La Fortuna is a really small town - only 2 blocks in total. It is really pretty and is overlooked by a huge active volcano. The hotel where we stayed was luxury compared to some of the places we have stayed. We even had a Juliette balcony and from ours there were stunning views of the volcano.

We went to Baldi hot springs. It was wonderful. There are about 13 different pools - hot; cold; Jacuzzi; water slides (hair raising); water falls etc. They are all outside and we went late afternoon. So after the sun had set we chilled out and watched the stars. It was a very relaxing afternoon/evening. My favourites were the Jacuzzi pool (where you could wander around the pool through the bubbles) and the hot and cold pool. I did 30 seconds in freezing cold and the 30 seconds in quite hot and repeated 5 times. Apparently this is good for your blood circulation. It was very refreshing I have to say!

The next day I went white water rafting on Rio Toro (River Bull). It wasn't particularly raging that day but it was immense fun. There were a number of rapids and it took 3 hours to complete the course with a mini break for a swim half way through. There were lots of instructions to remember - like hard left, down, right bank, fwd, back, lean etc. I was incredibly god at the 'down' command. This is where you wedge yourself in the bottom of the raft so that you don't fall in. I was probably too good because I always struggled to extricate myself! The only falling in I did was when the guide hooked his oar in my life jacket and hauled me in. Good fun - only a little disturbing when the raft seemed to be drifting off and even the guide struggled to reach me and get me back in. Saw lots of wildlife - little frogs which were brightly coloured (green with black dots and red with blue legs); Jesus Christ lizards (one even ran on water!), bright blue butterflies and many birds. By the end of the day I was bruised, battered, exhausted but mainly happy. In fact I was bouncing off the ceiling. I had spent the day with Liz form NY, she was the best white water rafting buddy ever apart from when she tried to knock me out of the boat! However she did say that she was actually trying to keep me in. I believed her - millions wouldn't but I did. It had been a cracking day.