Improving my Spanish

The Enchanted Forest
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Just before I left La Fortuna I managed to catch the first half of the England match at 7am, complete with beer thanks to the very helpful and possibly law-breaking waiter.  The chief commentator was hilarious.  He was trying really hard to not roll his r´s but it was excellent when he got excited - Paul Rrrrrrrrrobinson and Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrio Ferdinand.  He couldn´t get the hang of Frank Lamparrrrrrrr at all though.

Then I spent most of the rest of the day on various busses and at various bus stations, normally catching busses by the skin of my teeth as for the bus to actually advertise its correct destination is very rare.  Cue lots of to-ing and fro-ing in what I imagine is a most stupid-English-traveller kind of way.  I arrived in Costa Rica´s second city of Liberia and overnighted there, where there didn´t seem to be a huge amount to do although there was a much better vibe than in San Jose.

The highlight was two tucans making lots of noise

Hot springs!
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The next morning I was picked up by a man from the lodge.  There was a lady in the back who proceeded to quiz me in Spanish about what I think of the British monarchy.  It was like GCSE oral time - scary, not equipped with the necessary vocab and trying desperately to form a non-offensive opinion!  When I arrived there I was somewhat disconcerted to discover that none of the staff at all spoke any English, even the guides.  This was strange because their website is in perfect English, so I wasn´t very prepared!  Also the package that I thought I had booked on didn´t seem to exist, so I didn´t end up doing all the things I wanted to.  I did still have a lovely time however.

Toucan!
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I spent most of that day chilling out due to the horribly heavy rain, but was treated to some excellent food.  Met a really nice Dutch couple in the evening too.  The next morning it was the customary early start for a 6-hour horse ride through the forest, stopping off at various bubbling water pots, hot springs and waterfalls.  It was a really nice ride, although my limited Spanish meant that my guide and I ran out of conversation pretty early on!  He was very impressed with the whole police thing though.  Another great meal in the evening followed by an early night as I was the only guest that day.  This was a bit weird but it meant that one of the lodge dogs kept guard outside my room all night!

View from the lodge
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The next morning my guide took me on a bird-spotting walk which was quite tiring but good.  The highlight was seeing two tucans making lots of noise!  They were close enough for a good photo too (to follow, internet connection here is rubbish).  Then it was back to Liberia to embark on another bus mission to the Pacific coast which was much easier than it looked.  Slightly strange were the random people getting off, singing, playing harmonicas and maracas and even trying to sell super glue.  Why on earth would you buy superglue on a bus?!

I arrived yesterday afternoon in Samara which is beautiful and there will be tales from here soon.