After successfully managing to make it to San Jose and back to civilisation I headed straight to CRLA to pick up my belongings. I loved going back and saw lots of students who were still there from the weeks I attended. So I caught up with them over lunch and found out about their weekend travels! After a few goodbyes I made my way to the hostel for the night before heading off in the morning. Here I just relaxed for the evening in the hostel with a few guys from the US, Austrailia and two girls from the UK. We all had a few beers and played on the wi!

In the morning I got my first shuttle with my bus pass. It was amazing, exactly on the dot I got picked up from the hostel in a small minibus with a few other travellers and dropped straight at my hostel in my next location, Manuel Antonio. I was really impressed so far with the service and was really relaxed when I arrived at Hostel Vista Serena on the top of the hill in the beach town. I'd heard Manuel Antonio was now abit too touristy and very americanised but after settling to the hostel, which lived up to its name with beautiful views over the jungle to the beach, I headed down to the beach and although it was clearly a popular american holiday destination it was still beautiful and had a great beach, surfer town vibe. The town is based upon the world famous national park which encompasses both the jungle, mangroves and beaches with some large amount of various different species of flora and fauna! As it was later in the day I just spent my time on the local beach and chilled out before heading back for the evening. After chatting with the people in the hostel we got some dinner then headed out for ladies night in town. With free drinks all night we couldn't say no and all enjoyed the local bars! The next day I headed out early to the national park. Here I walked through various different trails through the jungle and up to various view points. Walking alone I saw lots of monkeys, lizards, sloths, tucans, butterflies, racoons, iguanas and different birds I didn't recognise! On one trail I bumped into a guy who was rather breathless warning me he had heard a large animal and he knew there were pumas so to be careful, so I went on abit more carefully. I the heard something myself but was relieved to find out it was some local guys walking off the trail looking at some different trees! I then went through the mangroves and towards the beautiful beaches! Here I sunbathed and bumped into the guy from the shuttle and some students from the night before so we all chatted and swam in the Pacific ocean, as it was my first stop on this side of the country! The water was so clear and warm with no stalls or anything around due to the protection of the park the little bay really was beautiful and unspoiled. After a few hours I headed out of the park back to the local beach to meet the girls from the hostel. We all headed back up the hill to get ready for the evening. Here I went to another hotel to watch a live band, who were staying in our hostel, have a few cocktails at happy hour and watch the sunset. The whole setting was beautiful and I sat with a girl from the hostel chatting and swapping recommendations as we were heading in the opposite directions! After the band played we went back together and had a few drinks with the others before our second night out. The next morning I woke up late-ish, got some lunch and chilled in the hammocks before getting my second shuttle to Monteverde!

After a extremely bumpy ride up the montains roads up to around 2000ft I arrived at the Monteverde cloud forests! The hostel was great but as I was feeling pretty sick (which I thought was travel sickness) I headed to bed ready for my canopy zip line tour the following morning at 7:30am! Feeling alot better I got up, had breakfast then got picked up for my day full of adreniline! In the bus I met some great people and I had a good feeling about the day! Once all kitted up me, Alex and Vivenne started the various different lines! It was so fun and the views were amazing seeing the clouds and flying through the jungle! We also got the do the tarzan swing, which is like a mini bungee, you get pushed off this ledge then you fall and swing back and forth untill you are caught and dragged in! Luckily I had no choice about it and the guys pushed me straight off! We then had the superman line which was actually like flying across the forest and was amazing when the 1km line went over the valley! My only problem was the harness was so tight on my sternum and was pretty painful for the whole time! I recommend taking some socks to put undereath as padding if you ever go yourself! Once we were finished we headed out for lunch planning to do a few different things in the afternoon but after feeling alot worse and similiar to the night before I headed to bed. After waking and getting progressivly worse I headed to the clinic where I had various tests, pain relief and arranged to go back in the morning before going to Liberia. After going back for an early night I woke up, feeling quite abit better but still went for more blood tests, the service was really quick and efficent and in a 2 hours I was out and had anitbiotics for a small blood infection from some various bites in the jungle! And on the plus side I got to put my limited of Spanish into use and managed to converse quite easily when needed! Feeling ok I got the shuttle to my next destination, Liberia. Here I was just staying for the night as a stop over before leaving Costa Rica and entering Nicaragua. Liberia is a big city just south of the boarder. I got a late lunch and then had a little walk around the main streets, and after been more than underwhelmed I didn't feel too guilty about heading back to my private, air conditioned room with a tv (the most luxury I'd had in weeks!) to rest and try get abit better before arriving at a notorious party destination staying in the main party hostel in the resort and facing the boarder crossing! In the morning I felt alot better, packed up my bag and headed to the public bus station, saying bye to Costa Rica! I was very excited and ready for Nicaragua and meeting Louise (one of the girls I met in Panama!). Next stop San Juan del Sur.