We had been in a bit of a dilemma about where to go next, we knew we were heading back towards the sea but should we go to the Caribbean coast or the Pacific coast. Tortuguero on the Caribbean is famous for turtles nesting on the beaches but it was slightly late for the leatherbacks and a bit early for the greens. It would also mean a bit of backtracking on our route so in the end we opted for the Pacific coast.

Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast was on list of must-see's and we could take a shuttle bus door to door. It was possible to take a public bus, or more to the point, three public buses with long wait times between them.

A very nice van turned up just on time and we started our slow drive down off the highlands on the dirt road. The views were stunning and even though we were in the van, the constant twisting and turning of the road gave us a view in every direction. We could see right down to the sea and the Nicoya Peninsula whilst the cloud covered highlands towered behind us.

We stopped in Puntarenas to let some people out that were taking the ferry and took the opportunity to stretch our legs. Stepping out of the air conditioned van into the coastal heat, after being in the cool highlands, hit us like a slap in the face. We ran into the relative cool of a bakers and got some cold drinks...and a doughnut for David, which was awesome. Maria chose a cheese pastry thing which was to her surprise tasted sweet.

A little further down the road we stopped by Rio Grande de Tarcoles for a bit of crocodile spotting from the bridge. It wasn't difficult either, there were loads of them and they were huge, even from a distance you could tell. There must have been around 20 spread between the river bank and slowly cruising on the fast flowing river.

We carried on south into Jaco for another drop off. It was a very developed Costa Rican package holiday destination for North Americans and seemed to have lost it's coastal jungle appeal in favour of 24 hour bars and casinos by the beach.

Manuel Antonio was a little further down the coast and thankfully was a lot less developed and seemed to be built little bit more with the environment in mind. Houses and hotels were built 'in' the jungle as opposed to clearing the jungle to make way for them. We were staying at Loma Linda, a house converted for holiday accommodation. The house's upper floor had 2 ensuite bedrooms and rest of the huge living area and balcony is shared. We're sharing with a German couple tonight but they are leaving tomorrow so maybe we will get the place to ourselves.

We took a short walk around and were surprised to see capuchin monkeys crossing the street on rope strung between two trees. Turns out, this was to stop them getting electrocuted when they crossed on the power lines. There had been some thunder rumbling in the distance for some time and it finally began to gently rain although it didn't take any of the heat out the air. As we were leaving the very expensive supermarket across the road, the heavens finally opened. It was torrential in the true meaning of the word, just running 30m had us soaked to skin. It was nice to sit in the house and watch the storm though.

The rain stopped after about an hour and we walked down to a take away fish and chips shop for dinner. It was almost as good as the one we went to in Takapuna and way better than almost all others we have tried in New Zealand. It came with a chipotle mayo side which seemed a little odd but it worked really well.