So, from Monteverde we hopped back on the bus and travelled 5 hours to our new destination, Quepos. On the way we stopped at the ´Crocodile Bridge´, a motorway bridge over a river, which was full of crocodiles! Got some good photos of them (they were huge), but unfortunately they obstinately refused to eat the nearby heron. Shame.

Quepos is a beach town, about 6km away from Manuel Antonio National Park, also on the beach. Our hotel was about equidistant between the two. I cannot even describe the extreme weather change between where we were in Monteverde (admittedly, in the mountains) and arriving in Quepos - it was literally 15C hotter and not a breath of wind. It´s an understatement to say we were all a little disappointed to discover that our new hotel didn´t have air conditioning, but it did have a pool, so silver linings at least. Some of the group headed off to do a mangrove kayak, but we headed straight to the beach to catch some afternoon sun and desperately try to tan at last! The public beach is beautiful, and full of people trying to sell things to you, which was actually good fun. We managed to haggle for 3 sunbeds and a parasol, and got them down from 6000 colones for 3 (around $12) to 1000 ($2). Score. After a couple of hours on the beach and watching the beautiful sunset, we decided to find somewhere to eat. There are actually only about 4 restaurants on the beachfront, and naturally they´re pricey and not very good, so we headed back to the bus to go to Quepos town to see if we could find a better deal. Eventually found a little Italian that did me a carpaccio of beef for less than the beach places had tried to charge for a green salad, so we were all pretty happy with that. Got back to the hotel, rolled into bed and got a very early night - the sea air literally killed us.

Next day we got up nice and early and headed into Manuel Antonio National Park itself. We had a nature walk with our guide for a couple of hours, but in the 35-40C heat it was pretty hard to concentrate on anything he said, apart from the occasional casual racist slur which he had a tendency to throw in. Eventually broke through the forest and got to the National Park beach - even more beautiful than the public beach, and minus the street hawkers. We all collapsed in the sun/shade for a couple of hours, interspersed with photoshoots and lengthy sea dips to cool off. I literally can´t even begin to describe how hot it was; so much hotter than anywhere I´ve ever been before. The water was also incredibly warm (c 30C), but wet at least. The weirdest thing was that the whole place was so hot that when the sea wind blew in over the water, it was even hotter than the still air! So all in all it was an exceptionally sweaty experience. Around midday we headed back to the public beach in search of liquid, and we all managed to grab a coconut/granita/diet coke before flopping down again (definitely in the shad this time). Eventually headed home to get ready for dinner at about 4pm, to find that I am exceptionally burnt. At least this will turn to tan eventually (although 2 days later is still red raw). On the bright side it is quite an even coverage of beetroot-red, and has highlighted exactly how pasty i was before - my strap marks are really something to see. Won´t be in a beachy/hot place again for quite some time though so best to colour up now really, just take the pain.

Had dinner that night in a restaurant called El Avion, which is literally built inside/around the body and wings of an old WWII style plane. Food was amazing (caesar salad for me, budgeting has kicked in), and Nicole and I were even sent some drinks by some incredibly ropey looking men on the other side of the restaurant - so I broke my sober-record because after all, it was free. After dinner we got a few more drinks before heading to a bar called Bambu Jam, which had live music. A very strange, eclectic mix of salsa, pop, dance and 50s American rock n´roll sung in Spanish. A bit surreal, but good fun. Unfortunately another pair of flip flops went the way of all flesh on the dance floor, so am now down to a red-alert one pair of flip flops and one pair of trainers. No more dance floors for me for a while I think.

Next day I stayed in the shade by the pool at the hotel in the morning, while the rest of the group either went to the beach or on a catamaran trip. Judging by how burnt everyone was when they got back, I think I made the right choice! After a very rushed lunch and some laundry disasters (don´t worry, not for me, I still have enough clothes just about!) we hopped back in the van to head back to San Jose. Due to a mix up with the hotel reservations I got an opportunity to get all legal at the receptionist, which obviously made my day. We then went out as a group for a final meal together, to a traditional Costa Rican restaurant. I had a lovely dish of tortillas, cheese, beef, sausage, pico e gallo (tomato sauce), fried plantain and callo pinto (rice and beans), and then finished off someone else´s casado as well - excellent.

Leave for Peru tomorrow - tentatively my trek is still on, although it´s not looking overly optimistic from what I can tell from the internet updates. Unfortunately have a massively rough journey - fly from San Jose to Lima, arriving at 8pm, then from Lima to Cuzco at 5am... yes, that´s a whopping 9hours overnight in an airport. I get the feeling it´won´t be as fun as American films have led me to believe. Am reliably informed that Lima is a pretty good airport though, so fingers crossed on that too!