Costa Rica: Liberia, Playa del Coco & Monteverde with toddlers in tow.

Jess and Mikey @Original Canopy Tour, Monteverde

​Costa Rica is pricey. We weren't expecting it to be Asian cheapness, but even we were surprised a little by the expense

​$30 US for a dingy room with one tiny fan in sweltering Liberia; a home cooked meal bought at the supermarket upwards of $30 US as well. And tours for $100 US each.  Ouch. We may be home sooner than expected.  
Despite the hefty price tag, this small country, less than half the size of England is home to 4% of every species on the planet.  By the time we met my sister and nephew a week in we’d seen a few. Coatis are my current favourite - like a raccoon but less scary.

Thanks to George, we got a treat on the first leg of the flight here,  we were upgraded for the first time ever. Cue gin & tonics before takeoff!  Shame the second leg was so full we didn't even get seats together; all four of us were separated. Cue Otto ,the two year old, screaming his head off and Jessie, who's still only three, crying and confused. We were desperately trying to swap seats around whilst the air hostesses were shouting at us to sit down in our allocated seats. Oh the joys of travelling with toddlers!

We arrived in one piece and had just less than a week before we were due in San Jose to pick up my sister and nephew. What to do?...

Head to the beach. Playa del Coco treated us to two days of sun and sand, followed by 24 hours of torrential downpour.. The kids loved it, we had a two bedroom villa and the owners were really nice, they had a six year old girl who had loads of toys and was fantastic with our two, they even had a trampoline, which entertained Jess & Otto for hours on end.

After the 24 hours of rain, we headed to the wettest part of the country, Monteverde, the cloud forest, where we hoped we'd find a zip line that would take our 3yr old thrill seeker and some of Costa Rica's famous wildlife.  We found one, the original canopy tour.  For $25, Poncho (the guide) whisked our eldest (3 years old), through the treetops on 14 different zip lines one of which was 800metres long!  She also tackled a Tarzan swing and a vertical rappel and tree climb which some of the adults on the tour bowed out of. I wonder where she gets her sense of adventure from? I hope she doesn't rebel as a teenager and turn ultra-conservative!

We left the cloud forest, on a high and headed for the capital to collect the family! Still no sloths spotted but we had seen loads of colourful birds, and the cute but maybe not cuddly coatis.

Tree climbing in the cloud forests of Monteverde

Otto climbing a ficus tree, Monteverde