24th arrived in San Jose….where else to visit but the national theatre, beautiful ❤️

And then xmas day, chillin and getting excited about where we are going in the next month 🥳

Walked over 5k through Forrest and a coffee plantation, with some scenic views along the mantra trail

Got to practice some yoga

Spent some time working out how to use the tripod to be a ‘I’ together

Learnt that I have a super hero power runner for a boyfriend, dedicated to running back and forth….the above pic was try number 5 \240:)

Had the most amazing view in a hand crafted out of bamboo…managed this one first time 💥

Followed by a coffee tour, seeing how people lived and how it is still made here

Thanks to Rich being a Japanese tourist we are gonna have some wicked photos from this adventure :) ❤️

First internal flight experience in a plane that held 12 YEP 12 people. No hidden cockpit. Won’t lie my jaw was locked for about 20mins 🤣

Only 5 more of these air taxis to go!! 😬

Got to playa del coco and WAKE it’s party time. Very vibrant high street, full of music and life. Seems new years is gonna be a good one here.

Hotel room small and defo not like the pictures, but the back garden is the sea. Arrived in the dark so looking forward to knowing where we are tomorrow.

Breakfast then a walk of the whole cove, started reaching 33 degrees quickly!!

Then beach tanning time….would seem we are way past short shorts!! We are at tanning pants 🤣

Happy new year and good night 😍

Rich decided it was his boat…..dreaming!

2nd Jan

Another morning walk, we are getting quicker, some tanning and then we found a lovely hidden hotel and bar on the beach….awful place to spend an afternoon!!!

3rd Jan

Yep another walk and first sighting

Some shopping and chilling today, leaving here tomorrow for our next adventure to La Fortuna inland towards the volcanoes.

Next week is defo adventure central

and we arrived at a totally different type of place, right next to a volcano.

The hotel is stunning, instead of the no glassed windows and very small, \240basically might as well have been a sleep over with everyone there 😁…..we are now in our very own jungle bungalow!!!

Our garden 🪴

Our own beds 🤣

We walked into town today, got some supplies and have a chill day tomorrow before white water rafting 😬😁

In those clouds is a giant volcanoe, honest :)

Overcast today, but still 30 degrees. So much wildlife, it’s nice to sit still and just watch it all. Rich is determined to get a picture of a humming bird!

Jesus lizard 🦎

Yep the poison dart frog 🐸

Then just are the tour was nearly over, this amazing moment happened. Sloaths only come down to the ground to pee and poop once a week for 5 mins…💥 we were there for this VERY rare moment 😁

After this I encountered the next mammal in its natural habitat!

Tottenham game (which we won’t talk about as yep they lost) I had the best cocktail though 😁

Then a walk back to our bungalow, little sit outside, the volcanoe showed itself and nature surrounded us 😍

And ready……….

He only went and got it!!

Officially my new fav thing!!!

My not so fav part was cannonball jumping into a pool, vid is proof.

But did enjoy the tsunami massage

Mission one completed ✅ next the boat.

Said bye to those instructors and met a new lot. The lead guy should be a jockey he was so small, for a couple of seconds I did think….how’s he gonna keep us alive. Very quickly realised how experienced he was from his great into, defo a top class instructor. Again a new set of safety rules, but the don’t do this or you’ll die list was twice as long.

Got taught a list of commands….that I instantly forgot, thank god we practiced physically in the boat too!

This was a category 3-5 rapid, not idea what that meant and American couple said should be a bit rough. The actually said after…”well this made the one we did look like a mill pond” 🤣

Happy to say, no one fell out and we ABSOLUTELY LOVED it. Can’t upload the vids but there are a few.

I know…nuts right!

Next two are to prove our wonderful team work…go us

This next one is mind blowing….whilst we’re there paddling for our lives our instructor is nailing a wicked shot!!!

We had a really great day and lovely evening when we went out for dinner and drinks with a couple we met on the trip too.

There is a hilarious video of us walking trying to look normal with that we will entertain you with.

This is the second most venomous snake in the country eyelash pit viper (don’t worry mum I stayed well back 🤣)

Watched this little dude for a bit too. Spider monkey

Volcano hike next….please note that by now the two mosquitoe bites in my left ankle that are positioned in exactly the same place as the top of the boot, are having a the best time being rubbed with every step 🤦‍♀️

Boot pic for info :)

Walked through a horror movie level of high bamboo

This flow only blooms one for a day then dies :(

We made it!!

In this picture I am genuinely happy as we get to stop walking for a bit and the bites that are now blisters can stop growing 🤣

Walk back across volcanic lava was fun. This volcano is still classed as active, last eruption was 2010. When is first irupted it took out a whole village and people came to see and hear about it…..which started Costa Rica’s tourist industry. \240tourism over here has only really became a thing here around 50 years ago.

NEXT the waterfall!!

500 steps down to this 60 odd ft (Rich’s guess, in my words….big and powerful)

Don’t ask us how we got this smiley shot as it was absolutely freeeeeezzzing 🥶 but refreshing

I tried the herbal essence advert shot…didn’t quite get it 😁

Prior to this I also slipped down three giant rocks straight into the water like a slide, hilariously taking rich out on the way too 👏👏👏

All was ok this lovely moment followed

Then I slipped again a tried to drown him 🤣

On the other side was a much calmer spot

That was defo our busiest day yet. Sunrise and sunset are always at 6 o’clock here, so we were defo out by 7pm that night.

9th Jan

Pamper day next a some natural hot springs spa. Got a deal for the top class one in town and spent the whole day laying around in these eating and drinking on day beds.

Rare life action shots next…’come ere’

‘You got something stuck in your head’

There were a lot of pouting selfies and sexy photo shoots going on everywhere….so asked rich if he fancied giving it a go

So I found a new function in my phone and had a grand time 😂

He wanted to join in eventually 😄

We stayed into the evening and Rich got to test his night camera function. These were all taken in pretty much darkness

And nope don’t worry I didn’t strip off in public for this one, my Bikini is still on 😁

10th Jan

Day chillin in our fav place so far watching the wildlife from our portch before we leave for drakes bay.

11th Jan

We had a 2.5 hr drive to the airport with a lovely local guy, who stopped t show the biggest tree we have ever seen!! Not May things here make rich look small.

Those side we were holding f were like giant walls and the roots like other full grown trees.

Airport stop ok, no delays this time.

Just a reminder of the mini planes we get on. This time it was more choppy 😬 soooo looking forward to the next 3 trips!

We arrive to a hut, nothing around AT all. Some local says something about ride, I show the hotel name no more words and 1 min later we are sat in his truck no idea where we are going 😂

We went through rivers and along crazy tracks then arrived as drakes bay. Basically consists of three shops, 5 resultants and the beach. The airport is pretty new, usually people arrive here by boat and dropped off in the beach (which was have now watched arrive many times)

Walked up many step to our sea view place….to be given a back end room with no sea view, so small and covered in ants. Rich and I looked at each other and instantly agreed…nope not staying for a week i here!!

So same day got ourselves a new place….voila

12th jan

Day wondering this awful place

That night the lodge owner took us on a night walk trip…Well readers cliff hanger time, will post more tomorrow :)

We also saw massive bull frogs, cool baby green ones that you had to try not to step on.

Rich was too busy trying to stay alive to get pics of the two most deadly snakes we saw all over the place 🙏👍

After three hours of walking my the tour finished and we were shattered, having spent that whole time in high alert.

13th Jan

The mangroves trip - turns out very rare to get and was the best 200 dollars we have \240spent here.

The guy at the accommodation arranged for us to go with a family friend to his family home and go through the mangroves in a kayak. 😬😬😬

Events were…..

Picked up at the beach by a dude who spoke little English in a very small kind of speed boat

Spent an hour happily travelling in the sunshine

The sea turned into a lake, turned into rivers with mangroves high either side, turned into the jetty of his home!

Where we meet his whole family and a very chirpy 9 year old Joseph, who doesn’t stop talking (in Spanish) rich had good chat with him, so after that we were buddies :)

This place is hard to describe, but the family of 5 live on a patch of land hidden away. No other families around really and offer an eco lodge for people stay in.

We meet another couple staying there and who came kayaking with us. After the initial fear of crocodiles was ruled out it was an amazing experience, that pictures will never do any justice.

We got stuck within the mangroves as the tide was so low and had to team work out way out pulling ourselves along by the roots….all normal apparently

I had a guest in my top

We paddled around the trees, it was silent and beautiful then we came out onto the lake (massive huge wide) and we were the only people on it

After over three hours on the water and another relationship test passed with no arguments over paddling tactics. We return back to an amazing fish lunch made by his wife and daughter. Hung out with the family for a bit and then headed back….James bond style back on the little speed boat crashing over crazy waves on the way back.

14th Jan

Snorkelling

Wasn’t the best weather but we did see turtles and a reef shark

15th Jan chill day. We have taken to walking the beaches every morning which is a great way to wake up

16th Jan whale and dolphin watching (the whole reason we came to this area)

All on videos, but saw both. Got to see my dream of loads of dolphins in the wild up close swimming around the boat, jumping and then we had the very rare opportunity to hang out with a humpback whale and it’s week old baby. Who stayed in the surface for a very long time, good hour. Just letting us be there. Which wee were told was such an honour. We managed to get nearly 2 meters from them both. Will never get that close again!!

The beach is less than 20 steps away 😁🙏

And what an awful beach it is!! (And these pics are not the best parts..those pics are to come!)

This week is all about chilling out before heading home. So no trips, just sun, sea, food and drink.

We walk the a 4 miles run of the beach every morning, which is something we will defo miss, as we have been doing this in each place.

Even though we had not trips booked, the adventures didn’t stop.

First two evenings there were storms, but we made the most of that. Rich played in the towering waves gor over an hour one afternoon.

I gave it a bash once but was dragged under, hit in the head by the next wave and lost my bikini top. So that was me out 🤣

I have since found my own wave fun, but they are now smaller 🥳

We were sat in the lounge and heard an almighty crash. Rushed outside and a tree had fallen from next door. Just, very just missed the outhouse and water pump for the whole place.

It did destroy a tap so we had water going everywhere, which I had fun trying to put back on/stop

(A bit less water after I had found a handle that did something 😄)

Whilst faffing and updating the owner a guy emerged through the trees, dug into the ground and found the full stop cock 👍

Then capped the pipe. Not one word of English spoken, but we both got what needed to happen and helped each other.

With the storm coming the electric was also trippping so for a bit the looming evening of no water, no power was a reality.

Rich was on it though, as his main concern was “what we going to watch tonight!! We need to download something quick”…..whilst I stood wet from tap fixing efforts at the front door 🤣

We were a great team, I dealt with the drama and he made sure I was fed, by staying in making cheese on toast and a coffee and cleaning 🤣🥳👍 giving us lots of laughs since. ‘Team work makes the dream work babe’

Day later a huge bang and the electrics went down the road, transform blown. \240So off to the beach we went, with less technology worries! Rare occurance apparently 🤣

This is a brand new blender I had to buy as whist realising there was one here and testing if it worked so we could make cocktails….I dropped it!!!! 🤦‍♀️💥

None of this has dampened our spirits though and more relationship tests passed, as not one argument had. So looks like I can cancel that separate flight home I had on back up 😉

I have had three work chats this week and have defo forgotten how to chat in work mode and full non broken English/Spanish 🤩

So all that’s left is, more time chilling and tanning before we leave for a two day stop in the capital before heading home.

Loved touring around in Fabian’s tuk tuk. Great local young lad who you text and he turn up to take you where ever you want to go 😄

Continued to walk the 4 miles daily, missing that already!

The was time to leave our hideaway, back to the airport for our final internal flight…

So Marlon the taxi man was 35 mins late. Flight leaving at 1pm….Google tells me we won’t get there until 12.50😬

“No worries” says the chilled carribean driver!

Boom 12.50…..arrive, quick strut into the small airport to be greeted by a miserable looking person, even with a mask on.

“You know you are late”

NO SHIT SHERLOCK…..!!! I definitely did not just spend a whole 50 minutes working out plan b - z of our options if we missed it, with closed eyes as our driver carried out some impressive overtaking manoeuvres.

But thanks for telling me in a tone like I have been escorted to the head teachers office 🤣

“I’m going to let you off as the plane is not here yet”

Yep you already knew you were going to do that!! Which lead into a whole thought around attitude…..in future if someone is late to something I do I’m gonna get party poppers out and say whoooopp you made it well done 👍 no one aims to be late 🤣

Right rant over

We arrive here, nice little hotel by the airport, nice pool and good breakfast

However didn’t expect to be here 3 nights!! \240🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Rich did however eat his body weight over and over in burgers and pancakes at his fav place Denny’s (a place he used to go to with his grandad)

3 days in a row was impressive! 👏👏

Last night and we have a little photo shoot ago, as realised we had been totally rubbish with this. Highly entertaining and took way to long and neither of us are good at selfies!

Next one was the blue steal ‘moody’ movie look (if you know you know)

I put this one up as said to rich whilst walking to Denny’s for the last time. Quick the sun and light is great. He wasn’t so ready 🤣 but I \240look wonderful 😜

After catching the last bit of sun, some food and quick cheers at the airport we are on our way home

So that’s it this adventure comes to an end.

We took a chance and booked a trip after 2 months of knowing each other. We arrived as kind of strangers and we return with more adventures planned and as a wicked \240team.

Goodbye Costa Rica, thank you for all the adventures and beauty…… Pura Vida (live free) x