And so we headed to Costa Rica, North America's answer to the Costa Del Sol, expecting higher costs and heaps of package tourists.

As we crossed the border into Costa Rica we collected an oldish Japanese guy who was looking rather lost and with Carl caught a bus to Liberia. The hostel we had opted to stay in was pretty much full with the exception of one four bed room. We all settled in together, established a few ground rules and headed out for dinner and a few beers. It must have been a tough day for the Japanese guy as shortly after his food he fell asleep on the table. Finally we put him out of his misery and returned to the room. When we left him at the bus station the next morning we realised that we had spent 48 hours with him, shared a meal and room yet knew absolutely nothing about him. It was like having a little puppy that followed you around everywhere, never saying a word and taking photos of absolutely everything....we kind of missed the guy once he was gone...

Next up was Montezuma via Puntarenus. Puntarenus is just one big tourist town catering for huge cruise ships, two of which were docked when we arrived. We quickly passed through catching the ferry across to Peninsula Nicoya. Badged as a hippy hangout, Montezuma is somewhat of a tourist hotspot nowadays which really didn't appeal to us much. However after a day or so of exploring the beaches, swimming in the waterfalls, and rolling around in the Pacific surf we came to the conclusion that it was a pretty damn good town after all and well worth the visit.

With our tans topped up we headed off to Monteverde and the famous cloud forest of the same name. We were keen to tick off three of the animals Costa Rica is famous for...the resplendent Quetzal, the Sloth, and colourful Poison Arrow Frogs. Kitted up for a days trekking and confident of seeing all three of these iconic animals we paid a somewhat inflated entry fee for the reserve and begun our hunt. Four hours later we had seen a Crab, a Lizard and a Toucan. Foiled in our quest we settled for a cup of tea in the hummingbird gallery where a few hours were passed trying to get a single decent photo of these crazy little birds.

The following day we decided to search out some real thrills, signing up for the 'Extremo' ziplines. It was brilliant, although Sam really didn't agree until after it was all over. The craziest zip line was left until last where you are strapped in like Superman sent out across the forest some 500 feet up...it was awesome!

All thrilled out we headed to the capital, San Jose, and onwards to the Caribbean coast. We stopped in Puerto Viejo, once again finding some amazing deserted beaches and the occasional pocket of surfers.

Time really was against us now and so we reluctantly left Costa Rica vowing to return again with a little more money, a tent and a jeep (for those really remote beaches). Next up was our last country in Central America....Panama, famous for it's hats and a rather large canal.