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Well I have given you a little more variety in pictures this week, not only beaches and sunset but rainforest, waterfalls and animals -but there are a lot of them!
It has been a fantastic weekend. But this week has also been really interesting as we had a day at the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights where we spent the day listening to the court in session. It was a really interesting day and things got a little exciting a couple of times when the exchanges between the various lawyers got heated which made it more interesting for the spectators! I am getting pretty sick of rice so it was a great chance to be in San Jose and we found a pizzeria for lunch which was so brilliant!
On Friday I went and saw the Mommy (or La Momia in Spanish) which was advertised as being in English, which it was, mostly. However because it is set in CHina a lot of the characters speak Chinese at various points and the subtitles were only in Spanish not English so I may have missed massive parts of the plots, but it was a fun movie.
On Saturday we had a really early start, leaving our hotel at 5am! But it was definitely worth it. We were taken by bus to a restaurant outside San Jose where we had a fantastic breakfast and then we got to play with the toucan and explore the gardens and the wonderful gift shop. It was then back on the bus to Puntarenas, a port on the Guanacaste coast where we met our Catamaran for the day. It was about 9.30 by this stage and the sun was breaking through the clouds which we thought were going to mean rain for our day. We saw Pelicans in the port which was pretty cool. So we got going out into the Pacific and the crew proceeded to spoil us rotten with fruit and drinks and DeAnna and I started our morning with a few Pina Coladas.
Our journey was about 90 minutes through various Islands out to our destination Tortuga Island. It was a beautiful Island, which was mostly private except for this one beach where we were. It was picture perfect with white sand and blue clear water. I went out snorkelling while DeAnna lay on the beach and I was literally swimming with the fishes and we were surrounded by shoals of beautifully colored fishes who were not at all surprised or scared to see us there. I saw another octopus and some star fish as well as an eel.
By the time I got back it was lunchtime and our bit of the beach had been transformed into a beautiful dining experience. The food was great and then it was back to the beach to soak in the sunshine, play in the waves and climb some bendy palm trees!! We left the Island a few hours later as the storm clouds started to roll in. We were so lucky that we had the beautiful weather we did while we were on the Island. We took a much longer way back and saw a lot more beautiful islands that are inhabited by very few people and are pretty much paradise.
It was then back to the bus and back to San Jose where we were dropped and we stopped and had our American fix of Denny's breakfast for dinner at 9pm - pancakes, bacon, eggs and biscuits, yum!!
Sunday was not quite so early a start as I met my bus group at 8am in the morning. We got started climbing into the hills around Heredia where we got some beautiful views down into the Central Valley which incorporates San Jose, Heredia and Alajeula. We wound our way up the mountains past coffee and flower plantations to Poas Volcano. It is one of the 65 volcanoes in Costa Rica and it is still active with a strong sulphur smell, smoke plumes coming off it and occasional geyser spouts erupting. It was so beautiful and the weather was phenomenal, as often in the rainy season the crater is covered by the clouds. However the crater was clear and it looked very strange surrounded by the clouds. We then walked about 800m uphill to Botos Lake which is the old Poas crater that is no longer active, it is now a regular lake which is surrounded by beautiful rain forest.
After the volcano we were taken to La Paz waterfall gardens which were just beautiful. We began by walking through the aviary where there were lots of toucans, parrots and other brightly colored birds as well as a few monkeys all over the place. Next was the butterfly house which was beautiful if a little disconcerting when these massive butterflies were landing all over us. Third we went through the hummingbird house which was insane because the little birds move so fast it is incredibly hard to take pictures, and their wings vibrate so fast you can barely see them but you can definitely hear their humming. Finally we went into the snake house which was pretty scary as the snakes were mostly venomous and all found in Costa Rica!
After lunch we started the best bit of the tour, the 700 steps to the waterfalls. The strenuous walk was so worth it to see the 5 beautiful waterfalls. I took so many pictures but they just cannot compare to the amazing beauty of these waterfalls, surrounded by forest, pounding so hard we were getting soaked just standing near them. There was one called white magic where if you focus on the waterfall for 20 seconds and then look at the rocks the rocks appear to move! It was very disconcerting! THis was a fantastic experience, so beautiful, and I had a great guide and the people I was with were so friendly, and there were 3 other single women there so we were able to stay together and take pictures for each other.
This week will be a lot quieter as I have 2 exam papers due on Friday which is the last day of my course. The last 3 weeks have just flown in, I can't believe it is all nearly over and I am joining my tour on Saturday. This time in 21 days I will be in Fort Lauderdale on my way home! That is so scary!
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