Costa Rica day 8: we do a Myleene (and a Gino)

I woke, on my own, in my raised tent. I had not been attacked by a snake, so this was positive.

Bleary-eyed, I joined the others for a morning swim, which was at a waterfall just down the road. Well, almost an hour away. Ironically, we passed back through the same rainforest as yesterday, but this time in only swimming costumes. The creatures would definitely get us this time!

We flapped and squealed around in the water for a while, and then came back for breakfast. Rice, beans and egg it was, with the addition of pancakes. I assembled myself a strawberry jam and granola sandwich. I was totally into jazzing up breakfast.

I then enlisted Hannah’s help as exotic photographer. On the very last day before I flew I was determined to reach 3,000 quid in donations before I stepped onto the plane. So, i promised my twitter followers a re-encation of the Gino shot from behind. I returned the favour by doing a few Myleene-style shower shots of Hannah. We laughed heartily!

Today was another fear factor, rafting! I’m not the best at water, and don’t like going under, so was quite apprehensive. But, we packed everything into water-tight containers and put our gear on, buxom life jackets and helmets! I forwent the cameras for today, so the day is quite picture-light! I anally packed my camera into 4 layers before it went in the dry container!

The river boys were quite a handsome bunch, and we soon set sail, AJ got to go with her favourite too! Rafting was very cool, quite physical, but at least it gave our legs a break! And, geez, you have to concentrate too!

We disbanded every so often for swimming, and I impressed the crowd by being able to pull myself back up. I also landed on Hannah at one point, and gave her a bruise which lasted. We also stopped at waterfalls to have a dip, it’s quite fun jumping in with a life jacket on!

At one point, Karl tried to scupper our boat. I actually considered slicing his arm off with my oar. Hannah witnessed this on my face.

Naturally, we had our lunch on an upturned raft, and it was delicious. Salsa, tortillas, guacamole, the usual fare but yum!

The afternoon rafting was more tame, and even the instructors seemed tired. But, alas it was calmer waters, and no guarantee of being crocodile-less! We washed ourselves up at the shore, and a short walk to another campsite.. A touch more glamping, yay!

We sat around and reflected on some funny moments, such as how we’ve nicknamed AJ ‘Lulu’, Sam ‘Sam Sparrow’ and Hannah ‘Chelts’! We also reflected on the day I asked if strawberry yoghurt was chocolate milk, and when told we were ascending higher on our trek, I retorted ‘are we going to the moon?’ Sam and I also discussed how different we were, and how my skinny jeans would never fit him! I left my luggage outside my tent, which shocked everyone. I did point out how it wouldn’t actually be much more secure inside the nylon structure!

The owner of the campsite later delivered us a sloth on a branch, and we crowded round, documenting the sight. He did the same with a shiny, colourful, ultra poisonous frog!

It was hot here, AJ’s cooling spray just didn’t touch it! We played cards for a few more hours, ate chicken supreme and Ken further obsessed over Jenga. Goodnight!