Highlights of Costa Rica    (September 2006)
click for larger image	The Switzerland of Central America, Costa Rica is peaceful, relatively wealthy and supports an incredible diversity of wildlife.	Costa Rica Fast Facts: Best Thing: Relaxing in a volcanic hot spring, watching lava spew dramatically over the crater Worst Thing: Waking to find our washing line robbed (who knew Magnus' trousers were that desirable?!) Big Surprise: How hard it was to spot a sloth (they don't exactly sprint for cover...) Fun Fact: Tortuguero is a rare conservation success story, with 10,000,000 Green Turtle eggs laid there this year

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Really, This Can't Possibly Be Wise Arenal, Central America's most active volcano. We hiked around the base, then watched as night fell and glowing red lava erupted from the crater.

Getting Into Hot Water The good news: the steaming waters of the opulent Arenal spa are 100% naturally heated, allowing an environmentally friendly hot tub soak! The bad news: to benefit from these natural hot springs the spa is built on the side of the volcano, way too close for comfort to the lava flows. We kept our running shoes ready at the side of the pool!

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Green Turtles: Back From The Brink? Costa Rica has a progressive approach to turtle conservation. Their work to reverse the terminal decline in the Green Turtle population, has had much more success than the crisis situation we encountered in Guatemala. Here the beaches are patrolled each night by wardens and penalties for poachers are stiff. As a result, numbers of Green Turtle eggs laid have quadrupled in recent years and we were practically tripping over giant mothers clambering onto the beach to lay a nest on a night walk. We did our bit, cleaning the beach of plastic trash that can kill turtles who mistake them for tasty jellyfish.

A Haven For Tropical Wildlife In our visit to the jungle-fringed coastline of Costa Rica we encountered a cornucopia of wildlife: screaming howler monkeys, giant green turtles, dinosaur-like iguanas and emerald basilisks, boat-billed herons, dead-eyed caiman and (eventually) even a snoozy sloth chilling the afternoon away in her favourite tree. Fantastic!	click for larger image	click for larger image	click for larger image
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