Ok so part 2 of costa rica goes like this...

we arrived in Monteverde after a butt-hammering road in which Tina drove slowly as she was very nervous and very stressed. The other car with Andres driving had whizzed off so fast and the road had broken into 2 ways and we took the one saying monteverde, but as we couldnt see them anywhere infront, we stopped thinking theyd taken the wrong road. as we plodded and wandered round by the side of the road taking in the views, i suggested we carry on. theres 4 of them and 2 of us and i was sure theyd arrive safely too. we chcked it was the right road then about 20km further we found them. theyd been going fast as his car had good suspension and had been waiting over half hour for us!!! then they took pleasure in watching us two being thrown around in the little jimny jeep, even though it had 4 wheel drive, didnt really do much for the 2 foot deep holes filled with mud and rain!

we all arrived in one piece and found a cool hostel which we parked up for 2 nights. it was very cold in monteverde as its cloudforests, ie high up! really cool hostel with lots of people, the most amount in one place i had seen in a long time, can definately tell high season is beginning now. new faces!

I booked myself into the canopy tour with Xtremo, a guaranteed fun fill ziplining adrenaline tour. it didnt disappoint. they stuck all this metal equpiment on and tons of harnesses and then went through the demonstration with one of our guides. there were 14 zip lines some around 450foot high above the canopy and length 1km, there was also a 90ft rappel straight off a platform to the ground whizzing down in a few seconds! also a tarzan swing, begins as a bungee jumping off a platform with no zipline just a rope then you swing in between all the trees, and then finally a superman zip line where they harness you from your back and then put both feet in ropes and off you go. you just fly 1km over canyons and fields with your arms out not holding onto anything! and obviously theres hiking involved total of 3km i think it was but all uphill!

IT WAS INSANE. the best 3 hours of my life in the sense of adrenaline. when i had all the equipment shoved on me i was feeling ok, when we climbed up the first platform and onto the edge we wouldnt see anything past about 30ft as it was totally in the clouds and each person just disappeared into them! so cool to watch. i was feeling a little nervous and wondering what happens if i dont brake right or i do it wrong. well i didnt brake hard enough and as i zipped fast through the clouds i felt so great and then boom at the end, i braked a bit but nowhere near enough, i went flying forward and stopped with a big jolt. knew i had to master that! but most of my group all did the same. so we continued on, get attached to the line, zip fast through the clouuds and rain and at some points it was pouring so hard in our faces it burnt to look up and open ur eyes as we went so fast, and before i knew it we were on our 5th zip. so much fun then the rappel came, i thought itd be like the other one down a waterfall in salvador but this was straight down by pully system, guy at the top guy at the bottom but they just dropped us all until near the bottom to give us adrenaline rushes! thennnn TARZAN SWING. i didnt pay extra so didnt think i was doing it on my tour but aparently the extra money is for the BIG tarzan swing. mine was aparently the little one! i was scared to say the least. the first girl went and screamed so loud it sent shivers through me! i was 4th to go out of 6 and i had to do it. i gingerly headed towards the edge to be strapped up and it was about 100ft high up. the others on the ground were all buzzed from theirs so i couldnt escape it. but as i was being attached he told me to hold on to the rope and i was like no no no and then he said closer to the edge and bend your knees. i looked down. ahhhh then he pushed me off the edge! i was shocked so no noise came out until i had stopped falling and the rope had gone taut and i began swinging through the jungle instead, in which case i then screamed with thrill and excitment as well as IM ALIVE!!! haha it was incredible. i was shaking by the bottom though, pure adrenaline. we had a few more zips and hikes giving me time to calm down and then still highly buzzed we all hiked to superman zip the last one. got strapped on and flew over the fields looking and facing the ground thinking how incredible my life is that i can do these things. it was honestly one of the best 3 hours of my entire life and the biggest adrenaline rush ive ever experienced. and all for $40. excellent.finished up soaked through but with photos to prove it!

The next day 3 of the road trippers left, me Andres and Tina, the 2 with cars. we took another bad but not as bad road back out of monteverde and onto the pan american highway for the last journey together. 9 hours to the caribbean coast right next to Panama. Puerto Viejo. A rasta, weed obsessed town. so chilled nothing opens til 11. well i wandered at 10:15 n nothing was so im presuming by 11 its all open. i gave up waiting. On our journey there we got caught between accidents, police road checks, toll booths and a huge storm. Lightning and thunder booming and striking all around. i said to Tina, dont stop under a power line and literally 2 minutes after we all witnessed a lightning bolt strike the electricity post and the transformer on the post exploded sending smoke n debree into the air. it was incredible. raining so hard we had to wait 3 hours more to be able to discuss it between the two cars when we arrived. so cool to see but some town had no power!

We stayed one night in an awful american run hostel, with old men perving over little children or unsuspecting tourists. and a load of randoms smoking weed constantly then braking into a band 3 hours later. was the most random and awful night. next morning we all checked out and me and tina went the a sloth sanctuary. it was my first time seeing sloths in the wild as they took us on a boat ride nearby and then in cages being rehabbed or not able to be released most of them. theyre such a cute animal. such unique and sweet faces and constantly smiling. wont forget one called Mira for Miracle as she was born premature and is a dwarf now, but she smiled and put herself in the perfect position for an amazing photo!!!

The next day i spent at the beach, which was cool to relax then doing the fake flight ticket and packing for Panama. Which is where i headed after. Panama part 1 coming soon ;)