The Boeing swoops low over a valley peppered with fields and farms, then little factories and a sprawling city – lights coming on within the tropical dusk. My favourite is a brilliant blue butterfly as huge as my hand that flits dazzlingly into shafts of sunlight. About 170 species, I am told, which puts my London bird table in a new mild. A affected person man in his early 60s meets me as I cross the barrier from airport madness into the real world. And they really like having visitors, you can see it in faces that light up when a vacationer comes within the door of the lodge, or walks down their street, or stops to ask the best way. When i get to the lodge it is all the things I projected on to it, and extra. I discover a promising hotel there on my list, pulled out my cellular phone and within a couple of minutes I’m booked in for the next evening. Later I stopped for a muffin and juice (do not ask me to name it however it was delicious) at a hummingbird gallery, the place I swear a hundred hummingbirds buzzed and swooped round plastic devices filled with some tempting liquid. They’ve been utilizing this system for self-drive holidays for years apparently, and it works a deal with. Subsequent morning my affected person good friend returns, this time with a man from a rental automobile company with a sensible little 4 wheel drive car. I didn’t know they had those in the jungle. Not tonight, she says. Stopping in a village on my approach a small boy reveals me his beetles. Late within the day there’s just time to drive on to the little town of La Fortuna, simply beneath a large volcano referred to as Arenal. I consider texting London to chuck in my job and promote the flat. She takes my identify, and I am all set. A younger man with a beard and a t-shirt from the University of Arizona at Tucson greets me as a household of coatimundis race across the lawn behind him and disappear up a tree. It just does not get a lot better than this. At dinner I meet a delightful couple from Virginia who come to Costa Rica yearly, who suggest a village on the coast. I have not explored the southwest, where humpback whales and dolphin patrol the Pacific off the Osa Peninsula, whose forests are so thick and undisturbed they hold jaguar. She approves and calls forward for me. Drained after a busy day I make for scorching springs and gently decrease myself into volcanic waters as a waxing moon seems. By way of sophisticated doors I step inside and find a world of fluttering gorgeousness: lots of of vivid wings flap about merrily mating, laying eggs and mating once more. I stop at a beach bar where a small group of surfers are joshing each other over coffee, stopping to stare lovingly at the breakers rolling in. I do know the place I’m to remain tonight, and he drives me there, but all I’ve bought for the rest of my keep is a guide of vouchers and a list of a hundred or so accommodations who will gladly trade them for a room and breakfast. Or so I’m instructed. I cellphone ahead 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. I calm down. I’m given a cellphone and the concept is that I call forward to book my room every night time, no more than a day prematurely. Of the 4 lodges in the area the primary choice is sadly full, however the next has space and I am sorted. I am not disenchanted. My jungle lodge is right down in the south, at Puerto Viejo, about as removed from San Jose because it could possibly be. There is a particular something about Costa Rica that I’m beginning to understand. They’d some horses to round up. On the aircraft I flicked through the resort checklist and determined to try Almonds and Corals Lodge, an ecolodge within the forest the place you sleep under canvas. I lounge, swim in pool and ocean, dine on fish and sleep like a log to the sound of waves flopping lazily against the shore. A cheerful band of cowboys blowing kisses. We mount smallish horses with surprisingly snug saddles, and the cowboys set off. I arrive at sunset and, seeing smoke coming from the top, ask the resort receptionist if it is about to blow. And great huge macaws flying romantically in pairs throughout treetops by the sea. It isn’t for my security, because Costa Rica is a peacable place – they call it the Switzerland of Latin America. After 2 rings a pleasant lady within the jungle solutions and confirms that they do have space. They may arrange it all for me upfront they said, but where’s the enjoyable in that? His mum appears and we spend a contented ten minutes having them crawl weirdly on our hands and up our arms. Nor have I climbed the mountains to the cloud forests of Monteverde or San Gerardo de Dota to see the Resplendent Quetzal, the sacred chook of the Mayans. We pour over maps, focus on my route, and that i confess to the mounting tension I’m experiencing. Subsequent morning I wake to the distant roar of howler monkeys, a wonderful sound that haunts me nonetheless. Neat wooden boardwalks wind around giant timber hanging with lianas, to picket platforms raised on stilts, with high pitched canvas roofs like some very effectively organised and unexpectedly luxurious safari camp. A few minutes later my bag is within the again of the automobile and I’m making my manner out of the automotive park. Arenal is permanently lively and spends its time contentedly steaming and gently burping lava, which I can just see as a ragged rim excessive on its steep cone, glowing pink as night falls. Over lunch I plan my next transfer, and ask the lady on the desk for her opinion of Sarapiqui, which my information guide says is a wildlife hotspot. She wants a kiss. There are seven of them on his stick, each about three inches long with nice horns and humorous legs. It’s not very big, about the scale of a tennis court, and shrouded in netting. Subsequent morning they milk the cows, fry up a hearty breakfast, and ask me whether I’d wish to go strolling, rafting or riding. I saw toucans bearing the load of beaks the dimensions of an honest banana madly decorated in seven different colours. I don’t. I faucet my heels into the sides of my mare. Every so usually there’s a distant rumble as Arenal will get on with its job. We shepherd them again to the ranch, arriving in a cloud of mud and whinnies that will swell the heart of any proud homesteader within the badlands of Wyoming. The colours, for a start, are unbelievable. She ambles a little bit, however does not seem very certain about it till I’m let in on the secret. In an hour and a half I see extra wildlife than David Attenborough may cope with in a 6-half mini-collection. We see birds galore, and i ask what number of stay here. Steak and beer for dinner. I slim my eyes to a Clint Eastwood squint and say I’ll lend them a hand. Right here they really enjoy, and revel in, the character that surrounds them and apply plenty of ingenuity to make it potential so that you can share the experience. I’m arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital and, let me let you know, I’m a contact nervous. It’s time for the beach. Now I’m not a birder, though I fancy I can tell a robin from a wren, but trying by way of my guide’s binoculars made me realise, for the first time, that I could grow to be one right here. The road climbs into mountains, the traffic thins, and abruptly there’s a large view across the slopes that result in the Caribbean – a spell-binding sight. I am curious and find that they farm butterflies. He fishes into his bag and brings out a SatNav, pushes the buttons for my vacation spot, and units it up on the dashboard. I spend the next two days up in the northwest of Costa Rica, dry flatlands the place they ranch cattle. Birds call from every side as I amble to a breakfast of tropical fruit. My guide stops and lifts a leaf to reveal a tiny frog, not more than an inch lengthy, crimson however with shiny blue legs. My time has run out. I strive the phone. I am certain it’s not simply the cash, but if it is I don’t begrudge them a penny of it. Pura Vida!’ the rental man exclaims – that is ‘Pure Life’ to you and me, and Costa Ricans say it all the time. Just make it up as you go alongside’ the good individuals informed me earlier than I left London. Although I haven’t come very removed from the lowland forest at La Selva, here I am high sufficient to be in a different type of forest, and that i walk next day on the ‘Hanging Bridges’ – metallic walkways enterprisingly slung throughout little gorges connecting paths by means of the trees. I spend the entire day exploring the jungle, being shown plants, insects, birds and butterflies of each kind. However Costa Rica is a small place and by lunchtime I’m virtually there. Twenty minutes later we are circling a bunch of horses, dashing off to fetch escapees, yelling and whooping like the films. There’s one other 50 or so of them on a bush in their garden, some beetle festival is in progress. There is a map of trails that may keep Richard Long busy for a fortnight, so I resolve on a modest loop that promises much. Chrysalises are exported to fanciers worldwide – a commerce in dwelling glimpses of bright Costa Rican sunshine. My lodge at Sarapiqui is a lovely little place and I am shown a room with a view of their farm. The coordinates are on my SatNav and that i park, pay a surprisingly modest entrance payment, cross a bridge and I’m in an space of neat cabins laid out beside a Customer Centre. The command system thus mastered, we set off. I’m sure it has a weighty scientific name, however ‘Blue Jeans Frog’ fits it just nice. It was enormous enjoyable. I return the compliment and we slap palms. It appears to be like incredible from the pictures and I am dying to try it. I’m right here to visit La Selva, a research station that unravels the secrets of life within the rainforest. What an incredible technique to set one another up for a positive take on the day. A tattered journal slicing on the wall tells me that is where a particular wave called ‘Salsa Brava’ arrives. I have not been to Ostional, where turtles arrive by the hundred to lay eggs, nor to Manuel Antonio, where sloths dangle from timber over forest paths behind tropical beaches. Not on the lips, thank goodness, but the sound of a kiss, loudly made.