To view additional photos...

Try using this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1&Uc=hley6zy.23d3j5my&Uy=-kenuqv&Ux=1

Which should hopefully take you straight through to an album of 66 shots (birds, flowers, jungle walks, beaches...). It will say 'Janet's album' as opposed to 'Sylvie's' because I had to go round to a friend's to download CDs as I am not allowed to add new software on my work PC, or at libraries, or internet cafes...

As I always say, and I want to state it again, I cannot take credit for the photos as such... it is the Master of the Great Design who is to be admired... At Bosque de Paz they had leaflets in all the rooms that reminded us of that very truth, which I thought was real neat. I've copied it below (minus some of the accents in Spanish as I didn't have the right keyboard to do that):

Cuando tengas preocupaciones
Whenever you are worried
O estes triste en la vida
Or think life is sad
Abre bien los ojos
Open your eyes wide
Y camina por el bosque
And walk through the forest

Cada arbol, cada flor
Each tree, each flower
Cada animal y cada pajaro
Each animal and every bird
Seran testimonio de la omnipotencia de Dios
Will be a testimony of God's omnipotence.

Tanta belleza y maravilla
So much beauty and wonders
Te llenaran de confianza, fortaleza y paz.
will fill you with confidence, strength and peace.

I surely find this works for me... :)
May it work for you too....

Back in London safely....

One last post re-Costa Rica... I've now been back one week and though London is 10 times prettier now than when I left (leaves are now back on the trees, yipee) and flowers are everywhere (double bliss) it's still taking its time to warm up to CR temperatures !

My last day was kind of sweet... Carlos arrived an hour early to pick me up "as he couldn't wait to see me again" but I still had to have a shower and wash my hair and pack (BIG job) and so I had to stick to our 3pm arrangement.

By the time I went to reception to meet him, he'd found me some toucans and was so happy to show them to me. Bless !

I told him about the waterfall I'd love to see on the way and he said that it wouldn't be a problem, that we had an hour to spare more or less. He also said he felt terribly sad at driving me to the airport, and that he wished he could have been 10 years younger as he'd have had more hope of seeing me again, ah. Little did he know I have a fascination for older men :) NO names mentioned ! :)))

We actually saw TWO beautiful waterfalls on the way but as we were quite high up the weather went from hot and humid at sea level to completely foggy and cooler at higher altitude. It was like 2 seasons in 2 hours. Tripod was a must, again, to make the most of the little light there was but the pictures turned out nicely actually. I realise now that next time I visit jungles again, packing my tripod will be a must, even if it's double the hassle.

We passed many coffee plantations on the way, Costa Rica being famous for its nice coffee (not that I could vouch for that myself as I've never had a cup of coffee in my entire life believe it or not)...and stopped in a nice little coffee shop overlooking a vast plantation.

It was nice doing 'holiday' stuff all the way to the airport... kind of made me forget I was on my way back. Carlos wished "he could have held back time" ! He was a really nice guy and a good person (you could see it on his face) and I really hope he finds someone he deserves but I've learnt my lesson and my bank account cannot handle long distance relationships !!! When he dropped me off at the airport he just gave me a hug and whispered 'I love you' to my ears which I thought was kind of sweet. He didn't give me his number or anything - he didn't expect anything in return... free love ! So I guess he was genuine after all (since I'm used to having men pursuing me wherever I go for the love of my passport!).

No sooner had I entered the airport that I was asked to go and pay $26 departure tax. Eeek. I showed them I had already paid some $300 in airport tax for various things but they assured me that that particular one had not been paid YET. Yuk ! Good job I had just about kept enough dollars for that as I had had no warning this would happen and had just given Carlos his last tip.

After that, it was the usual, passport control, check-in (45mns queue !), Duty free shop to use up my very last few dollars and then it was the usual 30mns delay with Iberia. They are one of the worst airlines I've ever flown with and I want this on record !!! For the long haul they only gave us 2 socks, forget the toothbrush, or any other goodies. For meals we only had sandwiches, nothing fancy. I asked for veggie but they gave me vegan by mistake - no butter, no yoghurt, no cheese, just dry and boring stuff. Unbelievable. The movies were dreadful, absolutely nothing of interest whatsoever. The seats were so uncomfortable no one could sleep. Then we landed in Madrid and were delayed by a further 30mns (God knows why!). I mean, just dire. Then we had to wait 45mns to retrieve our luggage... and then I had a further 1h30 on the tube to get home, and it took me 15mns just to get my suitcase from the ground floor to the 2nd floor (no lift). I had to lift it with 2 hands one step at a time - 25kgs, more than 1/3 of my weight basically (roughly).

So, I got home at 9pm and then got on the phone to mother (who was getting worried as I was supposed to land at 5:50pm).

I had sent about 25 post-cards a week earlier that haven't arrived yet -gutting. My tan wasn't briliant either so I had to top it up with fake tan otherwise were not going to believe I'd gone somewhere hot (but in the jungle you are not in the sun that much).

What else? Not much really... I've been back a week and it already feels like a lot longer. I didn't suffer from jet-lag tooo much actually (courtesy of sleeping pills that forced me to sleep at the 'right' hours) but I'm now starting to suffer the effects of my malaria tablets. Phew. I took my 4th dose last Friday and was quite sick all week-end... I called my GP today but she advised me to stick to it, just in case, as it's better to suffer for 4 more weeks than for a lifetime should I have contracted malaria. NOT what I wanted to hear ! I hadn't taken these nasty pills for ages so had forgotten they could make me feel SO bad...

Enough moaning, I guess you can't have it all ! Having had the photos back now, as usual it took me a while to get used to them (reality is always 10 times more beautiful than any shots I could take) but I've managed to put a nice album together - lots of birds & flowers & jungle shots mainly.

The loneliness is the one thing that will stick out in my mind... and the kindness of the people. Whether I'll be able to retain my Spanish remains to be seen though....

Take care, Sylvie xxx