. . . . Ricks Extra Long hair . . . .: Flying gyros, swinging and a car crash....

Sporcion. Yep, you heard that right Sporcion. What it is, is a new type of animal. Like a scorpion, but instead of the usual pincers that Scorpions possess, This one has hands like sporks (Spoons mixed with forks), you will have seen one somewhere. Now this Scorpion is not only scary as it can mess you up with its tail, but it's got really useful sporc hands - you could use one to eat your dinner when you go camping and forget your utensils. I can't believe no one has thought of it before. God is not very clever is he/she/it?

Enough nonsense I hear no one say. Tell us what you have been doing, also not heard anywhere near this blog. Well as I have said all along, this blog is for me not you, so I will continue unabandoned, spelling mistakes and all, knowing full well that only me and the crazy people will ever read this...

Arenal, the place with the volcano and sign that people get their photo taken nearby and when they get home they realise they couldn't fit the A in the pic and they are stood next to a sign that reads RENAL. Better than anal I suppose. But this is a great place to visit. The volcano is the main draw and it is everywhere you go - literally wherever you sit you can see some of it if it isn't covered in clouds. It's huge and spectacular and beautiful. We have a lovely place where you can see it from the bed and the Jacuzzi and the patio where I sit typing this. It's been worth the visit just to see it in all its glory, but we have done a lot more too including a weird weird day….

First here are a few versions of the view from our hovel..

So, we are in Costa Rica and on the way to Arenal we passed a hotel that looked like the buildings you would see in an Austrian or Swiss mountain village. We took a look online and realised that this place ‘Los Heroes’, was in fact meant to look exactly like a Swiss village (it is also near a German Bakery) and Los Heroes has a revolving restaurant on top of a nearby hill, 3 kilometres from the hotel. That sounded cool, so we decided to go there for lunch and travel by the only transport that could possibly get us there – The small mini train that winds itself up the hill on a tiny track and driven by a crazy looking man with a dirty old Swiss train drivers cap on.
Amazing – Taking a miniature train up a Swiss alp in Costa Rica to have lunch in a revolving restaurant with a view over a volcano.

The train and track are obviously someone’s life’s work – the train had two beautifully crafted little wooded carriages attached to a mini diesel engine and the points on the track that were simply moved by hand as and when needed by the driver. The track was a little rough in places, especially around the corners that were made with straight rails, so there was big clunk noise as the train moved from rail to rail and the jolting of the carriage moving sideways was a little alarming at first. We passed many parts of the track that were fringed buy burnt grass and trees where the hot diesel engines exhaust had obviously started fires sometime recently. There was even a rounded viaduct that took up around in s circle and back over the track 30 feet above where we had previously chugged. The 3km journey took 30 minutes and was well worth the trip once we saw the views and had lunch at the top. The revolving restaurant had seen better days and was a bit scraggy around the edges but the goulash and the schnitzel we enjoyed were both pretty good.

Then the death defying return journey back down the hill, clattering around corners and finishing back where started at the bottom of the Costa Rican Swiss Alps.

We split ourselves up the next day and both took a turn looking after Hannah, whilst the other adult went zip wiring. I went at 10 am and was part of a big group of 50 people riding the zip wires from halfway up the side of the Volcano right down to the valley below –around 20 zip wires with a Tarzan swing thrown in for good luck halfway down. I met some really nice people including an ex British Naval Officer who spent ages chatting with me as we waited for our turn. Because of the amount of people it took an hour longer then expected and so I had to get back, pick up Buffy and drive back with her and Hannah for Buffy’s zip wire later in the day. She enjoyed the same experience as me – albeit taking about half as long to complete the journey as there were only 14 people in her group.

Nights in Arenal have been spent vegging out around the little house we call home, making full use of the hot tub and siting outside in the warm evening. But one night we did something different. There are a lot of hot springs and resorts that cost a lot of money to go and visit and the traffic on the road to La Fortuna can be crazy as people make their way there and then back home later in the day. But halfway there, running under the road, is a river that has not yet been tapped for the hot water that is produced by it and the volcano. The water is hot like a bath and to get to it, you park on the side of the road and clamber down a muddy slope, through a hole in a fence and then join the many locals and cheapskate tourists that have found this little piece of free heaven. We found a spot that was safe for a crazy baby and spent a good while, all 3 of us soaking up the lovely free warm water, whilst the posh people were a few hundred feet away in some spa, resort or hot spring, paying through the nose for a diluted and toxic free soak, with half as much fun as ours. Free is good, but this was great!!

The water fun wasn’t over there though as the next day we took another drive to La Fortuna and past the town to what we thought would be a quaint little waterfall. It turned out to be one of the biggest tourist draws In the area and a stunning place to be.

Even though there was lots of people there it seemed really quite intimate of a location – a 200foot waterfall cascading into a deep pool surrounded on 3 sides by steep cliffs covered in greenery. Slippy rocks prevented a few people getting close to the water, but guided by Hannah, we made our way down the 500 steps and to the waters edge where we took turns to swim out into the lagoon and as close to the waterfall as we could get. The current and wind from the rushing water was pretty strong, but well worth the trip into the hidden valley.

After all the adventures around Arenal, we planned a few days down time in Tamarindo. This is one of the biggest resort areas in Costa Rica and is a medium sized town on the Pacific coast, with bars restaurants and a nice beach within 5 minutes stroll of our little hotel room. It was an interesting drive there though, as on one corner we had a car slide off the road right as we passed. It was going pretty fast and ended up in the concrete drainage ditch. I pulled over and ran back up the road to help, but luckily was greeted by an unhurt driver and his girlfriend in the passenger seat laughing at hi. As he tried to clamber out of the car. No one was hurt and a 2nd guy stopped to help out, so we continued on our way.

We both enjoyed our 3 day stay here and Hannah loved playing in the little e pool and visiting the beach as well as charming the locals as usual.

I had also arranged Buffy a treat here. She does spend a lot of time looking after little H, so I arranged a Gyrocopter flight for her while I took Hannah for an hour. It turned out to be great as she flew over the mountains ocean and the town whilst I played with H.