where knowledgeable, personable, and experienced leaders. I enjoy photographing birds, so it was great to have two highly skilled, professional photographers on the trip, including one of the leaders, Troy Bynum. The logistics were well planned. Nearly all the dinning venues offered tasty, satisfying cuisine served promptly including local favorites. The lodging facilities were top, notch comfortable and featured grounds with many attractive and/or native plantings that supported many birds. There were problems with the hot water in a few of our cabins at one the six places where we stayed, about the only notable lodging issue I was aware of. The number of travelers was small, so we could all chat with the leaders easily. The travelers on this trip were all fun to be with and included highly experienced birders as well. I feel that folks who are less experienced birders would have enjoyed this trip too. While none of our bird walks were particularly strenuous, several times we were given options about where to bird. That way, those who wanted to walk less had a choice. The grounds of the lodging were extensive and featured good birding, so even if you decided not to take a bus trip to a remote location with interesting target species that day, you could still have a great day exploring the lush, attractive, bird-rich hotel grounds, which also featured other wildlife, e.g. monkeys or tree frogs. It was tremendous birding with George Armistead and Troy Bynum. I learned so much from them about birds and other Costa Rican wildlife!

This was a trip of a lifetime for me. George Armistead just kept finding life bird after life bird for us. The accommodations were quite comfortable and food was always plentiful and local. The bus we travelled in was quite comfortable and the driver quite knowledgeable about driving on mountainous S-curves. I am looking for another Hillstar trip next year that fits my elderly needs. Well done, George!