I´ve been in Monteverde for a couple of days now, we are staying in a great hotel called Rustic Lodge and my room is made out of all different types of wood and has a view towards the cloud forest. We are higher up here so its cold enough to be wearing a fleece all of the time and has been raining on and off for the past few days.

I´ve been trying out lots of activities and started off with having a go at white water rafting for the first time, on the Balsa river. I had an amazing time and was a lot better at staying in the raft than I expected! The rafts were for 4 people plus a guide at the back doing the steering. We almost capsized early on in the class 3 rapids but managed to just about stay on, our guide actually did fall out a bit later on when we went over some rocks which was a bit of a scary moment for us all! It was easier from then on and I had a go at steering the raft and then a float down the river in the water which was nice and warm, followed by the best pineapple have ever tasted and some lunch accompanied by the usual rice and beans (am getting to like it now, and even having some with breakfast!).

The next day we left La Fortuna and travelled across the Arenal lake by boat, where we had a really clear view of the volcano. We made the rest of the journey by horse which has been my favorite activity so far. I started off on a horse called Billy who was lovely but didn´t really like to go too fast! I did manage to get him to do one gallop though and really liked the American style saddle and stirrups which are so much more comfortable than the British style ones. Another lady kindly swapped horses with me when we had a break and my horse for the 2nd half of the trip (Coyote) was very responsive so I got to do a lot more from then on. I will definately be going on a few more horse riding tours before I leave Costa Rica as i´d forgotten how much I used to enjoy it until now.

Yesterday was ziplining in the cloud forest, which involved being strapped into a harness, climbing up onto a very high platform and then going on 11 zip wires high above the forest canopy. One of them was so long that for a while you were just surrounded by cloud and couldn´t see the start or end platforms. The scariest bit was climbing up onto the platforms, I really enjoyed the zipping bit, although it was difficult to break (which you did by pulling down on the zip wire, wearing thick gloves). Half way through there was a tarzan swing, where you climbed up onto a very high platform, were harnessed to a rope and then had to jump off and freefall for a bit before the rope took up the slack and you would swing in a big ark up into the trees. It was terrifying jumping off although I soon forgot about that as was a spectacular view while swinging.

In the same reserve we were also able to go out walking on the hanging bridges, which are a series of suspension bridges, again above the forest canopy, where you get a great alternative view of everything....although we couldn´t see that far in the rain!

This morning I´ve been out for a hike with a guide in the cloud forest reserve in the rain! The guide was really informative and told as all about the medicinal properties of a lot of the plants. The forest is extremely diverse and there are many more species of plants, trees and flowers than I´ve ever seen before.

I´m off out for a tour of the Monteverde cheese factory later, which is run by the North American Quakers that have been settled in this area for the past 50 years. They also make brilliant Ice cream which I tried after yesterdays activities.

Hope all is well with everyone. Pura Vida! (this is a uniquely costa rican saying that everyone here uses a lot, either as just a greeting, as a toast, or just to say how are you?)