Ola amigos! We are staying in a town that is possibly the sleepiest boring town ever, except that it has a massive active volcano looming over it. We went up to see it last night and it was absolutely terrifying! The sides of the volcanoes are bordered off from the rest of the town with signs warning ‘high risk volcanic area, don’t touch anything’ and the area is surrounded in fog and cloud so you cant really see further than 10 meters in front of you. Especially as it was dark too, it really looked like something out of a horror film. The sides of the volcano were incredibly steep and our minivan really didn’t like it, I was sure it was gonna pack in and we’d be lost in the forest forever! Standing at the highest safest point was even more creepy, knowing that the volcano was right in front of us but not being able to see through the fog wasn’t a good feeling. We could hear the rocks crashing down the sides, which were reassuring, as they weren’t that loud, so we knew we were actually pretty far away from anything dangerous!

We couldn’t see the lava at this point so we went down to the hot springs for a bit to wait for the cloud and fog to clear a bit. Some of these were stupidly hot, one was 67·C, nobody was ever gonna get in that one! But most of them were so good. They are still eerily close to the volcano so are heated by the lava. There must have been about 20 different pools; each one getting hotter the higher you went. They were very steamy and there was forest in between them, there were also a couple of ice cold pools as the heat got a bit too much, and waterfalls and Jacuzzi bits. Soooooooo good!

We went back up the volcano as the clouds had cleared a bit. After about 10 minutes the eruption came through the clouds. It was so cool, kinda just looked like a red firework but knowing it was lava made it far more exciting. Whilst watching the impressive firework display we learnt that the lava travels at 80mph and would only take 2 minutes to reach us if the volcano exploded. Nice.

It rained so hard last night, and with the howler monkeys competing to make the most noise, I didn’t get much sleep. Still we were up early and greeted by 2 toucans in a tree outside our hut and a humming bird in a flower in the breakfast hut. On our way to our boat we passed some big ants carrying even bigger leaves, they were really cool. Our boat took us down some narrow canals through the rainforest. The water was really dark and murky, and really still. The tree trunks at the side of the river were huge, with long thick roots disappearing into the water. The big webs between the trees and the vines hanging down freaked me out a little after the spider last night. Oh yeah, after Ant assured me that the spider wasn’t a tarantula, that it just looked like one, our guide informed us that it was, and they do bite. Good. We saw 6 more caimans and 4 more crocodiles, all looking very chilled but sneaky, one was 7 meters long. Also saw some big iguanas and white faced monkeys, howler monkeys and spider monkeys, which apparently throw their poop! Saw some funny things too, one monkey missed the tree it was swinging for and fell, then a bird which swims and flies didn’t wait long enough for its wings to dry, so when he took off he also fell! Ant also saw a turtle; he looked pretty cool and relaxed. The sun managed to shine through the thick trees and reflected from the dark water speckling onto the low hanging leaves. Looked really pretty.

We took a speedboat down the wide river to a part of the rainforest that we could trek through. It was lovely and sunny, so the splashes of the water and the wind were really nice. Unfortunately all we saw in the rainforest were land crabs, snakes and more flipping spiders! We didn’t see any of the large cats. But on our way back we saw a sloth sat up high in a tree, just maxing and relaxing. He made my day! He was so strange, really long claws and a really scary face.

On our way out of the cloud forest we passed where they filmed Jurassic Park, was a bit disturbing!

We are now staying in a town called Fortuna at the bottom of an active volcano. It erupts daily and you can see the lava flowing. It’s a bit intimidating, but soooooo cool! Unfortunately because we’re up pretty high and its still rainy season there are a lot of clouds, but hopefully they’ll clear when we go up to see it.

Hope everyone’s ok; miss you all heaps! Thanks for the emails, and thanks for sorting out my Christmas mess Daddio! Love you lots xxx

Hope you’re comfy coz this is gonna be a long one...

Getting our bus at 6 was made even harder after a night of little sleep thanks to an army of cockroaches. Still, the journey was worth getting up for. It included a delicious brekkie of fresh fruits; a visit to pineapple and banana plantations (where we learnt that pinapples grow in the ground and bananas are a mix of fruits!); and a tour around a farm with loads of tropical plants that all smelt like ginger except the one that they use to make channel no 5 (that smelt of channel no 5 funnilly enough). The farm also had lots of really cute but poisonous froggies, and we were able to play with some toucans. The toucans were really funny, they can’t see past their huge beaks so tilt their heads around all the time like a confused dog. Also ate some of the white flower that grows on the cocoa tree, it was gross, very disappointing from a tree that makes chocolate. Also saw lots of Indian cows that produce sweaty milk - nice. We also went through Costa Rica’s only tunnel, which passes through an amazing cloud forest. The cloud forest is exactly as it sounds, a tropical rainforest in the clouds, but it is so cool. All the plants are massive, with leaves bigger than I am and bright flowers.

After passing though the cloud forest we arrived at a huge river where a really wide flat boat was waiting for us. The boat sped though the wide open marshy land bits, bumping on all the waves, then slowed down as we entered the rainforest. Our boat driver had the most incredible eyesight. He pointed out loads of exotic birds, caimans, monkeys and crocodiles, and a sign which said ‘watch out for manatees’. Sadly we didn’t get to see any of the manatees, they’re still very high up on my favorite animals list!

We were dropped off at the jetty of our hut, where we were amazed to find a swimming pool and a bar! We were expecting a shed! Our ‘hut’ was beautiful, just like the ones we stayed in in Thailand, but up on sticks surrounded by rainforest. Also surrounded by spiders. Waiting for us outside our front door was the biggest spider I’ve ever seen, he was so disgusting. Took me a while to settle, even after South America, I still hate spiders! After lunch we took a boat over to a tiny town behind the rainforest on a beach. Here we went to a turtle museum then on to the beach to see the nests of the giant green sea turtle. They were huge!! The sea was so warm, but is full of sharks waiting to eat the baby turtles when they hatch. The beach was really cool though; it was really bare and barren, with massive waves and bits of palm tree and vines from the rainforest scattered on the dark sand.

We sat and watched some of the locals playing football then on our way back to the dock we saw a boa constrictor eating a bird. It was hanging from one of the village houses, the bird tightly wrapped in its body with its head trying to tackle the birds head. There was saliva or blood dripping from it and I wasn’t sure if the bird was dead yet. It was pretty freaky. The town seems really nice though, there was lots of reggae music playing and the river was so big and sleepy, we sat and watched the sunset whilst we waited for a boat.

Back at our hut it was time for a shower, I soon ran out screaming having found an even bigger spider, the size of my hand with really thick hairy legs watching from the ceiling. My skin crawls just writing about it! My screams must have scared it, it scurried across to the other side of the room so fast. I cowered under our mosquito net until dinner was ready, then dragged our guide back to our hut. She was an absolute legend! She was obviously terrified of it too, but picked it up with a magazine and shook it off the raised walk way into the rainforest.

Got covered up like I was ready to rob a bank, partly because of the mozzies, but also because white clothing scares the turtles, then climbed aboard another boat to take us back to the beach. The boat ride was amazing, the moon was huge and the massive trees looked really cool under its light, and the water was so still. The beach looked beautiful too, still rough and raw but peaceful under the moon and stars. We walked so fast that we were half running as we were only allowed on the beach at night for 2 hours and we really wanted to see a turtle. After 20 minutes we found some massive tracks going from the sea up to the rainforest. It looked like a quad bike had come out of the ocean! We quietly crawled up behind her and lay on the sand so that we didn’t stir her from her trance then waited as the eggs fell to nest she’d spent 30 minutes digging. It sounds a bit gross and rude to watch the process, but it was one of the most magical things I’ve ever seen. After 30 minutes of laying her eggs (she lays 110 at a time!), she started the slow process of covering them up. This can take 2 to 3 hours so we left her to it and started heading back. On our way we nearly trod on some babies! I thought they were crabs, they move so fast and are so small, especially compared to their mum! They were so cute and really funny to watch them waddle at such speed then get swept away on the first wave. And they all run down in one massive group, it was such an amazing experience.

We also went to the mercado central (central market, I know, my Spanish is amazing) which was really busy and exciting, full of new, delicious smells which were normally coming from a scary looking plate or pan and so many intricately carved wooden things with absolutely no use.

We’ve had our first Costa Rican beers and tucked straight back into the familiar taste of empanadas from Bolivia last year, sooooooo good!

It’s really strange how all the young people are absolutely stunning, but anyone over 30 is built like a truck and has squeezed into the tightest white trousers you’ve ever seen! I’ve got myself ready for two months of feeling hideous!

But all in all, really happy here, just loving the excitement of being somewhere new again. Off to track some giant turtles and drift down a river through the rainforest tomorrow so up ridiculously early!

Hope everyone back home is fine and dandy, will write again soon, t’internet at our hostel is free - superb!

Heaps of love, lani ant ants xxx