Firstly, I apologise to everybody who has been reading my blog for such a long break since my last post! I have spent the last two weeks in the Galapagos islands, where internet is either very slow or non existent so regular updates were not possible although I hope to write a proper update from then soon. In the meantime let me give you all an update from Costa Rica!

SUNDAY

After a crazy last night in Quito involving absolutely no sleep I arrived in San Jose airport pretty spaced. M suprised me by suggesting we take the cheap locals' bus to get to the hotel instead of a taxi - it was great! only cost about 30p for the wholething trundling along with the most advanced air conditioning; open windows and doors for hopping on and off! In the afternoon it rained, which was great but not really a surpirse since it{s the rainy season now. We went for wander around the city centre, seeing some lovely colonial buildings especially the Mexican embassy and the national theatre and the metropolitan cathedral. There are a few nice green parks and buildings mixed up with all the concrete, and we wandered into the end of a weekend market selling touristy things like jewellry, pareos and for some strange reason rain sticks! More amusingly, dotted around the area is an exhibition by local Costa Rican artists of cow statues, eahc painted in a different way. Memorable ones included a chocolate brown one perched ontop of a stick like an ice cream, a clown, a farmer (?!) and the pole dancing lady cow outside our hotel, complete with fish net tights and lip stick! We are actually staying in a really nice area, buthe cow reflects a bit ofthe sex trade around San Jose - which I realised when I saw the prostitute outside at night. Quite disappointed really though - she didn't look anything like as glamorous as Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman!"

MONDAY

We hired a Jimmy compact 4x4 today and made our way up to the town of La Fortuna near the Arenal Volcano which suddenly erupted after years of dormancy about 40 years ago and has been spewing out lava and boulders ever since, most recently erupting in about 2003. The road was quite pretty, with views of rolling hills and quaint villages (impressed since all the Costa Ricans generally seem to live in nice little concrete houses) interspersed with the odd fruit stall selling fresh papaya or 'queso palmito', which I have not been tempted to try- yet! Saw the coolest lizard - its called a basilisk lizard, bright green and resemblling a dinosaur!

La Fortuna is ok, but basicakllly full of toursit shops and hotels. We decided to stay out at teh Arenal VOlcano Lodge in a bungalow with...guess waht- views of the volcano! We headed out to Sky Trek - a canopy tour and series of zip lines that whisks you through the trees with views (if you can look away) to the volcano and lake arenal. Quite an adrenalin rush with nothing beneath you apart from greenery! Mummy was quite apprehensive at first, thinking this might actually turn out to be a very silly idea (of hers!), but it was actually great fun nd after the first one she enjoyed it all the way down. I loved it! Whizzing through the rainforest hanging on to the metal pulley glacing around definitely gave you the most exciting views. The guides were really enthusiastic too, taking videos for us, imitating the howler monkeys and pointing out a poisonous brown snake on the way down.

After the zip lines we headed back out past the volcano - this track was the first instnace when I was really gald we had a 4x4 - it's basically a dirt track covered in rocks and pot holes which you trundle along and hoepto god it doesnt start raining because it would turn into a river ride instead! At dusk the view ofthe Arenal olcano were absolutely fantastic - we could see it spewing out more smoke and frequently red hot boulders that crashed down the side ofthe slope realy noisily leaving trails of ash and red sparks in its wake.

Because of all the volcanic activity there are also quite a few hot springs in the area. We stopped off at the Tabacon hot springs on the way back. Managed to find our own personal pool with a mini waterfall and music drifting froma nearby bar. It was just like getting into a really big bath! they're really hot - atleast 40 degrees and very romantic! Dotted around the place are loads of waterfalls ranging in size from stream size to coursing cascades - Daddy and Kitty it was like another'journey of the 7 pools!'

To finish off we headed into La Fortuna to go to the Lava lounge for dinner - a cool place with good atmosphere, although there are quite a few americans here. very good gooey brownies! Sadly the costa ricans are a bunch that like to go to bed early- which meant getting on the internet after dinner was pretty entertaining in the dark as the frogs chirruped outside!