Our last day in Costa Rica and the sun is shining - muy bueno! We decide to stay in Puerto Viejo until the last bus leaves for San Jose at 4pm - to make the most of the sunshine and seaside setting. After packing our bags in the morning, we headed off to the black sand beach only 2min walk from the guesthouse. I was obsessed with building a shelter to shade me (and my sunburnt hands). This took 3 failed attempts, huge pieces of driftwood, a pair of trousers, seve...

Hallelujah, today we got some sun! Ok, so this turns out to be a blessing as well as a curse because I have somehow managed to burn both my hands quite badly in San Ramon. The sunburn is at a really weird angle and I have figured out why - it's from swinging the kids all day long at the orphanage! So, now I am happy that the sun is out but worried that it'll burn my hands even further. Thank God for factor 50 suncream. In the course of events, we find out that t...

Today was a day for wildlife spotting - both in captivity and in the wild! We hired bicycles for the day from Lisa and headed out toward the Jaguar Sanctuary - on the way to Manzanillo. The rains have finally stopped and we spotted several iridescent Morfo Butterflies (or Mariposa, as they are known in Spanish) fluttering about in the vegetation. The road south is paved and you're completely surrounded by jungle on both sides, a few small hotels and places to eat...

Rain, rain and more rain. The forest around us is completely waterlogged and looks like a swamp. The air is thick and heavy with moisture and everything inside the wooden, 2-storeyed shack feels damp and just that little bit musty. We're staying at a little place called the Hidden Jungle Beach House run by a highly-strung woman from the States. It's just Wendy and I and a young guy, called Andrew, from Texas. We decided to go out with Andrew for Sunday lunch at...

What a day! It all started out well. Said my goodbyes to my host family. Got to the bus station on time to get to San Jose. Met up with Wendy at the Caribbean bus terminal and got on the noon bus to Puerto Viejo. We had a lot of catching up to do and spoke non-stop for several hours. That is, until we hit a traffic jam and realised that the road was surrounded by muddy floodwater! I have never been in a situation like this before and it was quite scary to not be ...