Travels with Hayley

Up and out early today for kayaking! Another thing I’ve not really done before but when in Rome and all your Roman friends are doing it…

We got picked up by a long haired hippie called William who was lovely and talked very passionately about conservation the whole way. It was great to see someone with so much enthusiasm but if I’m honest I could have managed without the pre 8am pop quiz about Costa Rica’s eco credentials 😂

We arrived at his house where he runs the business out of and met his wife and grown up son. 3 of the group went off to do a motor boat tour along with a group of Americans (it’s genuinely noticeable when you have a group of Americans and a group of non Americans how much louder the Americans are! It’s like their volume is turned up to max!) and then 5 of us went down to the river to get into the kayaks and go down into the mangrove forest. Mangroves are characterised by vegetation that grows in salt and brackish waters (brackish being part salt water/part fresh water). It was absolutley beautiful, silent because obviously no motors on the boats, shady and and so peaceful.

We saw the 4 types of mangrove tree – black, white, red and pineapple, some iguanas and a heron with such a big egg inside that her tummy was all distended, plus lots more.

I say we saw these things – anyone here remember when I used to drive and I would try and park and I literally had no idea when turning the wheel what way the car would go? Like it was a totally 50/50 chance of going the right way? Welcome to kayaking 😂

I vaguely got the hang of it by the end but stopping was a real issue so every time everyone else pulled up to see some natural wonder I’d be crashing into a bush, or careering off down the river and then having to do an 11 point turn as trying to reverse mainly just took me smashing into the other bank! By the time I’d got back, sweating, to where the others were, the lecture was finished and we were off again. At one point I gave up and declared ‘I’ve seen 100 bloody iguanas, it’s not worth it’ 😂

I loved being out there in the peace and I’m really glad I did it but I have to admit, being in charge of steering and navigation did add an extra and unnecessary level of stress I felt! Next time I’ll go in a double and just let someone else steer!

We got back to the house and were served a fish casardo for lunch, the best one we’ve had so far, it was amazing. The beans were the most delicious I’ve ever tasted, incredible. He had told us his wife was an amazing cook and he wasn’t wrong (this by the way is in stark contrast to Marvin, who told us his girlfriend was a rubbish cook and his mum was much better – he’d thought it was an excellent idea to tell his girlfriend this too. He couldn’t really understand why she had got mad but he says her soup tastes a lot better now – I’d hate to imagine what she’s putting in it to change the taste, if he dies in suspicious circumstances I wouldn’t be surprised – or judgmental frankly!)

There were 2 labradors and another dog at lunch, one of the labs kept coming up and laying his head on my knee and just staring up at me. William was really laughing and saying he loves blonde women, he does that to all of them that come here! This is a brilliant country, even the dogs are nicer to me here 😂😂😂

We got back to the hotel and got all the way to the roof pool before I realised my bikini was in my case in reception. I just could not be bothered to go and get it, it was just way too hot so I got in the pool in my bra and knickers (clean, thank you Kenny) and my white shirt. Well, turns out whatever chemicals the laundry had used on my shirt reacted with the chlorine in the pool and turns it luminous yellow! It looked insane! That went straight in the bin on the way out. So far that’s the only casualty plus I’ve lost one earring (which might turn up lodged in something I suspect) and a scrunchie along the way – I don’t think that’s bad going bearing in mind how many times we’ve moved!

We left at 2 to go to the bus station, the plan was Marvin was renting a taxi/open back truck for the luggage and we were were walking to the bus station 10 minutes away. The 3 of us were the last to put the luggage in so he told us to hop in, save the walk. Which seemed great until we got to the other end and realised he’d duped us into then unloading the truck! Displaying an impressive command of English idioms he told us ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’ as we lugged 17 people’s worldly belongings into the pavement! One of the guys is a wood turner and had been buying chunks of wood to take home with him on the way round – his case was a joy 😳

We waited at the sweltering public bus station and ate ice pops which turned out to actually be frozen jelly – very odd, I couldn’t decide if I really liked it or not but it was cold and that was the main thing. Much celebration when the bus arrived and we found out it was the modern air conditioned version – this had been far from a given so was a source of much excitement in the 38 degree heat!

I had my first bus nap since I’ve been here – the scenery has been too exciting so far but we were on the motorway this time and I was super tired so I didn’t feel bad about it! We got into San Jose about 6.30 where the temperature had dropped 20 degrees from where we came from and with a stiff breeze, it actually felt very chilly.

Bypassed the group of taxi drivers who we thought were celebrating a birthday or something given the raucous noise and party atmosphere but apparently that’s just what they are like, to make it to our minibus and back to our original hotel. 15 minutes to shower and change and we headed out to a quite fancy Peruvian restaurant for dinner.

I had a traditional Peruvian soft drink which turned up in a glass the size of my head and tasted like Vimto, it’s a bit of a shame there was quite so much of it as I don’t like vimto 😂

Katie, Kristy and I shared 3 meals to celebrate our food sharing adventures – we had a risotto with slices of beef, a fish fillet with tomatoes and onions and fettuccine with a steak on top. The portions were enormous, we couldn’t finish anywhere near it all but it was delicious, especially the steak. We gave the last bit to David who was sitting opposite and who I’d noticed had been eying it up – his eyes rolled back in his head when he tasted it 😂

Back to the hotel and said goodbye to a few people that were leaving early in the morning. Homa had a good cry and there were lots of hugs, promises to stay in touch and invites to come and stay – I might take the Australians up on theirs at some point and Kirsty, Kristy and I are already organising a UK reunion.

Marvin leaves tonight so we’re on our own tomorrow until the taxi comes at 3pm – how will we cope making our own decisions?!!

Lots of love xx