Our plan was to get up very early and make the most of the morning. But we failed as it was past 9.30 by the time Caitlin's carcass arrived in the pool-side breakfast area. Our personal waiter remembered the no meat request and continued to indulge my improving attempts at Spanish. He and I talked about that famous Welshman who will become the most expensive footballer if or when he succeeds in getting a transfer to Real Madrid. A moment of personal national excitement for me was the coincidence of the Welsh language song, "Dwr Oer sy'n cysgu yn Nhryweryn" written by Meic Stevens being played on the hi-fi system. Apparently, I paused our approaching waiter's movements to us in an overly theatrical and affected manner. How did that song end up on the playlist in Nicaragua? We used the few hours before our departure from the hotel at two-ish firstly to skip down town for Caitlin to buy a bracelet, to buy another ice-cream each from the "Eskimo" ice-cream shop and to walk in the waves along the bay. Also a return to the table football game where Caitlin ended up playing a tiny young boy...and winning for once. Alyson, of course, made friends again with the parrots. We also returned, after much effort and sweat, to the hilltop pool where we reaquainted ourselves with the pool-side loungers from yesterday. Enough time for a quick, cool down swim and adios to new friends before our driver arrived to take us to the airport for the early evening flight. A journey of some two hours or so to Managua airport. Feeling generous, I unpocketed some Nicaraguan small change and passed the cordobas to our driver as he waved us goodbye. The airport is a bright, newish building with plenty of small food outlets including a Subway which Caitlin latched onto pretty swiftly. As we filled in the obligatory departure forms, I noticed two impressive murals which dominated the main hall; one of the poet, Rubens Dario and the other of the iconic revolutionary, Augusto Sandino. A short flight to San Jose, Costa Rica but enough time to reject the advances of the airhostess' unappealing meat sandwich and to get Alyson to fill in our arrival forms for Costa Rica. Another tip...a dollar...for a pseudo-official who sorted out our taxi and hauled our luggage into our getaway vehicle. Being generous today! So, to our beds in Hotel Rosa de la America for our second stay there in Alajuela, on the outskirts of San Jose. An adequate place but we have been so spoiled! After a satisfactory breakfast, we met our next driver / friend who whisked us away towards our new home at Rio Magnolia an hour up into the mountains from the small, coastal town of Dominical that attracts a swathe of wave-loving surf-boarders. A few stop offs for provisions...drinks, ice-cream, etc.... and a walk across a bridge to sweep our eyes down towards the score or so of crocodiles (or alligators?) in the river and on the banks below. Lots of opportunity too for me to practise my Spanish with our driver. And then we arrived at our new home for the next ten days or so. An amazing, amazing place. More details to come in my next blog but it's worth googling Rio Magnolia and reading the fantastic reviews of the place on tripadvisor to get a sense of how wonderful it is.