Travels with Hayley

Up and out by 6.30 for an explore around the town. It’s the second biggest town in the country but really feels very set up for tourists, all the menus has English translation and there’s loads of souvenir shops. It’s not particularly charming but it has a laundry which makes up for everything – who thought clean, dry socks and knickers would feel like such a treat!

Found a bakery open and bought something I’ve seen around a few places and wanted to try – it’s called ‘oreja’ which translates to ear, weirdly?! It’s a thin piece of crispy pasty, round and as big as a dinner plate if not bigger. It has sugar on the top and what I think is some kind of golden syrup stuck to the bottom. Utterly delicious but I had to stop at half before I slipped into a diabetic coma! I hung the rest in it’s bag on Katie and Kristie’s door handle for a snack when they woke up!

Went to the hanging bridges at 8am which is a walk through the rainforest with a guide and across half a dozen suspension bridges across the ravines. They are super wobbly and very high. It was lovely, you felt really inside the forest and so nice to see it from a different vantage point. I was worried I’d be afraid of the heights but I wasn’t at all which was pretty lucky. I also loved the wobble on the bridges! Overpriced a little I thought but it’s once in a lifetime isn’t it so you have to do it!

We also saw some interesting flora and fauna including leaf cutter ants who were using a vine that stretched across a road as a bridge. Video attached, it was so clever. They’re just so industrious. The leaves are taken into the ant hill where they are fed to a fungi which when it grows bigger the ants then eat the fungi. So clever.

We also saw a lizard, a crab, and a very pretty bird called a mot mot (mot as in knot, not MOT like the car!) some monkeys that were quite far away in a tree and some tiny honey bees that look almost like mosquitos – it takes a colony an entire year to make 1 kilo of honey! We also saw poor coati with a sore foot hopping around – nothing you can do but it was a bit sad.

We also saw an ant eater tree (so called because of the shape of the bottom, picture attached) and a penis palm – picture attached – really no need for explanation 😂

There was a very weird group of caterpillars on the ground too, a whole bunch of them but they were moving all as one unit, it was very bizarre. Like a bunch of Japanese tourists at a photo spot 😂

There were signs all along warning you to watch out for venomous snakes – our guide told us only a hospital can administer the antidote – the nearest hospital is 2.5 hours away – the bite will kill you in 1.5 hours. This is not a great system is it…?!

I had a few hours to spare when I got back so I went off the main drag which is a bit too touristy and found a local soda kto have a fish taco and a tamarillo drink. So delicious. I sat at the bar and wrote yesterday’s epic diary and enjoyed a lot of people watching! 

Katie came back from canyonering at that point so we met in town as she needed some ‘brave clothes’ (ie wrist to ankle coverage!) for the next night walk. Stuff is pretty expensive here, not much difference to home at all but I’d found a charity shop on my wandering! So we spent a fun half an hour finding a suitable brave outfit for £4.50! It will not win any fashion awards but should keep away the feel of tiny spider feet crawling up her shins…😂

Then we went off to one of the commercial hot springs I mentioned before. For me this was a bit of a flop. It was very fake looking, very big and chock full of loud Americans! It was about 20+ small pools of water of various temperatures and you just – sat in them. It was a bit boring to be honest – I seem to have lost the ability to sit still a bit on this holiday 😂. I only have one photo and you will see by our expressions how impressed we were 😂

We stayed for a few hours but I was glad when half of the others decided to leave and we went straight into town, wet hair and all, and had nice meal – Katie and I shared (of course, am loving all the food sharing!) ceviche (this is everywhere, cheap and so delicious and refreshing) chicken and rice, plus plantains and avocado on the side. So good! Judy had a blue lagoon cocktail – mum, I’ve shared a picture for you as I remember how much you loved them back in the day!

Collapsed into bed, early morning again, of course!!!

Having THE BEST time here 😍

Love you all loads xxx