Girl Guiding NWE Costa Rica 2014: July 2014

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Mañana por la mañana

Wednesday 31st July to Monday 3rd August

Tomorrow we will move on to the Pacuare Nature Reserve in the Limon Province (www.turtleprotection.org) where we will work with the conservationists to help protect the leatherback and green turtles.

However, the reserve has limited electricity and no wifi, so we´ll be off the radar until at least Tuesday (providing our next hostel has internet access!)

Thanks for reading up to now and make sure to check in again on Tuesday.

¡Buenas noches!

Team Costa Rica xxx

30th July 2014
Day 3

Today has probably been our best day so far (despite the 7am start!).
Back into the sardine tin (Relight my fire!) we began our 2 hour journey to Poas Volcano, brimming with anticipation at the prospect of the spectacular views of the volcano crater and lagoon we would find at the top.

Alas! It was not to be. The rain didn´t disappoint (Jenni´s knickers will surely make a reapperance hanging in the window tonight) and it seems some waterproof coats are not as waterproof as we might have thought *Sophie*.

Trudging our way through the relentless rain, we were overcome by the smell of rotten eggs (no, it wasn´t just Sarah - it was sulphur from the volcano). We arrived at the viewing point to be greeted by a dramatic view of... Clouds! No crater... No lagoon. Just clouds. Having said that, Sophie can still tick ´being on a volcano´ off her bucket list!

Unlike the view, our spirits remained unclouded as we made our way to Peace Lodge La Paz Waterfall and Gardens. We were lucky enough to be allowed to hold toucans, butterflies and even a snake, as well as feed the hummingbirds. After seeing some jungle cats and visiting the frog house, we made our way through the rainforest and discovered some amazing views!

We´ve had a fab day today and have returned to our hostel with slightly sore throats from all the singing (apologies to our driver, who has probably gone home with ringing ears) and much fuller memory cards on our cameras!

¡Hasta luego!
Team Costa Rica xxxx

Tuesday 29 July 2014

The past 3 days in pictures...

Manchester to Heathrow

Team Costa Rica at Heathrow

Airport Selfies (the two Becca´s)

Rocking Miami Airport!

The Grannies!

Wing Photie

Tin Can Hairdressing Salon

One Word... Briony,

Tin Can Tings

Beci and Amy with the Local cute cubs!

Don't worry parents, we aren´t pregnant, its our money belts!
This caption relates to A LOT of our pictures!!!

Statue in the National Park

Our absolutely shocking failure of the statue

Please give some Hope to this girl!

Happy Birthday Megan... Hi Katie

Adrianna and Helen... our guiding tour

The Valleys

Sarah being Sarah

Beci, Amy, Becca and Hope

Meg, Becca and Katie getting squished

Vulture Circles

Our first sight of a monkey

But first, lemme take a selfieeeee !

Jenni, kind of Becca,Hope, Briony, Beci

Cartago Church

This Chapel is the oldest chapel in Costa Rica

Hope and Becca

Amy, Sophie, Becca, Megan, Beci and Katie

Being a true Girl Guide and sweeping up the... Zippy

Spot the difference...

Plane Selfie

Circle of friendship

Bridging the gap

Lena and Briony

Clare and Lena

Statue Copying

Megan in the Park

M and B

The Cursed Church

Megan, Sophie, Briony, Katie

Megan Sophie

Megan and Briony

Cuties

Sarah and Megan

Day 2- The day of the Sardine Tin

29th July 2014
Day 2

Once again, Costa Rican rice and beans set us up for another adventurous day.

We met Daniella and another Scout (not sure of his name so let´s call him Colin) who introduced us to the mini bus AKA the sardine tin. Unknowing and innocent of the bumpy ride ahead of us, we took our seats (although calling Beci´s and Amy´s bum resting spots ´seats´was optimistic).We held on tight.

We lived up to our Girlguiding roots and sung all the way to the valley, much to the leaders´ delight ;)

After running through some right crackers (Grease medley, Queen and early noughties pop hits), we arrived to see the valley in its entirety. It was absolutely beautiful; this time we know for definite that our pictures just can't do it justice.

We made several more stops to look at a massive dam, a suspect bridge and some gardens that, to our excitement, were rife with hummingbirds! We also stopped off to see more churches, including the oldest church still in use in Costa Rica. It was, of course, beautiful, as we are learning most things are here in Costa Rica!

Following a Costa Rican lunch (lots of rice!), we set off home to bake in our tin that we were learning to love and thinking about renaming 'the musicmobile' (those summer niiiiiiiiights!)

5:00pm was blog time as we arrived back at the hostel to the only bit of spare time to start writing we've had so far.