Hey, making the most of the last week or so now!

Manuel Antonio

Such a chilled out beach town lined by palm trees and pavement stalls selling crafts. We went to the beach on when we arrived but it began to rain so went back to the pool at the hotel and generally just chilled out after our very bumpy ride from Monteverde, Santa Elena. We visited the national park on day 2 and went for a muddy walk in flip flops!! to get to the secluded beach. We lay there for a few hours and the cloud was deceptive. We all ended up with a fair bit of colour! Both evenings we, the regulars *as we are now known* went out of town to a bar called the lounge. Wednesday night was a bit rubbish but we still went to a disco after and maximised the incredibly spacious dance floor. Actually it did pick up a bit and some guy who made me dance salsa, which was hard considering he was so rubbish, knocked off a new favourite ring i was wearing! Got in at 330am. Thursday night was ladies night at the lounge and we got free drinks all night! We went to the disco place again and this time it was a bit more happening! I worked out that in 3 nights i had less than 10 hours sleep.

From Manuel Antonio we headed back to San Jose to drop off some of the group who were ending and pick up some new ones. We spent a night in San Jose and Jono MADE me go out to a club with him. Jemma and I got back at about half 2 and we had a 5am start the next morning. We were sharing with a new girl and despite hearing our alarms she didnt wake us up! I woke at 5.30 and had 10 mins to pack a day sack and the rest of my stuff. Was a little stressful.

Torteguero National Park

We had a bus ride of 3 hours and then got on a boat which took us wildlife spotting on the way to our riverside lodge. It was on the river but the beach was the other side so we had it all! Saw lots of birds, crocs, lizards etc and stopped for lunch on the way only to be eaten alive by mossi's! We had a quiet evening except for the 3 mile walk along the beach to look for turtles laying their eggs. We only saw the previous nights trails on the beach. Walking on the sand was such a workout! The following morning we were up at 6am for more wildlife spotting on the boat. We returned for breakie at 9am and headed down the beach to Lagoon Lodge where we could use hotel facilities. There was the most beautiful pool there so i wallowed by it all day! In the evening we went on the boat into the tiny village for dinner. Boating at night is always a bit dodgy... especially with no lights! Got an early night last night and today had a 2.5 hour trip back on the boat to get a mini van to Cahuita. On the way we stopped at a Sloth rescue sanctuary. They are very cute animals! Our hotel here is cool, got a pool and everything. Instead of returning to San Jose to end the tour we're staying on Caribbean coast for an extra couple of nights to get in some surfing and beach weather.

See you soon x