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...

Beach day! This place is totally perfect, nobody wants to leave. We hardly left the beach all day, but the sun is so strong spent most of the day in the shade. They have cute wee bars on the beach, so had lunch there. Lazed about in a hammock in the shade in the afternoon. Diner, then drinks on the beach under the stars. amazing

Up early to get the mini bus to Samara. Our bus had no air con, so had to drive with the windows down and got totally covered in dust. I was sitting in the front, and managed to get one sunburned arm. Nice! The journey wasn't too bad, apart from getting stuck in a traffic jam for about an hour, roadworks. Got to Samara about lunch time. The hotel is awesome! We all have wee bungalows, and ours is right on the beach, so we can fall asleep to the sound of cra...

Another early morning.... The bus picked us up and took us to the cloud forest (not the same as a rain forest apparently...) so we could go ziplining. I wasn't scared until they showed us what we actually had to do. We were strapped into harnesses, round our waists and trough our legs, they had wee pulleys attached to them. We also had some lovely safety hats. We walked through the forest, uphill to some giant platforms, and climbed the stairs. The instru...

Up early, and into the mini bus to the lake. I was a bit scared about the boat ride, but the lake was really calm. It was an hour's ride in the covered boat across the lake. It was really misty, and cloudy, and the green hills reminded me of home. Then we had the bumpiest van ride so far for a few hours, uphill, and round tight bends. We arrived in Santa Elena, next to Monteverde. It's quite small, and a lot less touristy than La Fortuna. Every place ...