Costa Rica
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Today has been one of those days you never, ever forget!
Micky - if you read this, when you get to Monteverde you just have to do the zip line and hanging bridges trip. I've never zip lined before, so once I'd done the practice one I thought it was a piece of cake ....
....then they put you in the sky tram and take you way up to the top of the mountain, into the cloud cover, way above the forest canopy and that's when you start to question your sanity!
From the start, on a clear day you have the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Caribbean on the other. Today we just had cloud and it was blowing a gale! There are 6 zip lines in all and on the first two you step off the staging post and vanish into the cloud ....fortunately on the lower ones you get the benefit of superb views down to the forest canopy and across to the ocean. Sadly, they don't let you take pictures on the line itself for safety reasons but it's just the most exhilarating experience! At the end you have to do a 60 foot vertical drop - not quite a bungie jump because they lower you quite slowly on a rope and pulley system. The whole thing is an absolutely unforgettable experience!
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Here's the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean - the view from our room!
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Yes, Mrs M declined the opportunity too!
On a couple of the wires where you're going into the wind you have to zip in tandem with your legs wrapped around your partner's body. Because I was on my own it meant I had to wait for one of the instructors.
No great hardship as it turned out!
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Well, thanks for your latest update, Moulesy.
I was looking forward to this then, at first reading, I suddenly had my doubts, now reading to the end I'm strangely excited! 
Trouble is, MrsSf is far more up for such experiences than I am these days, not that I'd ever admit this to her. So now 'we' have to do it mind, on your recommendation. 👍 It better be that good!!
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We left Monteverde yesterday morning heading for our final destination at Guanacaste on the Pacific Coast. But not before an early morning visit to the hotel's humming bird feeding station. It's a fantastic little spot, so many beautiful colourful varieties of humming bird, but the little blighters move much too fast for my photographic skills - you need lightning reactions to get any more than these little blobs (you'll need very good eyesight to spot them!). It was a fascinating 30 minutes.
(We also had an early morning visit from this little fellow, a raccoon looking for breakfast tidbits right outside our window!)
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Guanacaste is very different from any of the other places we've stayed at on the tour - right on the Pacific Coast, it's very modern and brash but still a nice place to spend the last couple of days of the holiday.
Today we had our final river tour on the Tempisque River and it turned out to be a spectacular one as far as wildlife spotting was concerned.
Right at the start we saw this Banded Anteater asleep in a hollow tree stump. (We think there were actually two snuggled up together.)
Once on the river there were loads of crocodiles basking on the mud banks. Then this family of white faced monkeys who came right down to the boatside. A great place for bird watchers too with lots of different varieties of egrets and herons including this strange looking boat billed heron. A wonderful spectacle.
(And for the bird aficionados, through the binoculars we saw a pair of brilliant pink roseate spoonbills, a group of black backed stilts and a rare huge bird called, I think the guide said, a jabiru.)
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Well, all good things must come to an end and we had an early start this morning back to San Jose for our flight home.
But not before one last glorious sunset and one last early morning stroll along the beach where we spotted this large group of pelicans out on the rocks.
And as a final highlight, when we stopped for a rest break on the journey, after trying for days we finally managed to get a decent photo of a toucan - definitely not tame, but obviously a regular visitor to the cafe owner's garden.
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It's been a really excellent holiday. We've worked our way across from the Caribbean coast on the east of the country to the Pacific Coast on the west and right up to the border with Nicaragua in the north. So many memorable sites, far more than we'd expected. Sadly, while up in the mountains we saw some of the havoc wreaked on the country by tropical storm Nate which hit back in November causing several landslides and flooding to a depth of 8 metres in several of the places we visited.
A couple of interesting facts about Costa Rica - it's one of the few countries in the world, possibly the only one, to have no armed forces. They were disbanded in 1948 and the country has co-existed happily with it's neighbours since then. (The downside being that they are heavily dependant on the USA for security!) Also it's one of the world's leading countries when it comes to renewable energy production - a combination of wind, solar, hydro and geothermal sources provide virtually all its needs.
We've learnt and experienced so much in our two weeks here - I can really recommend it for anyone looking for an adventurous, exotic holiday.
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Please do micky, it'll be good to hear how you get on, especially at Sarapiqui which wasn't on our itinerary. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time.
I've got a few better bird and wildlife pictures on my camera which, when I've downloaded them and got organised, I'll try to post on here.
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A few last pictures - these birds are a bright yellow kiskadee, a scarlet ramped tangager, a blue heron stalking in the reeds and a beautiful bare throated tiger heron ( the photo definitely doesn't do that one justice!)
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And just as attractive, in their own way - a caiman, male & female giant iguanas perched on a branch in the river and a, thankfully very sleepy, boa constrictor.
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BOAC Instructor - is that snakes on a plane?
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Just caught your posting Moulesy. Thanks for such great photos and the description of your trip. You certainly saw plenty and obviously thoroughly enjoyed it.
Welcome home to snowy England, must be quite a shock to the system.
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Does he know the way?
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Sunny and warm, yet to recover from the travelling. San Jose is not the prettiest of cities but folk are friendly and I've been surprised by the cuisine. On the move again to the rain forest now so will post photos and comments later.
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Yesterday we visited the Irazu Volcano. Unfortunately one of the nearby volcanoes was erupting but thankfully the wind was in the right direction so the powers that be were allowing us up there. As a result it was very busy as all the local tours were consequently headed up this one. The flora there here is very similar to some areas back home with much of the flowers, herbs and grasses recognisable. In fact, despite the altitude much of the landscape looked not dissimilar to some areas of England.
Today we traveled across the high mountains to the Caribbean coast, through primary and secondary rainforests, through cultivated plains and into the wetlands, rivers and canals of the Tortuguero. What a wonderfully diverse country this is, each turn reveals a different habitat, a different Eco system. We are now staying in the Mawamba Lodges and are looking forward to wild life encounters of a wetter variety, it's raining! Apparently the river systems here are likened to the Amazon but amazingly Tortuguero has a higher natural diversity index. Already seen iguana, basilisk, crocodile and no end of birds including oriels, anhinga, hummingbirds, raptors, parrots, several species of kingfishers and many of the herons family on the way into the lodges, the river in front of our veranda and the rolling Caribbean Sea out the back just a few metres away. No toucans or macaws yet.Now an example of Costa Rican humour according to our tour guide.
'One day the sloth was busy doing his own thing in his tree above the intersection of the jungle paths when along came two tortoises traveling in opposite directions. Unfortunately they bumped into each other and the police were called and duly attended the incident. The officer turned his head up and asked the sloth what had happened. The sloth replied, "Sorry officer, I don't know, it all happened so very fast!"1 -
Tortuoguero is definitely one of the highlights of the tour, micky, but it can be very wet. We were out on one of the boat trips when the skipper saw a sheet of rain heading towards us and made a break for shelter at one of the docks - sadly not quite making it in time!. If you go to the township itself try to get onto the beach behind all the houses where you can see remains of the turtle nests and even a few unhatched eggs. But don't be tempted by the coconut and rum sellers!
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