Travels with Hayley

So today has been such an adventure! Out of the hotel by 7.45 (post cake and fruit, breakfast of kings…). Homa was up at 6 because ‘breakfast is at 6.30’ I did try explaining it just opened at 6.30, that didn’t mean she had to be there for then but if fell on deaf ears so I left her to it 😂

We got a private mini bus across town to the local bus station, grabbed some snacks and got on a public bus for a 3 hour journey. I chatted to Kristie for most of the way who is very interesting as she has many, many hobbies including netball and an allotment so tbh it’s a bit like holidaying with mum 😜 She’s also going through the adoption process as a single adopter so that was very interesting to hear about, in a kind of ‘thank god that’s not me but jolly good for you love’ kind of a way…

The scenery was lovely out of the window, so green and lush. Lots of hills and valleys and then lots of tiny, very brightly coloured 1 storey houses which feel they have just been dropped in the middle of nowhere sometimes. Most have bars on the window though which is a slight worry!

At the first bus stop, food sellers got on selling crisps, drinks etc. they also had something in brown paper we couldn’t see what it was so obviously I had to have that! It turned out to be something called pati – a thin corn dough with a filing of very finely chopped meat and coconut, served hot. I only know that’s what it is as the guide told me afterwards, i had no clue at all! Was delicious. I was trying to ask the locals on the bus who told me the name of it but that’s as far as the language barrier could get us (people speak very little English on the whole here except in tourism) – it did however culminate in my sharing the pati with a load of people on the bus, both locals and random tourists and being given half a coconut and caramel traditional biscuit to try by a Costa Rican guy who could see how enthused I was by the new food trying! I also bought plantain crisps with cheese (a bit like wotsits, flavour wise!) and some sour mango with salt. All delicious and I shared them round the bus too – I’m now known as ‘the feeder’ 😂

We then transferred to an even tattier bus for another journey on a road the map insisted didn’t exist and arrived to the river to get on our boat transfer. Quick wee and water stop – you have to pay to use the public toilets here and they rip you off something terrible, I’ve spent about £3 on peeing today 😂

The boat ride was incredible, we saw loads of iguanas, geckos, herons and a turtle. The vegetation was amazing, the pictures can’t do it justice. One slightly hairy moment where the boat got grounded but the second mate jumped out and pushed it off again – bearing in mind 2 minutes before we’d seen a baby crocodile I think he earned his wages today!

After about an hour and a half boat ride and a quick CR history lesson as we went, we got to the village we are staying at which is only accessible by boat or small plane. It’s basically built for tourists, there’s only 1500 locals that love there and they are all involved in tourism. It’s very sweet for that though, it’s not tacky in an English breakfast kind of way at all but it’s almost cartoony in its brightness and built for the tourists way. Very chilled though, the kitchens stop serving about 8.30 on the whole, it’s not a party town.

Our guide Marvin took us for a quick walk through town to point out the major points – you can walk end to end in 5 mins and side to side in about 3 – the river is on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other! All the others went off to lunch but I wasn’t hungry so I had a meander through town then went back to the hotel and hit the pool. 2 local kids were in there, the hotel owners niece and nephew and we ended up having a massive splash fight for ages! Then their mum came along and I got talking to her, she was lovely and spoke perfect English and told me all about living there and I quizzed her on local foods etc. I then decided I fancied an ice cream so asked her where to go which was a couple of minutes away. I asked if she and the kids wanted ice cream and she did. The little girl, Bastion (about 6) couldn’t decide on a flavour though so decided to come with me to choose which mum didn’t bat an eyelid about 😂 She chatted in Spanish the entire way to which I occasionally interjected an enthusiastic ‘Si!’ which seemed to keep her happy! Less happy was the ice cream seller, who realising this child and I had no common language was concerned I had kidnapped her 😂 The kid explained she was just in it for the ice cream (I think, I’m going by body language here tbh!) so I avoided arrest and we dashed back to the hotel (I don’t know how to say ‘hurry up, your mum’s chocolate ice cream is melting and dripping down my arm’ in Spanish so I went with ‘Vamoos!’ and whooshing motions and she got the picture!

Finished the ice cream and chat and the kids finished off the plantain chips I found in my handbag – mum then split open a coconut and we all ate the flesh out of it too – I’m loving the reciprocal snacks so far! Said goodbye and I then had a quick change into long trousers and closed shoes as we were doing a night nature walk 6-8pm. It was so good! We went really deep into the forest, off the beaten track would be quite the understatement! We saw so much – tree snakes, frogs, geckos, porcupines, clicking beetles with bright eyes like green torches, an armadillo and a mother and baby sloth! They were high up in a tree but I still saw them! The photos are blurry because it was dark and the light from the torches distorts them a bit but they are enough as a memory jogger for everything I saw so I won’t ever forget it.

The other thing we saw were hundreds of massive spiders. I don’t mind spiders but one of the girls almost had a full on panic attack – I had to hold her hand and give her a cuddle at a couple of points – I was also quietly removing moths and bugs from her clothes and hair before she noticed them and freaked out 😂

Back to the village and had some dinner with the others – fried fish in a spicy sauce which was delicious along with plantain fritters which were pretty dry and solid but it was all good still.

Back to the hotel, I’ve managed to smash the toothbrush glass over the tiled bathroom floor (who puts glass in a bathroom for goodness sake…) so I’ve cleaned that up and laying in bed writing this now. Marvin the guide is in the rooms next door and his snores and rumbling through the walls 😂 Off out at 8am tomorrow for a 4 hour canoe trip (I will not be rowing, it comes with a little man for that!) and I’m sure I’ll squeeze in some fruit and cake first because – tradition is very important you know…

Random pictures attached including the greatest toilet lock I’ve ever seen – tiki style! I at least felt I got my monies worth out of that wee!

Hope you’re all well, lots of love xxx