Let's take it up a gear

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Nice when we got up today - blue sky's temperature rising quickly to about 28 or 29C. Time to get in the pool! So before breakfast we were all in and cooled down. By 8 am. the local ISP engineer was ensconced in the house and on the phone talking to his mates - not looking good for WiFi in this property. They ended up taking the router away and as we needed to go out god knows if we'll ever see it again. Model is a Tenda doesn't fill me with any sort of confidence whatsoever - better spending a bit more and getting a Netgear. The phone had also packed up... This is Costa Rica people...

We had decided that we would do one of the Canopy tours today so went to Villa Lapas to look at what they had in their grounds. Villa Lapas was on the way up to Pura Vidae but just on the right. Nice place - sort of place we would like to stay once we've left the house in Tarcoles.

The Sky Tour and the Ziplines didn't seem to be in use and enquiring at the desk it seemed to be 3 pm. before they'd use them if at all. We wandered over the bridge to the Artisans village which only had one Artisan who seemed to come from China.... Though looked very Costa Rican.

So it was back in the car to the local big zip-line at Vista Los Suenos. We arrived about 11.30 and the next tour we could go on was at 1 pm. So we waited around and used their WiFi - password of CANOPY2010 for anyone interested.

Managed to get a couple of days Travelblog uploaded and loads of pictures which was really good. Catherine and I weren't doing the zip-line experience - me because of dodgy shoulders and Catherine didn't really want too so we went up to the top of the canopy in the tractor and then let them get on with it. We had a ride back down in the tractor which was an experience in itself! I'll upload the video at some point - I think even then Tank would have struggled with the angle at one point.. well maybe.

Got some great photos - the tour starts on a 15 "minute ride aboard our specially designed tractor" - means its a tractor with a person carrying trailer on the back of it. "We then descend to base camp via a series of zip lines, which include 14 platforms and 12 cables" it sounds like something from Everest.... But it was really good and the people were very professional and very friendly - think Go Ape just bigger - total distance of the the cables is 2 miles! With the longest cable being 2400 ft. Kids loved it. It was good that it was a little overcast as well as it kept the temperature down to under 30C and I impressed the tour guides as I could take pictures of the kids from the ground using my big lens even though they were over 1/2 a mile away! It wasn't cheap but on a par with Go Ape. As an experience I'd recommend it to anyone.

Not surprisingly people were hot and we came back to the house. Notice no lunch - Matthew is down a meal - I'm sure he'll catch-up - and back in the pool. This really is a very decadent lifestyle - not my normal 9 to 5 - but I think we all deserve the break!

As we missed lunch we are planning on going out for an evening meal - which for those of you at home is like going out to eat at about 2 am... Scarlett Macaws are going back to their rain forest roosts... They really do look like something from the Battle of Britain flying overhead - perfect formations - if they could just keep the cawing under control as they fly.

We just had a cow in the garden - no jokes people. Someone Mum (who to be fair was laden like a pack horse) had left the front door open and the baby cow grazing outside nipped into the garden where Matthew thought it was a dog until he saw it eating next doors bush... (no jokes again).

It's now 6 pm. I've had a Rock Ice beer and we are heading out to eat. Life is good.

We went to the local Tico Tico restaurant and had a great meal - WiFi also available so we used that. Lightning all around as we eat but out at sea so no rain. Back home and watching the Olympics in the Master bedroom with the air conditioning on.

Tired tonight after all the activity - everyone heading for bed around 9.30 pm.

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