The hot springs actually turned out better than expected but we had a good dinner and a relatively early night. Today we drove to Monteverde a very touristy but beautiful area of cloud forest. We actually saw the Arenal volcano from the Arenal lake which we crossed by boat. We then went for a two hour horseback riding trek up hill and down dale through coffee plantations and muddy, rutted paths. I felt sorry for the horses but they behaved very well and got us back safely.
We had an early breakfast and were taking part in a nature walk by 8.30am. Unfortunately the weather was rainy and very cloudy so we didn’t see much but our new ponchos were very useful! The St Helena reserve cloud forest is very dense and has a huge variety of trees and plants. We didn’t see the quetzel bird but we did see an orange breasted tanager and some hummingbirds and flycatchers.
After a short drive to another location we booked in for the canopy tour which involved 15 zip lines of varying lengths and speeds. It was quite scary but great fun – especially the longest one. On one zip line we travelled through complete cloud which was very strange; but the platform loomed out of the mist and we all landed safely! Iain also had a go on the Tarzan swing which looked alarmingly high but Ann respected her aging joints and her fear and took pictures! The swing involved jumping off a high platform (attached to the rope with the zip line harness) and swinging back and forth over cleared jungle until the guides unceremoniously grabbed you by the legs and caught you behind a buffer made of tyres. This all took a couple of hours plus so we then had a well earned lunch and went for a walk on the aerial walkways which gave us great views of the cloud forest but suffered, as the morning walk had done, from the weather and lack of wildlife.
We drove to Quepos today through some more spectacular countryside, especially for the first half of the journey. This was on dirt roads winding through the hills until we reached a rest stop where we saw a load of crocodiles in the river. (Fed by the nearby restaurant we guessed). Having arrived very hot and sticky (in contrast to the last few days when we have been using our fleeces!) we plunged into the pool and then had lunch. I then chilled by the pool and read a book whilst Iain went with some of the others to the beach to swim and surf! We're off to dinner now so I'll close and Iain can edit later! Love to all Ann and Iain