Updated

There is an updated video of Ben's bungee jump. With exclusive footage from his head camera. Excuse his language!

13th August, Manuel Antonio National Park

August 13th

Today we had an early start for the National Park tour in Manuel Antonio. Dave and I went for a stroll on the beach at six, which was gorgeous. 

We then all headed off at eight and got to the park along with rather a lot of other tourists - quite a contrast to yesterday! Our guide was very good and we saw sloth, spiders, monkeys, raccoon, various birds, crabs and an impressive bright yellow snake. This was

 a very slow moving tour with lots of other 

groups around, so although our guide was very good and set up his telescope for us to get some good views, it was a bit tedious and the boys were glad when it was over! 

Apparently this is a stick bird, viewed through the scope of the guide

Here are the creatures we saw

Common Anole?

White Ibis

Heliconia Flowers, they collect rain water and you can safely drink it !

Green Iguana?

Spider male (tiny and about to become food) and female

Eyelash Palm Pit Viper, eats humming birds

3 toed sloth

Halloween crab 

Raccoon

Black cheeked Wood Pecker

Howler monkey

Baby Howler monkey

A Cayman, not that you can tell as completely out of  focus :-(

We grabbed some lunch in the town and walked back across the beach. There was a little stream that they were charging you $1 to walk across, it didn't even move. So we took aour boots off or jumped .... if athletic enough

The weather was fabulous this afternoon so, after a short siesta we all went in the sea - Ben and Sam with the new frisbee to replace the one that was lost! The sun was really hot and there were people horse riding and parasailing from the beach. A beautiful relaxing scene! We rounded this off with all four of us reading on the beach - a rare event and very peaceful! :-)

The hotel even provides a dog to play frisby with on the beach

We went to the bar for a quick drink and then back to the rooms to get ready for dinner. I (Dave) noticed that the clouds above the trees had all gone pink and grabbed my camera and ran back to the beach. I got the most stunning Sunset

In the evening we trudged up the hill - a steep climb to El Wagon, which was rewarded with excellent pizza served to us in the typical, no walls type restaurant as we sat on rocking chairs! We rounded off the meal with tequila slammers. It started to pour down again so we got a taxi back down the hill to avoid getting soaked and had a short game of cards before bed.

12th August, Manuel Antonio Mangrove Swamps

Dave got up at six to go and take photos, but I slept on as I had been kept awake quite a lot by the driving rain. By morning, there was sunshine and blue sky. I strolled down to the beach, it was almost deserted and looked amazing. 

We had breakfast overlooking the sea and I saw several big bright pink crabs scrambling into their holes. A huge lizard joined us in the restaurant during breakfast, and we spotted about five more in the undergrowth by the beach.

The boys had a lie in and we then walked along the beach to Manuel Antonio and they had breakfast in a restaurant overlooking the beach. Sam had huevos rancheros and Ben had pancakes. 








We then strolled back and were just in time for our twelve 'o' clock pick up for our paddle boarding trip to the mangroves. Our guides were Matt from Philadelphia and Alvaro, a local lad, both very laid back, and we were their only customers, so, to our delight, had the whole trip to ourselves. We had a 40 minute drive to the mangroves and then set off, with the threat of rain. We all took to it quite quickly but, when I found myself heading I to some branches by the side, I mistakenly tried to push back out using a branch, only to disappear under the water, to the family's great amusement!! From that point on we knew to use our paddles to push away from the bank! We spotted egrets, kingfisher, pink crabs, little fish and by the time we stopped for our break, the heavens had opened! We had some cookies, water and pineapple by the water's edge, which really hit the spot!

On the way back, the boys decided I would be great fun to try and knock each other off! They managed to keep on board for quite a while, but soon the inevitable happened and they were both in the water. Shortly afterwards, we spotted a monkey with a coconut and he bashed it on a branch to crack It open and drink the milk. He then bashed it some more until it broke open and he could snack on coconut. We were right in front of him so had a front seat view of all this and it was definitely the best nature spot of the trip.

It was a bit difficult to take a camera so here is a link to some of their photos

Paddle 9s Up

That evening, on their recommendation, we got a taxi to Sancho's Mexican restaurant where we had yet another great meal. We then went into the town to a cocktail bar (just made happy hour :-) Dave had 2 margaritas) , before heading back to the hotel and playing Black Maria until bedtime.

11th August, transfer to Manuel Antonio

Today was a transfer day and we set off at 8.15 in a small tourist bus, for the four hour transfer to Manuel Antonio. The first hour, as promised!, was along rough roads full of potholes. The bus was quite full and I sat next to a canarian biochemistry postgrad currently studying at the Complutense in Madrid, and his parents, so had another good fix of Spanish! Ben was lucky to be sat next to the driver, so had plenty of leg room and a great view - the advantage of being tall! We drove through palm oil plantations, rice fields and crocodile country on the Tarcoles river, and were lucky enough to spot several basking crocodiles from one of the bridges.

We finally arrived at Hotel Karahe and within minutes saw several lizards. We had a 'beach front' room, which had a lovely view onto the gardens and was about fifty metres from a beautiful beach. We had lunch right away as we were all starving, and the restaurant had a direct view onto the beach, with lizards crawling up tree trunks near our table. 

I tried hearts of palm salad with avocado and the boys went for the first chicken nuggets of the trip!! These had real chicken in them! While we were eating we saw a kingfisher and another bird by the water catching fish in its' long beak right in front of us.

We had a lazy afternoon then we all went for a dip - the waves had really picked up and were quite good, so we all had a nice swim and then Dave strolled along to the main Manuel Antonio beach, about 200 yards along the beach. The stretch of beach was very quiet, so there was loads of space. We then had a 'family conference' to plan out the next days' activities and opted for paddle boarding in the mangroves for tomorrow, which I booked with an extremely helpful lady in reception, who also recommended us a great restaurant nearby. 

La Cantina was a ten minute stroll up the hill and had live Latin style music and was renowned for their barbecued meat and fish. The food was superb - all three 'boys' had a half chicken with baked potato, corn on the cob, served on big wooden platters. I felt like trying something new, so went for the Mahi Mahi, which was equally good, with griddled veg and rice. Yet again, we had no need for the dessert menu as we were all so stuffed! We turned in for an early night as poor Sam had had a bad bout of sneezing after his sea swim.

10th August , bungee and super man

Today we had another easy start, with our pick up not until 10.20. The breakfast had been so good yesterday, that Ben decided to forgo the chance of a lie in so as not to miss it. Freshly cooked pancakes and freshly made omelettes with our own choice of fillings set us up for the day.

We then headed of for Extremo Park where Ben had decided to bite the bullet and do a bungee jump! Sam and Dave had opted for the canopy zip wire, which looked better than yesterday's, with a larger swing, bit of abseiling and, most of all, a final long wire which you ride down face down, superman style!

When we got to the Park, I headed off to the viewing platform and Ben went a bit higher up with the bungee group. The view across the valley was superb, and we shared it with a very tame scarlet macaw, pet of Extremo Park! The drop looked huge and was the biggest in Latin America, at 143 metres.They took two people out on the platform for each jump and Ben was on the second platform, jumping third, so I had a chance to hone my videoing skills whilst calming my nerves! He, on the other hand, appeared typically calm and composed! There was a great camaraderie on the viewing platform, with a mix of Americans, Israelis, British and Mexicans cheering for each others friends and family! I was relieved that it all went smoothly and I managed to capture it for posterity. It was very entertaining on our return to view the close up videos of each jumper and sample the variety of screams and 'palabrotas'!

Sam and Dave, meanwhile, had a great time on the canopy tour, which was a real step up from yesterday's and had attracted a much younger clientele ( at least from Dave's perspective!). The highlight of it was the superman style zip wire at the end where they were face down and unable to break, so it was like flying across the valley. We managed to watch watch. Sam and Dave arrive superman style and it looked very impressive. There had also been a giant swing, which Sam coped with admirably and Dave found a little more challenging, as Sam was eager to describe to me almost as soon as he finished his Superman wire! :-)

When we got back, we fetched the laundry from Hotel Tucan, lunched again in Taco Taco, sitting on high stools and watching he hustle and bustle of the street, and then headed uphill by taxi for a moochy afternoon. The boys played football by the room again, with their new and improved football! That night we discovered Lucia's restaurant along a dark track opposite our hotel ( recommended in Explore guide book) and Sam, Ben and Dave got a burger fix while I ate a sea bass gratin, all very tasty.

The sunset was spectacular and Dave was in his element taking pictures of it. Ben was also appreciative, sitting on the balcony listening to music, drinking Imperial and gazing at the sky! Pura Vida!

9th August, zip wires in the cloud forest

Dave : Friday 9th August 

We got up for a leisurely breakfast , freshly cooked omelettes and pancakes. The rooms have lights outside on the balcony, it looked like someone had pebble dashed the wall next to the light with moths. 

The pick up for the day's activity was at 10:20 , and we were still not quite sure whether it was all zip lining or a sedentary cable car ride, hopefully the former !  After a short journey we arrived and it was zip lining, Sue was slightly nervous but I was quite happy, I was sure she would enjoy it once she got going. 

There was a bit of a hike to the first platform and after a 5 minute safety briefing we were off. I went first and was slightly disappointed not to watch Sue's 1st zip line from the beginning. However she made it safey across and didn't even look too flustered. The 3rd zip line was over 1/2 km , I think Sue asked the guide so many questions they decided to help her along and do it in tandem with her. It was a spectacular view and very exhilarating , and she enjoyed it all the more for having her legs wrapped around a young Costa Rican guy! 

The next interesting part, after several more zip wires, was the Tarzan swing. Sue valiantly volunteered to video it , the boys conducted them selves with decorum while their father screamed quite a bit.

Onward then to the 1km zip wire ,  the longest in Costa Rica. This was a tandem run , so I went at the front with Sam doing the breaking duties so I could video the whole ride. Poor boy had to wrap his legs around me which worked very well as arm rests to steady the camera,  but apparently not very comfortable for him. Sue came down with Ben who looked very composed as they arrived at the final platform.

Back to the hotel to drop the bags, get the laundry , which was pretty smelly by now, and off to town for some lunch, shopping and find the laundry . Bad news was that the lavaderia had shut down, good news was the toucan hostel did a very reasonable laundry service. Over the road to Taco Taco for burritos, burruto ( for Ben ) and tacos,  really good! The boys bought a football and we bought more supplies , back to the room and a siesta, and a pretty good sunset,  before off to johnny's for a pretty decent dinner. 

8th August, transfer to Monteverde

Got up and packed followed by fresh omelette for breakfast. Packed bus ride with lots of backpackers to the boat on Arenal lake , for the ride across it ready to be picked up for the journey up to Monteverde!

Sue: the trip across the lake was very relaxing,

with a good view of the volcano.

When we reached the other side there was no sign of any buses but, to our relief, three small tourist buses soon appeared, carrying people off in various directions.

 Our route from then on was full of potholes and took us up and up towards beautiful cloud forest scenery, with the driver deftly weaving the bus between the bumps in the track. I had a nice chat to a French girl from Strasbourg, who was with her boyfriend travelling independently. She said they had had no trouble finding accommodation in each place, but that transport was a bit more erratic - you could work it out, but had no idea how long it might take to get to your destination!
We had a comfort stop part way and after that I counted 166 butterflies in the hedgerows before reaching our destination! Little white and yellow ones flitting about, bright russet coloured ones flashing past and large blue ones with vivid wings, which fluttered by slowly displaying their colours.






Our accommodation, Heliconia Lodge, looked lovely and was a little way up he hill from Santa Elena. The rooms were huge, with a spectacular view across the town. The boys were particularly looking forward to the pizza oven and it did not disappoint when we had lunch in the hotel!

After lunch we had a siesta and the boys played football on a little pitch with goals next to our accommodation.

Dave: the views from the room are spectacular with clouds rising up on thermals. We also got a bit of a sunset, but much better ones the nest few days.

Sue/ Dave: We then walked down to explore the town and had dinner in the TreeHouse restaurant, which was built around a massive tree and accessed via a spiral staircase around the trunk. We got a table at the edge of the balcony overlooking the street. it was a bit windy but pretty relaxed. The atmosphere was amazing - we could hear the music from a church service that was in session across he street, the buzz of cars and people, and a group of children playing, trying to jump high enough up a wall to then climb up the mesh above the brick! Poor old Sam was made to ask the way to the nearest supermarket , which turned out to be next door. A couple of beers and some nachos later we jumped into a cab back to the hotel

and a few games of bananagrams later we retired to bed.

7th August, Arenal

Dave: Wednesday 7th August

Sue and I got up and had breakfast. , hi-light was freshly made omelette. We let the boys sleep in as we had a free morning. We then set off To the waterfall at la fortuna. This was a 2km hike straight up a bloody big hill. Sue did well as it could not have been great with asthma. There was a art/craft shop a out half way long and sue found a necklace she liked which I Bought as part of her birthday . We then staggered up the rest of the hill to the entrance of the park with the waterfall in it. 

The walk down was pretty steep, 480 steps to be precise. Waterfall was superb, great photo opportunity!  The only trouble was that you then had to climb up the 480 steps. Some people did go swimming in the pool but it looked pretty chilly, so we did not bother. 

There was however , a more placid pool a bit further down that looked quite pleasant. After lots of photos we slowly climbed back up and rewarded ourselves with and ice cream from the shop. The walk back down the hill was much more relaxed. 


One amusing incident was that a group of horses had gone up the hill, one poor horse carrying a huge fat bloke. Strangely he got a cab down, not sure if the horse or he had collapsed with the effort. 

The boys had been chilling for the morning, so we had lunch in the hotel. Boys had burger style stuff with chips, Sue and I shared a Caesar salad. 

The off off the walk in the Arenal park, to the 1968 lava flow. 

The guide , Carlos, was amazing at picking out things to see. We saw a grey hawk, squirrels feeding in guava? And some strange creature (mammal they sue has the Spanish name for... ) Very tame. 

Grey Falcon

Beetle that destroy the palm trees they use for palmitos

Variagated Squirrel

Spider that produces a golden web, more on that later

Seed eating bird, they are not all fascinatingly beautiful !

The lava rock was quite light, and the gravel path was full of obsidian? Which made it quite light. wearing boots was definitely a good idea. Carlos also picked some berries that were like grape , but small and a little bitter,  and also a little leaf that was very minty. Boys were well behaved but maybe a bit bored.

Next stop was the baldi springs spa and hotel. this was lots of fun. The water coming from the volcano underground river and raged from about 40 degree to 67! It vene had a natural sauna. it had 3 water slides, one was especially brutal, you got up to 45 km/hr on it. They also had wet bars , i.e. you sit there boiling your nuts in 50 degrees and have a beer or in our case a decadent cocktail. Ben had a blue lagoon,  Sam a Virginia piña colada I.e. no alcohol, and Sue and I had a Mojito. Quite a unique experience for us. Dinner was at 6:30 and was a pretty good buffet, with good pasta that you could make up your own sauce. Think the boys really enjoyed this part of it.

We then got picked up at 7:30 and boys went for a swim in the dark in the hotel pool. We then had a game of cards and a early night.