The money shot

After Monte Verdi we continued on to La Fortuna. This seems to be the adrenaline capital of the country. From white water rafting, stand up paddle boarding to diving off and abseiling down waterfalls, La Fortuna has it all. I had planned on abseiling down the waterfall but after seeing a video about it in the tour shop and seeing that you have to dive into it cold canyons, I decided I'd had enough adrenaline for one holiday and chickened out.

Instead I spent the day exploring the grounds of the compound we were staying on. Instead of hotels we each had a log cabin with its own deck and garden, set in grounds of bougainvillea, fruit trees and palms. It turns out that the grounds were a haven for wildlife and after spending over a hundred dollars on various wildlife walks, I finally got to see some creatures! There was a whole family of agoutis just running about eating apples off the floor. They were obviously used to people because I was ale to get quite close for a good photo!

There was one thing I desperately wanted to see while I was in Costa Rica, even more than a sloth. They are very elusive and on my second to last day I really thought I had missed my chance, but while sitting on a bench on the deck, one of the girls said 'ooh what's that?' I turned, and there it was, the one thing I'd been dying to see for years: the tiniest of tiny, a humming bird! I was too stunned to move but eventually ran for my camera. By the time I got back she had gone but I decided to spend the next day steaking it out and after a couple of hours of waiting and stalking, she appeared from nowhere, just after a heavy rainfall. Flitting from flower to flower hovering a few seconds to sip nectar, it was almost as though she knew I wanted to see her. She flew close to me and stayed an extra few seconds, just long enough for me to capture then one photo that would make my trip. I can't even describe how happy that short few seconds made me, I felt so privileged and lucky that such a beautiful creature had allowed me to take her photo. I can go home now, I've got what I came for.