Costa Rica.....Pura Vida.......

Humming away

Sinister looking caiman

Cute little bird

White faced monkey

Awesome butterfly!

Hola Chicos and Chicas!

We are having a great time in Costa Rica with Mummy G (that’s James’ mum for those of you who don’t know!), despite it being the rainy season and seeing an awful lot of torrential rain in the afternoons (it is still really warm though and it’s sunny in the mornings and fine in the evenings) !! Stunning country, the people here are so friendly and the variety of wildlife, flora and fauna is amazing……….

At the moment we are in a place called Monteverde, arrived here after a very bumpy ride in a jeep followed by a boat trip over a lake and then an even more bumpy ride on another jeep (parts of the roads have been washed away by rain so buses can't negotiate them at the moment). Monteverde is in the north of Costa Rica towards the West. The village was created by some American Quakers, it's very beautiful, surrounded by lush farmland and thick cloud rainforest. Tomorrow morning we are off on a canopy tour through the cloud rainforest which involves swinging from sky lines (kind of like flying foxes and tarzan swings!!!) and walking over bridges that are very high-up, can't wait!!!!

We came here from La Fortuna (also in the North of Costa Rica), famous for its active volcano, Volcan Arenal, one of the ten most active in the world. We were there for 2 nights, stayed in an eco lodge which had hummingbirds in the garden. Not bad! Walked to a fab waterfall yesterday morning and then had a walk through rainforest late yesterday afternoon. Saw a spider monkey and heard the growl of howler monkeys! After that, when it was dark, we went to watch lava erupting from the volcano and flowing down the side of the volcano (all from a very safe distance!). Incredible to see. And we were surrounded by fireflies flickering away. After such a hard day, we needed to go and have a soak in some hot springs, complete with 25 pools of varying temperatures and 3 wet bars!!!

Before La Fortuna, we did a 3 day trip to Tortuguero National Park, which is on the Caribbean Coast. It didn't rain so much there as it is not the rainy season in that part of the country. In fact in was really hot and sunny most of the time, the sea was so warm, like a bath, but it is not safe to swim in because of dangerous currents. However, we stayed in a fabulous lodge with a swimming pool! Tortuguero National Park consists of jungle surrounded by waterways and a beach (with black sand). The beach is where the endangered green sea turtles lay their eggs. Luckily we caught the end of the nesting season and were able to go on a night tour to the beach to see the turtles laying their eggs. The adult turtles weigh 200 pounds, so it really is something to see them haul themselves up the beach, dig a nest and lay eggs, and then haul themselves back to sea. We also got up really early one morning to see baby turtles hatching from these nests (James also saved a freshly hatched baby turtle from burning hot sand during the day and put it safely out to sea!!!) Seeing the turtles is one of the highlights of our trip so far, very moving. Lots of wildlife in the jungle too, we went on two wildlife spotting boat trips along the waterways, one early in the morning and one in the afternoon, and did a trek through the jungle. Saw soooooo much, three types of monkey (spider, howler and white faced monkeys), sloths, caimans, crocodiles, lizards, frogs and tons of different birds. All-in-all, it really was an amazing trip.

Previous to that trip, we spent a couple of days in Alajuela at a B&B on a small farm with lots of orange trees, 3 big dogs and some pigs, which was owned and run by a nice nutter! Took a trip to a great butterfly farm, there are so many beautiful brightly coloured butterflies over here. And then we spent a day in San Jose, the capital city, before our Torteguerro trip.

We leave Monteverde the day after tomorrow. Spend a day in San Jose (when it is James 30th Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and the day after that, Mummy G flies home and we are getting the bus to Nicaragua.......

loadsa love
J&Jxxxx