I've spent the past few days relaxing at Henry and Martha's house. It's so nice to have nothing to do, and not need to get up early in the morning!! Highlights included a trip to Andrea's sister Maria's boyfriend's house up in the hills overlooking San Jose. Possibly the biggest house I have ever been in, it wouldn't look out of place in Beverly Hills. Amazing! Catching the bus into San Jose with Sharon and Steve (Canadians also staying with Henry and Mart...

Really nice long lie! Shared with Kerry cos Freda and Melanie were both leaving at 5 in the morning. Went for lunch in the park, did some last minute shopping in the market, and came back to the hotel and waited for Kerry, Ruth and Jon's taxi to come for them. Andrea's friend Wendy picked me up from the hotel, and took me to her house. It was beautiful, really unusual compared to the other houses in San Jose. She took me to a special church in Cartago, where...

Up early again. Met everyone at 7.30 to walk to the bus station. It was a 6 hour bus journey from hell! We only had 1 toilet stop, so couldn't drink enough water, and felt horrible. Almost fell asleep and then a crazy guy got on and started shouting right in my ear about how he was trying to raise money for children with drug problems. He went on a rant for a good 10 minutes. Later on, there was another guy ranting on. Our patience was wearing thin. Arri...

Lay by the pool all day, cos the beach is apparently a bit rubbish, and we'd all had enough of being covered in sand by this point! We all managed to get sunburn, the sun is so strong here, esp first thing in the morning, which is quite weird. It was so nice to do nothing, after the long travel day the day before, and the big one looming ahead. I'm not too impressed with this place, it seems quite seedy and I don't feel safe walking on my own. Highlight of th...

Nobody wanted to leave Samara. Got up early to maximise beach time. It was too hot to lie in the sun, even at 830 in the morning! lay under a tree for a while, then had a shower and got packed. Left the hotel at 11.30 and walked to the bus stop. Arrived in Nicoya about 1, and walked to the other bus station to try to catch the 1.30 bus to Liberia, but they said we had too many bags to get on the bus and had to get the next one. Caught the 2 o clock bus, an...