Day 9, Saturday 12th Today was one of those early starts for a jam packed and fantastic day...the start was a little inauspicious as we got up early expecting Debbie and Steve's guide, Giovanni, to arrive with us at 5.30. closer to 6 debbie arrived to tell us he'd meet us in La Fortuna, which was a bit of a bind. So we got in the car and scurried away, anxious to get an early start to see the best of the animals. We packed some kind of inadequate breakfast down...

Day 8 Friday 11th Start of the day was hummingbird spotting from our balcony - after the first 20 or so we got a bit blasé, and we still couldn't see the volcano, so we trogged down to breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon, toast, juice, coffee...! today was visit the local Tico farm day, so we weren't too sure what to expect -especially when steve told us Erik the farmer didn't speak much English, and his wife, who usually does all the catering, was away looking ...

With a more sociable 8.00am start Finn, Derry and I (Suzanne) set of for a day of horse riding. All these tours start early - and the initial assumption is that you see more wildlife that way, or get out early while the weather is good because it will rain later - but after a tour of pickups from other hotels, then a stop at 'the office' to pay for the tour, then a wait for the bigger minibus to arrive from ferrying tourists to another tour, a 20 minute journey...

The first full day at costa verde - a hotel complex with sea views and 3 restaurants including one - el avion - with an ex-US airplane as the main bar - wings and all! We didn't do much today, but we took a wander down the hill - a kilometre or so - to the beach to join all the other gringos! Normal beach behaviour for us - I sat down and didn't move for 2 hours in case I got sand anywhere. Suzanne read a book, Finn and Derry swam, body surfed, Siena sat and obse...

Ouch. 6.40 flight means a 3.30 wake up call. Double ouch. Luckily it all went well - the airport at Santiago is a modern clean one, so apart from a minor hitch (Siena leaving her bag in the restaurant) and us failing to get to the gate within half an hour of flight departure (well, we were waiting for a call, doesn't that usually happen?!) we were up in the air before 7 ready for a confusion of meals during the day. Two 3½ hour flights later, and a wa...