Costa Rica

Fantastic M, enjoy your last couple of days 

Thanks from me too Moulesy, it's been a good read. 

¡Pura Vida!🇨🇷

Enjoy your last few days, Moulesy.👍

Well, all good things must come to an end and we had an early start this morning back to San Jose for our flight home.

But not before one last glorious sunset and one last early morning stroll along the beach where we spotted this large group of pelicans out on the rocks.

And as a final highlight, when we stopped for a rest break on the journey, after trying for days we finally managed to get a decent photo of a toucan - definitely not tame, but obviously a regular visitor to the cafe owner's garden. 

It's been a really excellent holiday. We've worked our way across from the Caribbean coast on the east of the country to the Pacific Coast on the west and right up to the border with Nicaragua in the north. So many memorable sites, far more than we'd expected. Sadly, while up in the mountains we saw some of the havoc wreaked on the country by tropical storm Nate which hit back in November causing several landslides and flooding to a depth of 8 metres in several of the places we visited.

A couple of interesting facts about Costa Rica - it's one of the few countries in the world, possibly the only one, to have no armed forces. They were disbanded in 1948 and the country has co-existed happily with it's neighbours since then. (The downside being that they are heavily dependant on the USA for security!) Also it's one of the world's leading countries when it comes to renewable energy production - a combination of wind, solar, hydro and geothermal sources provide virtually all its needs.

We've learnt and experienced so much in our two weeks here - I can really recommend it for anyone looking for an adventurous, exotic holiday. 

Absolutely fabulous, moulesy. 'Toucan' play at this game? Hope you won't mind if I pick up on your thread and continue the posts. We arrive in a week's time. Safe journey home. 

Please do micky, it'll be good to hear how you get on, especially at Sarapiqui which wasn't on our itinerary. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time.

I've got a few better bird and wildlife pictures on my camera which, when I've downloaded them and got organised, I'll try to post on here. 

A few last pictures - these birds are a bright yellow kiskadee, a scarlet ramped tangager, a blue heron stalking in the reeds and a beautiful bare throated tiger heron ( the photo definitely doesn't do that one justice!)

And just as attractive, in their own way - a caiman,  male & female giant iguanas perched on a branch in the river and a, thankfully very sleepy, boa constrictor.

Great photos M, thanks for sharing and welcome home.