• mg.bigadventure
Sep 2016 – May 2017

mg.bigadventure

A 255-day adventure by mg.bigadventure Read more
  • Trip start
    September 7, 2016

    mojacar

    September 7, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
  • Solana's birthday celebrations

    December 13, 2016 in England ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    We celebrated Solana's 4th birthday at the weekend. She knows that we are going on our "Big Adventure" when she is 4, so not long now - we fly out 5 weeks today!

  • Stockton-on-Tees

    December 31, 2016 in England ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    She weighs 13.5kg - how much luggage do you think she can carry?!!! Getting a bit worried about how little stuff we're actually going to be able to carry....
    Happy New Year to you all.

  • No work for 4 months!

    January 13, 2017 in England ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    We enjoyed the cold crisp Winter weather today, before our imminent journey to the Tropics. Me and Solana went for a walk in the park, where we enjoyed making snow angels and breaking ice with sticks.
    We've all now finished work/nursery for 4 months - having a bottle of Champagne to celebrate tonight!
    Read more

  • Let the adventure begin....

    January 16, 2017 in England ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    We left home today, setting off on our Big Adventure. We have 31kg of luggage in our main bags (less than we thought) and 14.5kg in our day bags (more than we thought!). Solana has carried her 1.6kg reliably all day - we might need to up her load! Currently at Manchester airport, staying in a hotel before we fly to Costa Rica tomorrow. Let the adventure begin....Read more

  • Safe arrival in Costa Rica

    January 19, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We arrived safely in Playa Hermosa on the Pacific shore of Costa Rica the night before last, after a long (21 hour) but smooth journey. Staying in a little villa with great swimming pool (which Solana doesn't want to get out of!), just a few minutes walk from the beach. We've seen many colourful birds, that we're all enjoying trying to identify. We've also seen some large iguanas, butterflies, a stripy squirrel and some monkeys - great to have so much wildlife on our doorstep. Solana also loved the millipede we found in our villa when we returned from (a delicious seafood) dinner last night - until one of us accidentally stepped on it and she was heartbroken... All in all (millipede aside!), a lovely place to recover from our jet lag and start our adventure.Read more

  • Playa Hermosa, Pacific coast

    January 20, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We enjoyed our couple of days in Playa Hermosa, supposedly recovering from our jet lag. We're all still waking pretty early but that is actually turning out to be an advantage, as early morning is a nice time to go out wandering/wildlife spotting before it gets too hot. Temperatures here have been in the early 30s. Solana made a little friend who was in the villa next door to us, a 4-year-old Costa Rican girl called Fatima - they could only understand a bit of what each other was saying but still managed to forge a little friendship. It also made me realise that, although I speak some Spanish, it is not even at the level of a 4-year-old!Read more

  • Monteverde cloud forest

    January 21, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We're now in the Monteverde area for a few days. Spent the day today in the Monteverde Cloud Forest reserve, walking the trails, enjoying the views and spotting wildlife (which is actually more difficult than you might expect in the thick forest!). We saw coatis (a bit like racoons), a pygmy squirrel (very cute but too quick for a photo), some giant millipedes, butterflies and lots of birds. We particularly enjoyed the hummingbirds - could have happily watched them all day. The highlight of the day was seeing the most famous (but often elusive) bird of the area, the resplendent quetzal (the green/blue & red bird in the photo) - it made our day.Read more

  • Curi-Cancha cloud forest reserve

    January 22, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ -7 °C

    We spent today exploring the trails of Curi-Cancha cloud forest reserve. It was fantastic - at least as good as the main Monteverde reserve, if not better. It is at a slightly lower elevation, so was a bit warmer and had some different birds/animals and more open spaces for wildlife spotting. We saw agouti - funny little animals, like big guinea pigs (see picture). We also saw many different birds, including a toucan, motmot (see photo - a really beautiful bird), and more hummingbirds. We found one spot along a trail with lots of birds and we were happily stood watching them, until Solana piped up "Look at all the ants" and when we looked down, our shoes and lower legs were covered in ants! Needless to say, much running and foot-stamping followed.... Solana walked well but needed a rest in the sling this afternoon, where she enjoyed a cosy nap! We're off out for dinner shortly, which will no doubt involve rice, beans, plantain (like fried banana) and some kind of meat or fish - simple but tasty and filling after all the walking.Read more

  • Moving on in Monteverde

    January 23, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Last night we ate again in one of the cheapest and best restaurants in town - this time I had rice without the beans, for a change! This morning we said goodbye to our hotel with coatis on the balcony. We’re still in the Monteverde area but today we moved accommodation to a place that has it’s own little reserve with nature trails – a place called Valle Escondido (hidden valley). On the way, we visited a ranarium (frog centre) in Santa Elena town, where we saw various Costa Rican amphibians with an informative guide. This afternoon, Solana made a new little friend, Lila, who turned out to be the daughter of the owner of the hotel & reserve. Solana is taking everything in and asking some good, and also some amusing, questions along the way. The other day, on our way to Monteverde, we passed some mountains and we were talking about volcanoes – she then asked “Are we on Venus now?”! We have just been on a night walk along the trails with a guide – we didn’t see as much as we’d hoped but we did see more coati, agouti, leaf-cutter ants and a stick insect. Hoping for better wildlife spotting tomorrow....Read more

  • Last day in Monteverde

    January 24, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    We had a relaxed day, wandering the trails of our lodge in Valle Escondido, today. One of our favourite places along the trails was the "hammock garden" - a lovely place to relax, until a 4-year-old comes along and almost tips you out of the hammock! Gran Anne also produced a kite that she'd brought along - Solana loved it but unfortunately there wasn't enough wind to fly it properly - maybe tomorrow... Wildlife spotting today included a green & black lizard well camouflaged in a tree, quite a few vultures and hawks circling on the thermals in the valley below, dragonflies, more leaf-cutter ants, oriole birds and a little snake (the latter found by the lodge gardener). We also saw a big blue morpho butterfly - very eye-catching, although it would not sit still long enough for a decent photo. In the evening we also saw and heard a very noisy toad, which we think was a cane toad (although we refrained from licking it to test for hallucinogens!). It is also nice to fall asleep to the noise of the forest - mostly noisy crickets, but relaxing nonetheless. So far, we have seen and identified 5 species of mammals, 4 species of reptile/amphibians and more than 30 species of birds (31 that we have managed to identify and even more that we haven't), plus countless insects (some impressive, some biting and some downright ugly!).Read more

  • Uvita, Pacific coast

    January 26, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Yesterday we moved on from Monteverde to Uvita, on the Southern, Pacific, coast of Costa Rica. The journey took about 5 hours but we saw plenty along the way, including vultures and other birds of prey, palm plantations and some massive crocodiles - lots of them! Our accommodation here is nice enough - large room, outside cooking facilities and a small pool - but it is more isolated than we'd expected and quite difficult to get anywhere without a car. Our main reason for coming to this area was to go whale watching but we were informed when we arrived that there are actually no whales here at the moment, so we're a bit gutted about that.... We have ended up hiring a car for a few days, to at least enable us to see some of the surrounding area whilst we're here. Laura is driving and it's an "interesting" driving experience, with only the main roads being made up and most of the minor roads being more like bumpy dirt tracks - plus the idea of road signs does not seem to have caught on here very much at all! This afternoon we went to Cascadas Verde - some waterfalls with pools where you could swim - it was a bit of a treacherous walk down with Solana and she was reluctant to go - but once we got there she loved swimming in the river and didn't want to get out! Afterwards we went for a walk along the beach, which looked and felt very tropical. The temperature here is much higher than in Monteverde - temps in early 30s C.Read more

  • Last day on the Pacific coast

    January 27, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After a shaky start in Uvita and a lack of whales, we had a great day today and have decided that we do like the place after all! This morning we went to Playa Ventanas. We had to drive through a river to get there (luckily the car we've hired has 4WD!) but it's a lovely beach, with caves that you can walk into at low tide. We managed to time our visit right and could walk into the gloomy caves, see the waves coming in, tiny crabs and crustaceans like giant woodlice climbing the walls - very spectacular. There was also a river flowing into the sea, which was lovely to swim in after a dip in the Pacific, cool and got rid the sand in places you don't want sand! This afternoon, when the weather was a bit cooler, we went to the beach at National Park Marino Ballena, which has a sand spit in the shape of a whale's tail at low tide. We didn't time our visit here quite as well but did enjoy a long walk along the beach fringed with palm trees and dotted with plenty of tiny hermit crabs. This time, we had to walk through a river (happily only knee height) to get to the whale's tail bit! This evening we ate out at a local restaurant - more rice & beans, this time with fish. Costa Rica is more expensive than we were expecting - we are going over budget most days, so we've been staying in some places with cooking facilities and making our own food. Pasta & tuna is wearing a bit thin now though, so even the rice and beans was a welcome "change"! Here the currency is called Colones and the current exchange rate is about 680 to the GBP, so we're having to get better at large numbers in Spanish quickly.... Tomorrow we head North towards the capital city, San Jose - the road signs here are terrible, so I hope we know the way (cue the song!). We have nowhere sorted to stay for tomorrow night yet, so wish us luck....Read more

  • Finding the way to San Jose

    January 28, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Today started well but turned out not to be the finest of our trip... We went for an early morning walk and saw lots of birds, including at least 9 new species, bringing our bird species total so far to 48. The highlights included toucans, red-lored parrots (a very busy pair - look closely at the photo!), a hawk and, amazingly, a scarlet macaw - very impressive and all worth getting up early for. We then drove to Alajuela, Costa Rica's 2nd city, right next to San Jose airport. I went to at least 6 hotels looking for rooms but found that they were all either full or only had rooms that I wouldn't want my daughter and mother-in-law to have to sleep in (even though they would have been significantly under-budget)! Consequently, we drove back towards the airport for a more reliable source of accommodation. Attracted by the name, we managed to get a room in Hotel Mango, with all 4 of us sleeping in one room. It was already starting to get dark by the time we checked-in but, as the hotel unexpectedly had an outdoor pool, we jumped straight in - it was bloody freezing! On the plus side, the hotel has the added bonus of regular flight departures immediately overhead, to add to the tranquillity... To top the day off, the only places to eat nearby were a fast food chicken joint or an American diner; with reluctance we ventured into the latter and ate an overpriced, too large and unnecessarily sweet meal. Bring back the rice and beans!!! Ah well, the hotel WiFi is free and fast, so at least I can share the experience with you all. Hasta manyana (if we have WiFi at the next lodge).Read more

  • Poas volcano

    January 30, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We left Hotel Mango and drove North through the mountains (on quite a hairy road that Laura, who is doing the driving, took surprisingly calmly!) to Volcan Poas National Park. Undeterred by the signs alerting us to possible danger around the volcano, and "keeping calm" as instructed by the same signs, we took a walk along the trail to see the Poas volcano crater. It was pretty impressive - a large crater with a milky coloured lake and we were also able to see a fumarole spewing out smoke at the edge of the volcano. Solana was a bit worried that it was going to "derupt" and didn't want to look at it much - I think maybe we went a bit overboard with the info about what volcanoes are/do! After steering Solana away from the overpriced products in the gift shop, we got back on the road. We saw an impressive waterfall and some great views of the countryside and hills along the way, then we stopped at a tiny roadside restaurant for lunch. It was basically a dining room with 3 tables outside someone’s house and, finally, provided us with a cheap meal. We drove on to the Sarapiqui rainforest area, where we are now staying for a few days at Chilamate Rainforest Ecolodge. I had chosen this place to stay whilst we were still at home, so the pressure was on me – but happily it lives up to expectations and is a lovely place to stay. We have 2 neighbouring rooms, with a massive outside area with seating & hammocks. There is a river running nearby that lulls you to sleep at night and brings more bird life. We went for a walk by the river once we’d got settled and we saw more birds, including a large flock of egrets, and a couple of baby caiman (like crocodiles). Back at the lodge we relaxed with a beer and mani picante (delicious spicy peanuts), watching and listening to the jungle as darkness fell. Happily, we had a gecko on our ceiling to help eat the less welcome mosquitos...Read more

  • Sarapiqui rainforest

    January 30, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    We had a couple of days (3 nights) staying at Chilamate Rainforest Ecolodge in the Sarapiqui rainforest. The lodge has its own trails, so it was easy to explore the forest on foot. Solana quite enjoyed being our "guide", with her binoculars and wildlife spotting card - so funny hearing her talking like the actual guides we've had! We saw lots of frogs, including green and black poison arrow frogs, howler monkeys (they're VERY loud!) and more birds, including toucans trying to steal bananas from the trees. To get to the lodge, we had to park the car and walk across a rickety-looking bridge (which the occasional car did go over but not sure I'd be brave enough), whilst our bags were transported across on a golf cart! Whilst here, the rainforest lived up to its name and we saw our first rain since arriving in Costa Rica. Some of the "showers" were quite spectacular but the additional mosquitoes it brought out after were somewhat less spectacular. They have been biting through clothes at times; bring on the permanent aroma of eau de DEET insect repellent for the remainder of the trip...Read more

  • Spiders, sloths and sickness

    January 31, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    A bit of a shaky start to the day as Laura was ill in the night with D+V. The first illness of our trip, although I'm sure it won't be our last.... We went on a guided walk and saw green and brown basilisk lizards (very beautiful, especially the green one), monkeys, some large spiders (including the "golden orb", with one of the strongest webs of any spider - see photo) and more lizards. We also saw a 3-toed sloth - she was high up in the tree canopy and difficult to see/photograph (hence the not so great picture!) but worth seeing, after 2 weeks of waiting to see a sloth. Oh, and plenty of ants - many different types and sizes, including the "bullet ant", around an inch long and apparently very painful when it bites. Some of the ants (luckily not bullet ants) decided to explore my trouser leg and they bit me several times, to the point that I had to remove and shake my trousers before replacing them! It brought a whole new meaning to the phrase "ants in your pants"... In the afternoon we explored the forest more, found a cocoa tree and also had a paddle in the Sarapiqui river. We enjoyed the buffet dinners in the lodge - a bit more variety made a welcome change to the ubiquitous beans & rice. In the evening we enjoyed a beer in the hammock again, watching the fireflies come out for the night.Read more

  • Tortuguero

    February 2, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We arrived in Tortuguero on Wednesday. Tortuguero is an isolated place, that can only be reached by boat or air - we opted for the former. This area is the wettest part of Costa Rica - very hot and humid. It is a rainforest area and there are a series of "canals" - lagoons and rivers with manmade joins to make them navigable. The river we are staying by runs parallel to the Caribbean Sea. It is a great place for wildlife spotting, which is what brought us here. Being so isolated, the easiest way to get here was to book a package for 3 days, which is what we did. Our hotel is lovely, easily the poshest we've stayed in so far (unsurprising, at double our usual budget!) but the trip is a bit too "organised" for our liking, with all the tours and meals having to be done at specific times, buffet food (albeit in an al fresco dining room with a lovely view) plus a named tour guide - all a bit "Hi De Hi"! Anyway, so far we've had a couple of boat trips, a walk in the forest and a visit to the Tortuguero village. We've seen white-throated capuchin monkeys, more toucans and hummingbirds, a hawk, impressive oropendula birds, more lizards & frogs and some blue crabs. We're off on an early morning wildlife boat trip at 5:45am tomorrow, so hoping to see more wildlife then.Read more

  • Tortuguero village

    February 2, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This afternoon we visited Tortuguero village - just across the river from where we're staying. The Caribbean black-sand beach here (see photo) is one of the most important turtle nesting beaches in the world, with 4 of the 7 marine turtle species in the world nesting here. It is not turtle nesting time at the moment, although it was when Laura and I visited Tortuguero in 2005 with our friend Helen; happily the guide we have this time around is a lot better than the one we had then! We are loving reading all of your comments on the blog, it is lovely to hear from our family and friends at home. Please keep your comments coming!Read more

  • Last day in Tortuguero

    February 3, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Today we got up early and went on a wildlife boat trip at 5:45am. It was worth it as we saw a lot of animals and birds, including more 3-toed sloths (the 2-toed variety has eluded us so far), . Here are a selection of photos from the trip, howler and spider monkeys, iguanas, baslisk lizards, parrots, more species of toucans, and the highlight was a caiman (S.American crocodile). Solana really wanted to see a caiman and she was not too happy about getting up so early, so it made her happy! This afternoon Laura and I borrowed a kayak from the hotel and went on our own little boat trip - I was so busy trying to concentrate on staying afloat in the kayak that I didn't spot much wildlife but the scenery was great! Thanks to all of you who have asked about Laura - I am pleased to report that she is now fully recovered.Read more

  • More Tortuguero wildlife

    February 3, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    A few more photos of the Tortuguero wildlife. This really is an amazing place to spot wildlife. We love that Solana is interested in the wildlife too - most of the time (although I will confess that on one boat trip she requested to play C-Beebies on Mummy's phone instead - I think maybe she is getting a bit wildlifed-out at times...). You can see from the pictures what attracts people to Tortuguero but it has some down sides too - it takes a while to get to, trips here can be expensive and it is bloody wet! We got off lightly as far as the rain was concerned but both us and all of our things felt covered in a layer of permanent dampness whilst we were there. How anyone ever gets their washing dry here is beyond us! Wildlife in these pictures includes a parrot (difficult to identify which type, as they're nearly all green!), a spider, green kingfisher, a spider monkey, a trogon bird and a collared aracari (like a toucan).Read more

  • Going Caribbean

    February 5, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We left Tortuguero on Saturday, after finding a hummingbird nest in the hotel grounds that morning – an amazing thing to see. Hummingbirds are tiny, weighing just a few grams each, so I can’t imagine the size of the eggs... Everyone’s luggage was all loaded onto a separate boat from the people – it looked very laden and somewhat precarious but thankfully all made it to the other end intact and dry! We, on the other hand, only just made it – the waterways here are pretty low & difficult to navigate in the dry season (Dec-April) and our boat got stuck on the sandy bottom...they had to call for a backup boat to help, unload half of the people from our boat, then move the rest of us to the front of the boat to rebalance and eventually we managed to clear the sandbank and make it to the port – intact and dry too! Along the way we saw a boat containing a family....and a fridge-freezer – I hope that one made it too. After 4.5 hours of travel (boat and bus) and still a way to go, we chickened out of the public bus and did the rest of the journey in an (expensive) air-conditioned minibus. We drove past a lot of banana plantations along the way – Chiquita, Dole, Del Monte – many of the UK’s bananas come from Costa Rica – the man from Del Monte definitely says yes here!

    We arrived in Cahuita on the Caribbean coast late afternoon, where we plan to spend most of the rest of our time in Costa Rica. Laura and I came here when we were travelling in Costa Rica in 2005; we only had a couple of nights here and felt it wasn’t long enough. This place is very different from the rest of Costa Rica – it has a much more Caribbean feel about it, the people, the food, the vibe. Today our activities were limited by the rain. We explored the town, which didn’t take long (it is basically just a crossroads by the sea!), walked along to the black beach to the West and to the National Park entrance on the East side, which we plan to go into tomorrow. We also had to find new accommodation, as the place we stayed the first night is now full; we’ve ended up in a cheap but OK place across the road – pleases me as it means we’ve come in under budget today for the first time in about 2 weeks, so we had an extra beer to celebrate! We’re looking forward to a few days of Caribbean sun (or rain as it seems so far!), sea, more wildlife, tastier food and cold beers – oh, and WiFi, after nearly a week of unreliable connections and tortuously slow blogging...
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  • Cahuita National Park

    February 6, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today we had a leisurely breakfast whilst sitting out the rain (we are virtually in the rainforest here, after all I suppose!). Once the sky brightened a bit we ventured out and had a walk in the nearby Cahuita National Park. This is one of our favourite National Parks in Costa Rica - it is easy to get to (you can walk here in just a few minutes from the town), the rainforest trail is an easy walk and best of all, the rainforest is literally just a few feet from the beach. When we visited in 2005, I remember there being a lovely cooling sea breeze that made the rainforest more pleasant to walk in. Today, after all the rain the past 2 days, it was pretty hot and humid but we still saw sloths (including one with a baby), racoons, lots of lizards, a bright yellow snake (turned out to be an eyelash viper - the 2nd most poisonous snake in the country!), ghost crabs, howler and capuchin monkeys, all followed by a paddle in the Caribbean Sea. Howler monkeys are apparently the loudest animal in the world - their calls can be heard up to 3km away! It is lovely to be able to step out of the rainforest into the sea and vice versa - a very special place.Read more

  • Cahuita

    February 7, 2017 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Another day spent in Cahuita. This is a lovely, friendly and chilled out place to stay - but if you want anything in a hurry, forget it! This place doesn't just work on "Costa Rica time", it works on "Caribbean Costa Rica time" - i.e. unless you have the time and patience to wait, you will be very frustrated! This morning we went to a restaurant for breakfast and when we'd waited well over half an hour just for a cup of tea (never mind the food), chased it up a couple of times and still no sign, we decided to go elsewhere... we ended up in e French-run café that had marginally faster service. After breakfast we went out to "Tree of Life", an animal sanctuary that rescues injured/orphaned/inappropriate pet animals, treats and rehabilitates them, releasing back into the wild where possible. It was an informative tour and we enjoyed seeing the animals up closer than Is possible in the wild. Our favourites were the 2 baby sloths - so cute - and we finally managed to get a picture of the elusive sloths' faces!

    This afternoon we moved back to our original hotel in Cahuita, Casa de las Flores - a very friendly and relaxed place to stay, run by an Italian family. After a hot morning out (no rain today), we enjoyed a swim in the little pool. This evening, we went out for cocktails - great mojitos and a pineapple "cocktail" juice for Solana, followed by delicious Caribbean curry. Tomorrow is our last day in Cahuita, then we travel back to San Jose on Thursday before our flight on Friday....
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