Perhaps the most notable of these animals is the quetzal, for whom the park was named. Although the bird is renowned for being elusive and skittish, park authorities claim that the quetzal is easier to spot here than in the cloud forests of Monteverde and Santa Elena, which lay to the north.
Mount Aconcagua is the highest mountain on the South American continent. Its summit is 22,834 feet (6,960 meters) above sea level. It is located in Argentina. Image of Mount Aconcagua copyright by iStockPhoto and Cristian Lazzari.
If only mountains in the 48 continental states are counted, Mt. Whitney in California is the tallest US mountain at 4,421 meters (14,505 feet). However, outside of Turkey, Iran and northern Iraq, there are few true mountains in the Middle East, unlike the United States which has numerous mountain ranges.