Christmas day. The heat here is dry and dusty - unlike just about everywhere else we have been. It's a shock to walk out of the air conditioned bedroom to the outdoor kitchen - from chiller to sauna. Andy, our host, had stepped on a nail and had to go for a tetanus jab. He and his wife, Anita, used to run a pub and eaterie but when the crash came, they struggled. So now they are running this small business for Andy's brother (who also happens to be here, tho...

How come you sleep in on a day when you have to get up early? So it was hasty showers, breakfast and packing away before bidding farewell to the Lodge at Vida Aventura. In general we have overestimated travelling time in Costa Rica. Having factored in shopping at a Supermarket (no crazy queues), we still arrived at Casa Smilin' Dog in Tamarindo two hours earlier than expected. The only excitement was a grass fire by the roadside. Our lodging is owned by some...

The house where we are staying is in the valley between two volcanoes, Rincon de la Vieja and Miravalles. The place is like a wind tunnel and at night the doors and windows rattle and it is also so dark that we take a torch to bed to find the bathroom and light switches. We drove up to the other sector of the national park open to the public - Sector Las Pailas. By using a toll road on the land of Hacienda Guachepelin we managed to avoid an eighty kilometre de...

The night was windy and the doors on our apartment rattled all night. What's odd about this holiday is that we have both been dreaming a lot - a thing neither of us often do. We hypothesise that it is because when we are at home, we go to bed late (mainly due to Joan's councillor duties which means we eat late) and rise at 5.30 am. We never actually get to the REM stage when you dream. Oddly enough Kevin is reading a novel where dreams feature a lot too. We'r...

Another moving day - this time north to Rincon de la Vieja National Park. We said goodbye to the lovely garden in Bijagua and Marya, the owner. The weather here has been consistently wet and windy and we have never had a clear view of either volcanoes. The drive to Rincon de la Vieja was surprisingly uneventful. We shopped in Liberia and then headed towars the national park. The road became quickly rough with rocks and potholes. Costa Rica is very free of l...