So the next part of our journey was from Tortuguero to La Fortuna. The first leg was a river boat journey where we saw lots of birds, caimans, lizards etc then a 5 hour taxi ride all the way to our hostel in La Fortuna.

We managed to find a cheap room and agreed to take it, but it wasn't long before we figured out why it was so cheap! The room was full of damp and as we had already paid we decided to stay a night but demand that we be moved the following morning which we did.

La Fortuna is a bustling town due to its proximity to Volcan Arenal which is Costa Ricas most active volcano and up until 2010 was in the top ten most active volcanoes in the world! We decided to do some ziplining in the Arenal National Park at the base of the volcano.

With an early start, we were picked up by Ecoglide to be taken to their base and we got kitted up in climbing gear and had a practice run. Helen was a little scared but Nick was like a kid in a sweet shop! Before we knew it we were being escorted deep into the rainforest and standing on the first platform. The good thing is that it all happens so fast you don't have time to hesitate. It was pouring down with rain so that added to the adventure. Both of us immensely enjoyed it and would do it again!

We returned to our hostel, dried off, grabbed some lunch and wandered around aimlessly (we do a lot of that!) and we finally saw Volcan Arenal. Normally it's hiding behind clouds but at that very moment it was striking!

Both of us were dreading the following morning, a 6am wake up to catch dozens of buses to ensure that we arrived in Granada, Nicaragua by 7pm the same day! We were advised that a lot of travellers don't make it but we were determined!