10th & 11th July 2008: Travelled from Nicaragua into Costa Rica, involving the most lengthly border corssing yet! Once we´re all in Costa Rica ok we get a bus up into the cloudforest to Monteverde. The roads winding up the mountains are rough and unmade (they remind me of good old Black Pond Lane!). We pass through a thunderstorm then over the top of the mountains with an amazing view all the way to the Pacific coast. We are staying right on top of a mountain with a view down the valley. Head into town for supper and to my joy finally find a decent large glass of cold white wine to go with it!

Up early for a day of ziplining through the forest. Get kitted up in our attractive harnesses and helmets before spending the morning whizzing through the trees. Some amazing views over the valleys but if you spend too much time gawping at the view and not paying attention to the zipline you end up spinning out of control (as I found out!). One of our last stops was the Tarzan swing, which is pretty much self explantory! Launch youself (or get pushed) off the platform and swing around for a bit - much fun! Spend most of the evening at the Ranarium (which is the offical name but Frogarium sounds better!). Our guide was amazing, finding the frogs within seconds while we hunted aimlessly with our torches. There were loads of different species, the names of most of them I have already forgotten! But they were very photogenic and posed happily while we snapped away.