Costa Rica/Nicaragua/Panama: Suggestions for VERY low budget mammal watching?

Hi all!

Unfortunately I only make US$15,000 a year (small online business) and can’t come close to affording most of the tours or even accommodations people talk about on here. But my partner and I are currently backpacking through Central America, and would love to see as many interesting mammals as is practical (especially non-tiny, neotropical-specialty ones). We usually stay at accommodations that cost US$20-30 per night for two people, and travel by public transit or sometimes hitchhiking. Not sure if that’s possible in Costa Rica or not, but if not then we’ll do our best via Couchsurfing and other methods.

My impression is that there are various places in Costa Rica where interesting mammals can be seen reliably from easily accessible places – it would be great to get a quick rundown of highlights from someone. We also may be interested in one or two tours of the local, under-$100 variety. Not sure if we should expect such a thing from Costa Rica or Panama, but if not then maybe Nicaragua? I’m planning to do a lot more in-depth research soon, but any experienced opinions on the overall situation and not-to-miss suggestions would be REALLY helpful.

Thanks!

P.S. We’ve already seen quite a few Central American Spider Monkeys and Agoutis, so no need to suggest places that are primarily for those!

And if there are some species that would be much easier somewhere in South America, it would be great to know that too, since we’re hopefully heading there around the end of this year.

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