Monteverde, Costa Rica

Crossed the border into Costa Rica and then spent 2 days going over hot and then very rough roads to get to the mountainous rainforests of Monteverde. Not surprisingly therefore it is seriously raining here for the first time on our trip.
The attractions here though are the beautiful cloud forest where on a tour today we saw the elusive and gorgeous quetzal as well as many hummingbirds, howler monkeys and a multitude of other birds and bugs. The local Pecary had also learnt that people equal free food.


While the rainforest was lovely the kids enjoyed even more getting up close and personal with insects at a local insectarium which also had tarantulas, enjoyed by Ciaran and a Hercules beetle with Romany. As well as the Hercules beetle, Ciaran is wearing what must be everyones favourite, the giant Costa Rican cockroach. There were also giant Preying Mantis',scorpions and various other giant bugs. Insect heaven!

Ometepe, Nicaragua

Travelled from Granada south to the Lago de Nicaragua and out to the twin volcanic (inactive) island of Ometepe.
Lovely island but a bit less developed than elsewhere in Nicaragua with the roads and buses being particularly rough (25 minutes to go the 4km to our hotel on this road)
The island is full of bird life (wild life photography by Ciaran)
And it is reached on the floating death tub Santa Martha notable for a complete failure to keep water out of its hold as it crosses the lake - water sloshing around ones ankles does keep you cool.
The principle activity is usually climbing the volcanoes but we thought 10 hours was beyond us. Instead we took the lovely route through the banana plantations to a locally owned crystal clear set of pools set in the jungle. Lovely and cool on a hot day and much more our pace