We entered Costa Rica yesterday, to be slightly surprised by the informality of the border crossing... The full body scanners have definately not made it here yet! We had our passports stamped, then walked across a massive bridge above a river which was falling apart - planks had been laid down upon which you could walk, to have your passport stamped again. And that was it! Unfortunately we discovered that we had missed our bus by 20 mins, and the next one wasn´t for 5 hours, but an easy solution was conceived by our brave travellers, and we got a cab to the next town where we picked up the bus.

We arrived in Santa Elena on Thursday 11th Feb, and that evening we went horse riding through the cloud forest, and watched the sunset over the Pacific which was so fun! Alice was riding a slightly difficult horse, to say the least, which rather than follow the guides, would do whatever the hell it chose. While stopped under a tree, it kicked the horse next to it, and then bolted 3 metres in front, unfortunately leaving Alice a couple of seconds behind with a cricked neck. We did see a sloth though which is always fun.

Then on Friday, we went zip wiring through the cloud forest which was just AMAZING. We were zipping along across a valley, with incredible views on either side - to our left we had the Pacific ocean with cloud-topped volcanoes, and to our right we had dense forest. The highlight of it had to be the tarzan swing, which was both terrifying and ridiculously fun. We both had to be pushed off the platform, as there was no way we were going to jump! The first 3 seconds was pure terror as you were free falling, and then the harness kicked in, and you were swung right up into the tree tops! Then you´d shoot back and forth a few times at breakneck speed, before being stopped. SO MUCH FUN. In our group there was an American couple (some would say overweight) who after that looked like they were about to keel over. The final line was 1km long, and Alice, being the braver of the two, decided to go down it superman style. That is, head first and suspended by your back. It looked pretty scary, and Lily´s suspicions were confirmed when Alice described it as terrifying, thinking she was going to die on the descent! Lily, wimping out, went down in tandem with an instructor which was thoroughly enjoyable as she just chilled out on the back enjoying the views. That afternoon was undeniably a highlight of the trip!

Saturday was another early start for us - for the past 3 days we´ve got up between 5-6am dark! We went walking in Monteverde CLoud Forest Reserve that morning. The bus was due at 6.30, but in classic Costa Rican fashion was 20 mins early, so we had to sprint up the road having missed out on our caffeine fix that morning. As soon as we got there, this guy with a telescope called us all over, and he´d fixed the lens on a Quetzal (a really rare bird for those not into their ornithology) which was cool. Walking through the forest was so pretty, and there were all these lookouts where all you could see was cloud (shocking that) and then it would clear for an instant and you´d be looking over jungle as far as the eye could see. Very cool. And we saw a hummingbird fly really close to us, and then bathing in a stream daah! It was so cool, completely black apart froma reflective blue cap which changed colour in the light. After 3.5 hours of walking though we were whacked, so went back to the entrance and feasted on our mango. Then we started the walk back with these American friends we´d made, the majority of the conversation being laughing at English-isms and American-isms.

Sunday was our last day in Santa Elena, and we spent the morning very happily monging at the hostel. We´d heard about this fig tree which you could climb, so in the afternoon we set off with a questionable map in search of said tree. Being in the presence of two tree-climbing Canadians, as soon as we´d found it they were practically running up it! The rest of us followed at a slightly slower pace. It was really cool though, because it had grown around another tree, and subsequently strangled it, so it had a tunnel with what was almost a ladder running up it!

So Santa Elena was thoroughly enjoyed by us, and we headed for Nicaragua on Monday, with two friends we met in Santa Elena. And then there were four!