On Monday morning we headed off to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve. This is another part of the National Park here in the Monteverde region. We walked the trails through the cloud forest at the end of which was a small waterfall. We didn't see much wildlife, but we did chat to some interesting humans.

On Saturday we went to Selvatura Park in the Reserva Santa Elena. This is a walk through the cloud forest some of which was on suspension bridges through the canopy. It was lovely to be back in a cloud forest, even though it was a bit cold and wet (we are tropical people now don't you know). 

We also went and visited the choloepus (two toed) sloths in their sanctuary. There are 18 female sloths there all of which have been injured to the point where they cannot be re-released into the wild.

We decided that the only way we were going to see the National Park was to pay for a guide to take us into the forest. We entered at the nearest entrance to us at Rio Tigre.

Our guide Jose was excellent and, as expected, very knowledgeable about the forest and it's inhabitants. He grew up on a farm, which is now in the National Park.

On the way out of his village we found a little baby lagoon turtle, which Isabella then released into one of the lagoons. We also saw a green snake, which was just finishing it's frog snack.

We ventured into the forest and had to cross Rio Tigre a number of times. We saw lots of lizards and Jose told us about various insects, plants and trees that we saw along the way.

We then reached our goal, a nice cool pool in the river where we stripped off and went for a refreshing dip before Jose showed us how to prepare a coconut without using a machete.

We then reversed course and headed back to James (the car) for our journey home. It was an amazing experience and both of the girls were brilliant at trekking through the forest.

On Saturday we left Bejuca and headed down the coast to the Osa Peninsula. This area is home to the Corcavado National Park which boasts to have 5% of the world's biodiversity. 

It is very hot and humid here and we are glad that the house comes with a massive paddling pool. It is a shame we can't sleep in it as it sticky at night here.

On Sunday we cooked ourselves a roast chicken and decided to eat with James the car. We cooked the chicken in the oven, but served it in a frying pan due to the lack of serving plates, needs must.

Wednesday we bid a fond farewell to Nana and Grandad/ Mum and Dad as they had to fly back home so that Nana/ Mum can get her arm sorted.

We zipped over to the pacific coast town of Bejuco. The environment and climate is very different to either San Jose or the Caribbean coast: it is warmer, sunnier, more humid and dryer than either of the other places we have been to. 

We explored our surroundings on Thursday morning. Firstly, heading to the beach for a bit and then we went to cool off in the pools of the residential estate we are staying in. 

In the evening we headed to Parrita to buy food from the Maxipali there. We got caught in some traffic on the way there due to road works, so decided to come back via a most adventurous route that took in pot-holed roads, gravel roads, rain and darkness, which we then discovered was completely pointless as all the traffic had evaporated into thin air! We did get to see Costa Rica off the beaten track though.

On Friday we went to Chuita National Park. It was a 2.5 KM walk from where we parked the car to the beach, along a boardwalk through the rainforest. We saw lots of trees and some wildlife.   

Over this pasted week we have been working in the Posada Finca Mendoza in Talamanca. I have been doing a variety of work, while Charlotte has been looking after the girls and trying to keep the place clean. The group of volunteers that we have been working with are nice bunch and a good laugh. They are from variety of countries (Chile, Spain, Norway and even a couple of Brits), which is enlightening as I like to hear about peoples' views and experiences of their own countries and their travels.

Raffa (pictured opposite) or El Jefe runs the show and has built the place from the ground up for the past 5 years. He has an impressive skill base.

I did a lot of sanding down of the decks and painted various parts of the finca including, with Felipe, the room pictured. 

On Sunday, which happened to be our day off, we visited the Sloth Sanctuary, which luckily for us is located about 4 miles away from where we are volunteering. 

The sanctuary is run by a family and helps rehabilitate injured sloths and, when possible, release them back into the wild. 

We had a guided tour from Ursula, the founders' daughter, which was very informative. The photos are of sloths whose injuries were so severe that they couldn't be re-released into the wild.

After fifteen years we finally made it back to Costa Rica!

We arrived in San Jose and went and picked up our hire car. We decided that hiring a car would be the easiest and most convenient way to get around the country for the next month and a bit. The car is going to put a huge dent in our budget, but having looked at the alternatives it seemed the most sensible thing for us to do.

We then headed to Talamanca on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica where we are volunteering in Posada Finca Mendoza for a couple of weeks to reduce some of our costs. Jan, whose place it is, is trying to get it back up and running after his business was devastated by the pandemic. 

There are a few other volunteers here and the kids are enjoying getting to know everyone and the dogs.