5am we are woken by a tremendous repeated noise which penetrates the earplugs, like a braking juggernaut? no, definitely animal - jaguar? wolf maybe? Getting closer, but I still didn't guess. Of course I had read about the howler monkeys in the rain forest, but was still not prepared for this deep, barking, howling, a very effective wake up call but with no control over the timing. During our walks and boat rides we saw several, velvety and brown in the trees as ...

Even I couldn't come to Costa Rica and not drink the coffee particularly as the arabica beans here are high on flavour but low in caffeine. It is certainly not worth asking for decaf of which they produce very little as the beans are sent to Germany for decaffeination (the caffeine is sold to Coca Cola) and the coffee goes back to Costa Rica for roasting and export. So decaf costa rican coffee bought in England will have clocked up a lot of airmiles. Only 3% of ...