The Boeing swoops low over a valley peppered with fields and farms, then little factories and a sprawling city – lights coming on in the tropical dusk. In an hour and a half I see extra wildlife than David Attenborough may cope with in a 6-half mini-collection. It isn’t very huge, about the size of a tennis court, and shrouded in netting. Neat wood boardwalks wind around large timber hanging with lianas, to wood platforms raised on stilts, with high pitched canvas roofs like some very properly organised and unexpectedly luxurious safari camp. And they really like having guests, you’ll be able to see it in faces that gentle up when a tourist comes in the door of the resort, or walks down their road, or stops to ask the best way. A tattered magazine reducing on the wall tells me this is the place a special wave known as ‘Salsa Brava’ arrives. I narrow my eyes to a Clint Eastwood squint and say I am going to lend them a hand. I’m not disenchanted. She needs a kiss. I find a promising lodge there on my record, pulled out my mobile phone and inside a few minutes I’m booked in for the next night. I lounge, swim in pool and ocean, dine on fish and sleep like a log to the sound of waves flopping lazily towards the shore. He fishes into his bag and brings out a SatNav, pushes the buttons for my vacation spot, and sets it up on the dashboard. My jungle lodge is correct down in the south, at Puerto Viejo, about as far from San Jose as it could possibly be. The colours, for a begin, are unbelievable. I’m sure it is not simply the money, but if it is I do not begrudge them a penny of it. They’d some horses to spherical up. It was enormous enjoyable. There are seven of them on his stick, every about three inches lengthy with nice horns and humorous legs. Tired after a busy day I make for hot springs and gently lower myself into volcanic waters as a waxing moon seems. I arrive at sunset and, seeing smoke coming from the highest, ask the lodge receptionist if it is about to blow. I did not know they’d those within the jungle. Simply make it up as you go alongside’ the good folks instructed me earlier than I left London. Pura Vida!’ the rental man exclaims – that’s ‘Pure Life’ to you and me, and Costa Ricans say it on a regular basis. My guide stops and lifts a leaf to reveal a tiny frog, no more than an inch long, red but with shiny blue legs. Once i get to the lodge it’s everything I projected on to it, and extra. The highway climbs into mountains, the visitors thins, and immediately there’s a large view across the slopes that result in the Caribbean – a spell-binding sight. What an incredible approach to set each other up for a constructive take on the day. His mum seems and we spend a happy ten minutes having them crawl weirdly on our hands and up our arms. I have never been to Ostional, the place turtles arrive by the hundred to lay eggs, nor to Manuel Antonio, the place sloths dangle from trees over forest paths behind tropical beaches. We pour over maps, discuss my route, and that i confess to the mounting tension I’m experiencing. It appears to be like unimaginable from the pictures and I am dying to try it. There’s one other 50 or so of them on a bush of their garden, some beetle festival is in progress. Each so often there is a distant rumble as Arenal will get on with its job. However Costa Rica is a small place and by lunchtime I am almost there. I telephone forward to a cattle-ranch-turned-lodge inside a nationwide park, and hand over my little voucher to a man with a face the color of walnut and carrying a white Stetson. Late within the day there’s simply time to drive on to the little city of La Fortuna, simply beneath an enormous volcano referred to as Arenal. A young man with a beard and a t-shirt from the College of Arizona at Tucson greets me as a household of coatimundis race across the lawn behind him and disappear up a tree. I am arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital and, let me inform you, I am a touch nervous. We shepherd them back to the ranch, arriving in a cloud of dust and whinnies that would swell the guts of any proud homesteader within the badlands of Wyoming. I am curious and discover that they farm butterflies. Nor have I climbed the mountains to the cloud forests of Monteverde or San Gerardo de Dota to see the Resplendent Quetzal, the sacred chicken of the Mayans. It is time for the seaside. Or so I am informed. There’s a map of trails that might keep Richard Long busy for a fortnight, so I decide on a modest loop that guarantees much. At dinner I meet a delightful couple from Virginia who come to Costa Rica yearly, who advocate a village on the coast. By means of complicated doorways I step inside and find a world of fluttering gorgeousness: tons of of vibrant wings flap about merrily mating, laying eggs and mating again. A couple of minutes later my bag is within the again of the automobile and I am making my method out of the car park. Not on the lips, thank goodness, but the sound of a kiss, loudly made. And nice large macaws flying romantically in pairs throughout treetops by the sea. Birds name from each facet as I amble to a breakfast of tropical fruit. I do not. I faucet my heels into the sides of my mare. We see birds galore, and that i ask what number of live here. Of the four hotels in the area the first alternative is sadly full, but the subsequent has space and I’m sorted. I loosen up. I am given a cell phone and the thought is that I call ahead to e book my room every evening, no more than a day prematurely. I spend the entire day exploring the jungle, being shown plants, insects, birds and butterflies of each kind. My resort at Sarapiqui is a lovely little place and I am proven a room with a view of their farm. It just doesn’t get much better than this. After 2 rings a pleasant lady within the jungle answers and confirms that they do have house. Subsequent morning my affected person pal returns, this time with a man from a rental car firm with a sensible little 4 wheel drive car. Stopping in a village on my manner a small boy exhibits me his beetles. Although I haven’t come very far from the lowland forest at La Selva, right here I’m high enough to be in a special kind of forest, and that i walk next day on the ‘Hanging Bridges’ – metallic walkways enterprisingly slung throughout little gorges connecting paths by the timber. She ambles somewhat, however would not appear very sure about it till I’m let in on the key. I strive the cellphone. About 170 species, I’m instructed, which places my London chicken table in a new gentle. Not tonight, she says. There’s a special one thing about Costa Rica that I’m beginning to grasp. It isn’t for my security, because Costa Rica is a peacable place – they name it the Switzerland of Latin America. I consider texting London to chuck in my job and promote the flat. She approves and calls ahead for me. On the aircraft I flicked by way of the resort checklist and decided to strive Almonds and Corals Lodge, an ecolodge in the forest where you sleep under canvas. She takes my name, and I’m all set. I am certain it has a weighty scientific identify, however ‘Blue Jeans Frog’ fits it just positive. Later I stopped for a muffin and juice (do not ask me to call it nevertheless it was scrumptious) at a hummingbird gallery, where I swear 100 hummingbirds buzzed and swooped round plastic devices full of some tempting liquid. I return the praise and we slap fingers. I spend the subsequent two days up within the northwest of Costa Rica, dry flatlands where they ranch cattle. I’m here to visit La Selva, a analysis station that unravels the secrets of life within the rainforest. Chrysalises are exported to fanciers worldwide – a trade in living glimpses of brilliant Costa Rican sunshine. I have not explored the southwest, the place humpback whales and dolphin patrol the Pacific off the Osa Peninsula, whose forests are so thick and undisturbed they hold jaguar. Steak and beer for dinner. The coordinates are on my SatNav and i park, pay a surprisingly modest entrance charge, cross a bridge and I am in an area of neat cabins laid out beside a Customer Centre. Right here they actually enjoy, and revel in, the character that surrounds them and apply a lot of ingenuity to make it attainable so that you can share the expertise. They could arrange all of it for me prematurely they stated, however where’s the enjoyable in that? They’ve been utilizing this system for self-drive holidays for years apparently, and it works a deal with. I saw toucans bearing the burden of beaks the dimensions of a decent banana madly decorated in seven totally different colours. Now I’m not a birder, although I fancy I can inform a robin from a wren, but wanting by means of my information’s binoculars made me realise, for the primary time, that I might change into one right here. Over lunch I plan my subsequent move, and ask the lady on the desk for her opinion of Sarapiqui, which my information e-book says is a wildlife hotspot. A patient man in his early 60s meets me as I cross the barrier from airport madness into the actual world. The command system thus mastered, we set off. I know where I’m to remain tonight, and he drives me there, however all I’ve obtained for the rest of my stay is a book of vouchers and a listing of 100 or so inns who will gladly trade them for a room and breakfast. Next morning I wake to the distant roar of howler monkeys, a wonderful sound that haunts me still. My favourite is a brilliant blue butterfly as massive as my hand that flits dazzlingly into shafts of sunlight. Next morning they milk the cows, fry up a hearty breakfast, and ask me whether or not I would wish to go strolling, rafting or riding. I stop at a seaside bar where a small group of surfers are joshing each other over coffee, stopping to stare lovingly at the breakers rolling in. My time has run out. We mount smallish horses with surprisingly comfy saddles, and the cowboys set off. Twenty minutes later we’re circling a gaggle of horses, dashing off to fetch escapees, yelling and whooping like the movies. A contented band of cowboys blowing kisses. Arenal is completely energetic and spends its time contentedly steaming and gently burping lava, which I can simply see as a ragged rim excessive on its steep cone, glowing red as night falls.