A Sky Walk in Costa Rica.

After the Parque Nacional Volcán Masaya we spent two days in the fine city of Granada camped on the edge of Lake Nicaragua (where we bumped into Bodo for a few hours).

Because we were warned that any Nicaraguan beach or lake side resort would be manic at Easter we decided to cross into Costa Rica before then.

The border crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica was the usual disorganized chaos. Only with the help of a guide (cost about $5 USA) was it possible even to find the people who's stamp we needed to cross the border. Entering Costa Rica our vehicles were "disinfected" (this time in a sort of fine-mist car wash) and we had to buy (for about $14 USA) what we think is "road tax", but it might be insurance.

Our first targets in Costa Rica were the resort villages of Monteverde and Santa Elena. The main attraction of this area is the relatively cool "cloud forest" with its associated animals and eco-tourism. For what is one of Costa Rica's major tourist attractions the last 30km of the access road is remarkably bad.

Because the most interesting part of a "cloud forest" is the top of the trees many of the attractions come under the general heading of "canopy tours".

At one end of the scale come the sedate electric gondola tours (sit down and watch the trees go by), at the other end are the "zip line tours" (a harness, a hard hat, hang on and scream thru the forest at 60kph).

In the middle comes the "sky walk" tours, where a series of narrow suspension bridges link paths that take you thru and above the canopy. This is what we did. And very good fun it was too.

Other attractions were the cheese factory and the humming bird gallery.

In Monteverde we camped at La Colina Lodge (N 10.302707 W 84.809447). The view was good but it is best to eat elsewhere.