Sunday 26 November 2017

TRAVEL: Dublin, Ireland - tourism, tigers and Temple Bar

Welcome to my Dublin blog! I chose to truly immerse myself in the city this time, with no phone to take photos (and hopefully encourage you to see it for yourself) but I've interspersed today's blog with some pictures from the zoo - hope you enjoy!


Being somewhere I visit every year to see family, I'd never really 'done' Dublin as a tourist. But this year, in the name of journalistic integrity, I decided to check it out. My journey began on a bus from the airport into the city. Being friendly with the locals can help you out, as a quick chat with the bus driver meant that I was dropped off right outside the Spire, a tall pin-like sculpture in the middle of O'Connell Street.


My first destination was the tourist office to pick up the map. If you're an avid reader of Ciara's Country, you'll know of my love of free walking tours but had arrived into the city too late to catch that day's, so decided to invent my own. From the Spire, I crossed the River Liffey, admiring the famous Hapenny Bridge on my right, and headed into Temple Bar. This street is famous for its busy Irish pubs and bars so is the perfect place to stop for your inaugural Guinness or Irish whiskey. If that type of activity floats your boat, you'll find whiskey shops offering tastings all over the city, and the Guinness Storehouse further up the river, which is Dublin's number one paid attraction.


With little time and even less money, I continued on to check out some of Dublin's stunning cathedrals - Christ Church and St Patrick's, the latter of which has a lovely garden in front which was filled with happy tourists and locals alike. Dublin is well signposted, so it wasn't hard to make my way to St Stephen's Green, which turned out to be a lot larger than the map would have had me believe. This is the city's answer to Central Park, and has lakes and green spaces galore to spend a few hours wandering around. For the culture fiends among you, the Green also has a vast number of sculptures dedicated to historic events, poets and more which you can check out too.





The north-most corner of the Green leads you straight onto Grafton Street, perhaps Dublin's busiest street. This is where you come to shop and you'll find all your high-street favourites along here. I'd also heartily recommend heading into Butler's Chocolate Cafe if you fancy for coffee and cake or lunch. Butler's is a true Irish institution, and their chocolates should be tried at least once in your life - the same applies to Lily O'Briens which you can buy in most Irish supermarkets. Yum!


At the top of Grafton, I took a quick detour to see the statue of Molly Malone, based on a famous song set in Dublin. Heading back the other way, I wandered past Trinity College, one of Ireland's top universities and home to the Book of Kells, a beautiful illuminated manuscript Gospel book which you can get a close look at if you can bear the queues. Trinity College library is also worth a look at as it looks like something straight out of Harry Potter.


I found myself outside Pearse Station, nearby to my second recommendation for something to eat - Kilkenny Design. As well as having decent food and always being packed to the brim, the downstairs of Kilkenny Design is also a haven of Irish craftsmanship and you can pick up just about anything you want there, from jewellery and clothes to paintings and gifts, all produced in Ireland. Something a bit different from 'Made in China', eh?





Here I crossed over the delightfully named Butt Bridge to admire the impressive Custom House before catching a train to continue on my journey. All in all, my route took a little over two hours, but stopping for something to eat or spending more time in any of the destinations I've mentioned will of course add to that. Nonetheless, a great way to pass the time!




My second day in Dublin brought me to another great part of the city - Phoenix Park (not to be confused with the city's main sports stadium Croke Park where you can catch a thrilling hurling game in season). Unlike many of the London parks I'm used to, you can drive right into Phoenix Park, which is fairly handy given it's size. Here, there's plenty of places to walk around, and if you're lucky, spot some deer.


However, my destination for the day was Dublin Zoo which despite being very expansive itself somehow manages to stay contained within the parks boundaries - as is the Irish President's House, for that matter. I'm lucky enough to have a cousin who volunteers at the zoo, and she was an excellent tour guide of the day, especially when telling me which animals had new babies which you might not notice if you weren't told e.g tiny baby monkeys that blend into their mothers fur. N'aww.





Dublin Zoo has a great range of animals too, including elephants (and babies when I visited) which is more than those of us in London have. We also saw meerkats, sloths (which is more than I can say about my experiences in Costa Rica, which you can read about here), chameleons, crocodiles, sealions, penguins, rhinos, gorillas, lions, lemurs and tigers. Phew, that's a lot of animals. A fab way to spend the day and catch up with my cousin. Say hi to her from me if you visit, and I'd highly recommend you do!


Ciara's tips for Dublin: the city is small and very walkable, meaning that you can take your time to walk around and explore. By all means, take an organised tour but I'd also encourage you to do some wandering of your own - you never know what you might stumble across (and I'd love to here what you do!). If you feel like leaving the centre, I heartily recommend catching the Dart out along the coast (in the direction of Bray or Greystones) - get off at any of the coastal stops along here for a pleasant walk along the beach, or just gaze from the train window at the shoreline. Who'd have thought that Dublin of all places would have a beautiful sea just 20 minutes from the centre? If you're taking a family trip, I can't recommend Dublin Zoo enough - I could have easily whiled away many more hours there and you'll get to see animals you can't see anywhere else this side of the Serengeti.



I hope you enjoyed touring Dublin with me! If you did, be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry as there'll be plenty more where this came from... big travel plans coming up...  I'd love to hear your thoughts too, so feel free to leave a comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!

Sunday 19 November 2017

TRAVEL: Budapest, Hungary - bridges, Basilicas and (Air)bnbs


Eastern Europe is vastly underestimated as a tourist destination from Western travellers. Sure, France and Spain may be closer but not by much, and I can assure you heading to Hungary is absolutely worth that extra hour on the plane. Perhaps the worst part about visiting Budapest was having to fly from Luton airport, but hey, everyone has to make sacrifices.

Hopping off of the plane in Budapest, it was an easy bus ride on the 100E to downtown, where a 30 minute walk brought us to our Airbnb on Also Erdosor Utca. This was my first experience staying in an Airbnb, and I can’t recommend it enough. For £70 per person for the 5 nights we were there, this was a far cheaper option than any hotel. Plus, the apartment we stayed at was wonderful – a reasonable sized kitchen, a downstairs living room whose couch transformed into a double bed, and an upstairs mezzanine with two more single beds. Our host, Peter, was also lovely, giving us recommendations on where to go and stocking the fridge with basics like juice and bread.

As we’d taken a horrifically early flight from Luton, we still had much of the day to explore. I called up a helpful Hungarian friend of mine, and we agreed to meet at St Stephen’s Basilica, about 30-40 minutes walk away. I can’t say I minded the walk at all – Budapest’s architecture is stunning and even the shopfronts along one of the main streets, Andrassy Utca, are covered in magnificent stone statues. It’s far from a boring stroll.

And then you reach St Stephen’s – wow. An incredibly imposing and yet beautiful structure that is stunning both inside and out. To give us an overview of the city, we decided to climb to the top. Students, it’s worth bringing your student card with you as you get a significant discount – I forgot mine and was kicking myself for the rest of the day! The climb isn’t for the faint-hearted and I was wheezing by the time we got to the top but boy, was it worth it. Panoramic views stretching for miles across the city and offering brilliant views of Budapest’s incredible buildings including Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion. I was thrilled to have my friend as a local tour guide too – Hungarian history is ingrained throughout school so it was like bringing along a walking textbook. Definitely find yourself a local if you can!

Our walk continued through Liberty Square with its controversial monuments commemorating the horrors inflicted during the German invasion and Communist eras; and over to Parliament. It is legitimately hard to think of my favourite building in Budapest (trust me, they’re all stunning) but I think this one takes the cake. Impressive, impressive, impressive.

Parliament backs onto the Danube so we had the opportunity to stroll along its banks, watching the river cruises which make their way up the entire river come in to dock. I think if I’d had more time in this part of the world, that would have been a great way to see more of Eastern Europe.

We crossed over the lovely Chain Bridge, which connects Pest and Buda and stopped at Makos Guba for dinner – a recommendation from my Hungarian friend. If it’s recommended by a local, it’s going to be good. Having him around had added benefits of knowing what’s good to eat, and we ended up with a feast including catfish, beef stew, Turos Csusza (incredible pasta topped with cheese and sour cream) and a poppy seed and jam bread pudding. Delicious food and without breaking the bank.

To avoid the smoggy tunnel back to the bridge, we walked up to the Royal Palace and back down the other side, offering wonderful views of the city’s twinkling lights. What a way to end the day.

Day two started with an early morning as there’s so much to see. We began by heading straight up to the Danube and walking along it as the city started to wake up, before heading to Deak Ferenc Square to begin a free walking tour which departed from the square at 10:30am. Luckily for us, the tour was reasonably different to where we’d been taken yesterday, and included more of the Buda side of the city, including the amazing white-marbled Fisherman’s Bastion (complete with picturesque windows which make for the best photos) and the mosaic-topped Matthias Church. I realise I’m overdosing on positive adjectives here, but you would be too if you’d seen these buildings!

Two and a half hours later and we finished our walk at the back of the Castle District. Given free reign of the rest of the day, we first stopped for strudel (when in Hungary…) and then walked around the Royal Palace before heading back down to street level. Our next destination was Gellert Hill, where a few hundred steps will take you up to the Liberty Statue and Citadel. Again, great views and well worth the hike up to.

We headed back into Pest for dinner where a bit of looking around and the saviour that is TripAdvisor brought us to Taverna Dionysos. It was like stepping right into Santorini with the blue and white walls inside. And the food… I had an astounding cheese filled tub of calories and deliciousness, but I don’t think you could go wrong with anything on that menu. Hungary, you know how to do good food.

Feeling adventurous, we decided to head back up Gellert Hill once again as the morning’s tour guide had told us about a Hungarian folk party occurring between 8pm and midnight that night. I’m pretty sure we were led astray, finding no such party but it helped us to rack up 43,000 steps for the day (and work off that dinner) as well as spend some time watching the city at night.

There was more to discover the next day and we headed in the opposite direction up to Margaret Island, a long expanse of land sitting in the middle of the river. On the island, you’ll find a variety of pretty gardens, rentable buggies to drive around in, and most importantly, the all important ‘Budapest’ sign you can take photos in front of. But be warned, the island is longer than you think and we were pretty tired out once we reached the end – it might be worth investing in one of the buggies if you want to see the whole island quicker!

Budapest is famous for its baths, so that was our plan for the afternoon. Unfortunately, yours truly had neglected to bring any swimming gear, but I’ve been assured by my friends that the Szechenyi baths are well worth a visit. Even if you’re not into swimming, the park the bath is located in is massive and an easy way to waste some time.

Dinner didn’t disappoint again and we ended up at the newly re-opened Comme Chez Soi in Pest’s shopping district. Despite its French name, it was a wonderful Italian restaurant with all of the character in the world and the most charming chef, Ricardo. The food was delectable, reasonably priced, and followed by complimentary sorbet and chocolates. How did we get so lucky with food here? If you ever visit (and I would encourage you to) you might find a little note we left the staff still stuck in the bottom-right hand corner of the mirror. Feeling full and happy, we roamed the streets before arriving at some of Budapest’s famous ruin bars, so called as they are located in old city ruins. Tired after our busy day, we weren’t too disheartened to find the queue for the Szimpla Kert bar, the ‘original’ ruin bar where bathtubs serve as some of the seats, stretching around the corner, but if you want to check it out, get there early!

Our final day in Budapest was more leisurely and we made our way over to Parliament again, first heading into the underground museum which holds some of the stonework, and then into the visitors centre. If we’d known, we would have arrived even earlier as entry is only allowed on a tour which sell out very quickly, so in spite of arriving before 11am, the next available English tour wasn’t until 2:30pm. Nevertheless, your ticket grants you access into a small museum which details 100 years of Hungarian history where we easily spent our 2 hours waiting.

I’ve already told you about how beautiful Parliament is, and that wasn’t even talking about the inside. Our 45 minute tour brought us through a small fraction of the building, but a wonderful one nonetheless. Everything was covered in gold! I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen such an opulent building. Plus, you’ll also find the crown jewels inside and we arrived just on time to see the changing of the guards. Well worth a visit.

Lucky for us, our time in Budapest coincided with a Hungarian folk festival taking place in the Royal Palace grounds. Whilst not too cheap to get into, it offered an excellent way of passing the afternoon, as we passed by hundreds of stalls selling beautiful Hungarian crafts, listened to some traditional music on the stages, and ate ‘langos’ – effectively a huge savoury doughnut covered in sour cream and cheese. Yum.

As the sun began to set, we raced along to Margaret’s Island (stopping briefly to admire the sun’s golden rays glinting off of Parliament’s windows) and arrived with moments to spare before the 8pm fountain show where the water lit up and danced along to music (similar to my experiences in Kuala Lumpur which you can read about here). As it turns out, 8pm wasn’t the main show, as they have 15minute shows every hour on the hour, so we stuck around until 9pm, dipping our feet in the warm water and watching the water twirl languidly. Then, the excitement began and we were treated to almost an hour and a half of the fountain’s entire repertoire, ranging from classical music to Ed Sheeran and Justin Timberlake. It was brilliant. These mega shows run at 6pm and 9pm every night so make sure you check one out!

As they were on the way home, we wandered into a few more ruin bars – UdvarROM and Fuge Udvar, both of which were bustling, before returning back to our lovely Airbnb, catching a few Z’s and preparing for our return home the next morning. I had a fantastic time in Budapest and can’t recommend the city enough. If you can’t decide where to visit next, this is my number one pick. And, if my review isn’t convincing enough, EVERYTHING on this trip, including flights, accommodation, food and activities ended up costing less than £300. You can’t argue with that.

Ciara’s tips for Budapest: Firstly, go. Seriously, it’s a wonderful city and you need to visit it. There, that’s my marketing done. Secondly, BRING. A. SWIMSUIT. Biggest regret of the trip, but another reason to visit Budapest again. As always, Ciara’s Country and TripAdvisor are your best friends when travelling. Sure, you can risk walking into any restaurant for dinner, but the food we had was utterly superb so please consider trying them! Finally, give yourself time to explore the city. We’d initially considered visiting Budapest briefly as part of an interrailing trip, but making it our main destination was definitely a better decision. Enjoy!

If you enjoyed today’s travel blog, feel free to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry as I’ll be posting new travel blogs all the time! I’d also love to hear your comments – whether that’s about my writing style, recommendations, or places you think I should check out next. Let me know!

Thursday 16 November 2017

Concert Review: MAREN MORRIS, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

I honestly feel like I had been waiting for this concert forever. Perhaps it was due to the exhilaration of finding out months and months ago that one of my favourite artists was coming to do a string of UK dates, making sure to be online as soon as tickets were released to secure my spot, and then the big day finally arriving. I couldn’t wait.

Arriving at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, I couldn’t help but think how crazy it was that a Grammy Award winning artist was playing a reasonably medium-sized venue as opposed to sell-out shows at the O2 Arena or somewhere of a similar capacity. Add to this the fact that this was probably the biggest venue of the entire UK leg of the tour, and it seems all the more strange. As doors opened, I headed inside (thank you to Hannah for her help at the venue!) to take my place on the first seating level, watching as the standing section filled up quickly below me.

As the clock struck eight, the room darkened and Ryan Hurd strolled onto stage, looking very chilled out in a plaid shirt and jeans. He began the way I always like to hear artists – solo on the soft sounding Chasing After You, allowing us to get a real feel for his vocal style. However, he wasted no time in getting the party started, jumping straight into We Do Us, a Saturday night party anthem. I suppose as the opening act for Maren, I had expected his style to be somewhat similar but in fact he verged more on ‘country rock’, providing an interesting juxtaposition to what was to come.

Throughout the set, he ranged from other rock-inspired tracks like Half Hoping and City Girl to groovy tunes like Hold You Back. From watching, he certainly seemed to be ‘in the music’, as he sang most of the songs with his eyes closed. I particularly enjoyed Michigan For The Winter, a song about being proud of where you’re from, with lyrics that evoked sweet images of spending the holidays with the ones you love.

Ryan was not only taking part in the Hero tour simply as Maren’s opening act, but also as her fiancé, and songs like Last Turn Home and Love In A Bar offered beautiful snapshots into their relationship, detailing how they fell in love whilst making their mark on the music industry, and how it had brought them to where they are now. I suppose touring with your significant other solves the issue of being away from them for so long, something which I know creates contention for many artists who are not so lucky.

As well as being an enjoyable entertainer, Ryan is also a talented songwriter including of Lady Antebellum’s summer smash You Look Good which he played for us, highlighting his ability to write hugely commercially successful tracks, a feat which many Nashville artists strive to achieve. Doing a bit of Googling later, I was thrilled to see he’d also written Blake Shelton’s Lonely Tonight, a song I very much enjoy listening to now and then.

As the lights went up, I took the opportunity to glance around the venue, spotting UK Country Music royalty in the form of Ben Earle from The Shires as well as Liv Austen sitting up in the stands – always nice to see country artists supporting one another, and good to know they have great taste in music too!

Before long, the lights dimmed again and Maren took to the stage looking effortlessly classy in a leather jumpsuit and beige coat, as well as rocking British fashion in the form of a pair of Harrods blue knee-highs. The show started the same way as the album with the always fun Sugar before moving into Just Another Thing. Rather than staying in one place, she worked the stage, feeding off the crowds energy and vice versa.

The set was simple, with only a small LED ‘hero’ sign at the back of the stage and occasionally using the lighting to influence the mood, such as in the sultry How It’s Done, my favourite track off of her debut album which yes, did sound amazing live. In fact, I found her voice truly unreal, thinking at times that you could be fooled into thinking that she was lip-syncing (which she wasn’t) because it was truly just so good.

I thoroughly enjoyed the poppy tracks throughout her set, including new number Flavour (or Flavor, I guess) complete with brilliant lyrics like “Shut up and sing / Well, hell no I won’t” and Company You Keep, a song which didn’t make the final cut of the Hero album but can be found on the EP – give it a listen.

As well as playing most of the tracks from Hero, we also got to see Maren’s take on a variety of other artists, including Bonnie Raitt’s 70s anthem Angel From Montgomery and the almost rap / RnB sounding Hymn which I would have had no idea was by none other than Kesha. These moments were nowhere more appreciated than when she deftly mashed up her own and other songs, as in the case of Second Wind and Beyonce’s Halo which allowed her to go mad with incredible vocal runs.

The real highlights for me came when she sang ballads, such as I Could Use A Love Song which she told us had made it to radio in spite of nay-sayers suggesting that no one wanted to listen to slow songs - thank God she didn’t listen; and I Wish I Was, for which she brought Ryan back out to duet with. Without a doubt my favourite moment of the night was when she sang Once which for me exemplified exactly why she won a Grammy. Never before have I heard a song sang so incredibly. Seriously, YouTube it.

There were a lot of fan favourites included in the set too including 80s Mercedes and Rich, which she encouraged the crowd to take over on with everyone in the crowd coming together to shout-sing the words to the super-fun chorus. Of course, My Church was used to close the main set and I’ll be damned if not everyone in the house was singing ‘Hallelujah’ at the top of their lungs along with her.

As much as the fantastic vocals, what I also really appreciated was the amount that Maren made sure to connect with the audience. Between songs, she would chat to us for a good few minutes, commenting on how cool it was to have a sold out show in the middle of the week (like we would ever have missed it, even if it was at 6am on a Monday morning!), talking about the lack of women in country music and how thrilled she was that we were out here supporting female artists like her. It was nice to see that she not only cared about putting on a good show, but also that her fans felt like they had got to connect with her on a more personal level too.

Nowhere was this more clear than in her last song, which she preceded with a heartfelt statement about writing in response to tragedy, performing at the Route 91 festival earlier this year, and deciding there was no better time to release the final song of her set than after the Las Vegas shootings. Dear Hate was a beautiful song filled with raw emotion, and a perfect way to point out that in times of hate, music and love really do conquer all. No wonder she finished to rapturous applause and probably a few tears from audience members.

If I had to sum up Maren’s gig in one word, it would be a simple ‘wow’. I’ve never been more impressed with an artist’s vocals and I can’t wait for more singles, albums, and concerts to come. This is an artist I’ll be listening to and attending gigs for as long as I can.

I hope you enjoyed this review of one of my favourite artists, and I'd love to find out all about yours! Drop me a message on Twitter @CiarasCountry and be sure to follow for more reviews and interviews from fantastic country (and non-country) artists coming soon!

Gallery







Saturday 4 November 2017

TRAVEL: Costa Rica - snakes, storms and not a single sloth

There are many reasons to visit Costa Rica, perhaps most prominently its vast array of indigenous wildlife - sloths, frogs, snakes, insects. This was a key reason why it's been on my bucket list for a while now. I was also interested in visiting the country due to its sustainability credentials, being one of, if not the most, green country (in both senses of the word) in the world. 

Most visitors will arrive into San Jose airport, an airport which isn't actually in the district of San Jose but was moved outside over 40 years ago. This means that you have to drive from the airport along the inter-American highway, US 1, which I believe takes you from the United States all the way through Central America. There's a road trip plan if you need one! 

Our hotel for our first night in Costa Rica was just outside of San Jose, called The Bougainvillea which, due to its name, had lovely vibrant bougainvillea growing outside. The hotel was very pleasant and has an absolutely massive garden of its own of about 10 acres. We were tempted to explore it, but the weather had other plans. Being in the tropics, Costa Rica is no stranger to tropical storms, but thankfully here they're fairly predictable, occurring every day during the rainy season at about 2pm. Sure enough, at 1:45, the heavens opened - one second no rain, and then BAM, here comes the flood alert. It was quite a spectacle. The lights in the room began to flicker until suddenly they all went out. I stepped outside into the hallway to see they had the emergency lights on - quite an eerie experience. 
However, true to form, the shower was short and sharp and cleared up soon enough. Due to its location, there wasn't much to do outside of the hotel, so we spent the afternoon there and ate in the hotel's restaurant. I went for 'casado', a Costa Rican dish of rice, beans, vegetables, potatoes, fried plantain, a tortilla, and your choice of meat and fish. Very filling but a nice array of flavours to get your teeth into. 

The next morning we were to leave the hotel at the ungodly hour of 6am, but I'd already been woken by one of CR's delightful tropical birds singing outside my window as soon as dawn broke. We were collected in a minivan to head to our next destination, Tortuguerro. As the drive is a good few hours, we stopped midway for breakfast at the Suerre hotel in Guiapiles. The selection was similar to yesterday's dinner - like Mexico, beans and rice are some of CR's staple foods. 
Along the way, we got a glimpse of life in CR, much of which is based around tourism or agriculture. This meant lots of coffee and pineapple plantations, and most interestingly, banana plantations - this is where your Chiquita and Dole bananas come from. It's a proper system here - workers must find and cut bananas at just the right time so they'll ripen when they arrive in our stores, and cover a huge amount of ground, dragging the bananas back to the cleaning station along long wires.
On we went until we reached the main river point to Tortuguerro, where we transferred to a small boat which took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the Manatus Lodge, apparently the only lodge in the Tortuguerro area with air conditioning and TV's! Manatus refers to the scientific name for manatees who do still roam these rivers, although spotting one is very rare. The rooms are large with beautiful designs on the sinks and ceramics - parrots, frogs and butterflies. We're also right in the middle of the rainforest here - I just had to stop blogging to take photos of some spider monkeys eating in the tree outside my room! 
After our 3-course a la carte lunch (Manatus is full board - not good for your waistband if you spent too much time here!) we were back on the boat for a quick trip to the main village of Tortuguerro. Walking just 20 metres from the river side of the village to the other side and you reach the Caribbean Sea - my first glimpse of this Sea. Whilst lovely and warm, the waves were quite something - two kayakers trying to make their way beyond the breakers were having a very hard time! 

Tortuguerro is a souvenir paradise and almost every shop is a souvenir shop. Every other is a restaurant. CR thrives on tourism and they had some lovely crafts - all the wildlife in whatever form you wanted them - soft toy, magnet, wooden carving, jewellery. A pleasant place to spent the hour. 
We had a late night that evening having signed up to see Costa Rica's famous sea turtles. However, visiting the protected section of the beach that they nest in is done by a lottery, with possible slots for our hotel being between 8-10pm and 10-12pm. We got the later slot! At 9:30, we caught the boat across the river to Sector 2 (out of 6) where visitors are allowed to see the turtles, with the rest of the beach area reserved solely for the turtles. Unfortunately (but understandably) cameras are not allowed so I have no photos for you, so I've interspersed this section with extra wildlife photos instead!
We were met in darkness by one of the National Park rangers who brought us to see one of the turtles, a green turtle. The turtle was much bigger than I'd imagined, only slightly smaller than a giant tortoise so she'd created a large hole in the ground to accommodate her body. The aim in Tortuguerro is to disrupt the turtles as little as possible, so visitors are not allowed to see the first two stages of their nesting - when they arrive and make their way up the beach, and when they dig a hole in which to lay their eggs. However, we managed to see the following 4 stages: 

1. Laying eggs: We got there just in time to see the turtle laying her eggs, which basically involved dropping eggs two at a time into the hole she'd dug. On average, turtles will lay over 100 eggs at a time and lay eggs 2-3 times over the 4 month nesting period. Shortly after we'd arrived, she finished laying her eggs, and began the next stage. 
 
2. Covering: Using her powerful back flippers, she began flicking sand backwards into the whole to cover up the turtles. Whilst tiny when born, the baby turtles will still be able to break through all of this sand as she leaves it loose and not tightly packed.
 
3. Camouflage: Then it was time to use her front flippers to flick more sand all over the place to cover the hole she'd dug as much as possible to make it more difficult for predators to find. To give you an idea of the power of her flippers, we were occasionally hit by rogue flying sand standing metres behind her, sometimes even in the face! It's amazing the amount of energy these turtles have, particularly after having just laid 100 eggs.

4. Return to the sea: After spending an hour of so covering and camoflaging, the turtle is ready to return to the sea. She turns herself around in the whole and then drags herself back to the shore (flippers work much better in water, so this is tough work) until she's carried away by the sea. 
During our time at the beach, we saw 3 turtles nesting, and one who came onto the beach before deciding it wasn't the right place for her and turning around, leaving a fascinating u-turn shape in the sand. Admittedly, I had thought we would be seeing the hatched baby turtles making their way back to the sea, but had come at the wrong time as hatching season is between October and November - keep that in mind if you'd like to visit CR to see them. Right, back to relevant photos.

My tiredness wasn't helped by the early start the following morning for our morning boat trip. We saw a few snake birds (so called because they don't have the water-resistant oil in their feathers that a lot of diving birds do, meaning that once they surface their body doesn't float, leaving only the neck and head sticking out of the water like a snake), iguanas, a caiman and a particular highlight for me, the wonderfully named Jesus Christ Lizard, so called because it can run on water! 
We had another trip that afternoon including more iguanas, toucans (including the fantastic Kill Bill toucan because of its vibrant yellow colouring), tiny adorable bats, herons, and apparently a sloth, though you wouldn't know it. Far away towards the back of a tree was a grey mass, which using maximum zoom on my camera I could make out arms and legs. I was hopeful that we'd get a better view of some sloths in the following days! 
We had another excursion planned for that night - a night walk to look for more nocturnal animals. I was a bit annoyed that this activity wasn't included in the cost of the hotel stay as the boat trips were, and cost us an additional $30 per person in spite of the fact that I'm sure most guests would be interested in doing the night walk. The turtle excursion had also been an extra charge, but this is because it is run by the National Park folk, which makes the fee a bit more understandable. 
The walk was a success to a certain extent in that we saw a number of frogs, including the green tree frog which has become the symbol of Costa Rica's ecological endeavours and the 'blue jeans frog' so called as it is red with blue legs; a number of scary looking spiders you wouldn't want to find in your bed; and a variety of insects, mostly grasshopper types. We also saw, way up in the trees, three raccoons - still cute even when you can only just see them. I was also pretty impressed with my own tracking ability in spotting a number of frogs and insects even the guide didn't see - if this whole blogging thing doesn't work out, maybe there's a job for me there? However, I do think our group of 9 was too large to have a fully enjoyable experience - but hey, if you're getting $30 a piece it's not like you'll turn people away! 
Another early morning the following day (lie-ins don't seem to exist on wildlife holidays) as we were catching a flight from one of the world's presumably smallest airports and perhaps least equipped - the airport building contained nothing but two toilets, sans doors, and one sans toilet. However, that may have been better than the other which was covered in about 30 years of moss. Needless to say, none of us felt the urge to use it. Check in was also done at a foldable table outside the building without a computer in sight. We then boarded a 12 seater propeller plane to much bigger than a Cessna. I liked the feel of it - almost like a private jet but, you know, without the beds, waiting staff, TV's etc etc. 
30 minutes later and some wonderful views of a nearby volcano as these planes can fly at a much lower altitude than commercial planes, and we arrived in San Jose airport again. We collected our bags from the marginally more equipped small airplanes section of the airport and met a driver to take us to our next destination, 3 hours away by car. En route, we stopped at a pleasant restaurant come cafe 'Macadamia y cafe' where everything is handmade, a welcome stop in the long journey. 

The landscape began to change as we made our way upwards in altitude until eventually we rose above the clouds. We'd made it to Monteverde - the cloud forest with the apt name translated as 'green mountain'. After checking in at our hotel, the Hotel Belmar, a large lodge/chalet complex with pleasant views (well, they would be if the sky ever cleared) we headed in to the nearest town, although there wasn't much there aside from a variety of overpriced souvenir shops. Speaking of, most things in Costa Rica seem overly expensive, so bear this in mind. However, having a captive audience allows them to do just that. 

We had lunch at Cafe Orchid which was nice - my meal included retried bean and cheese empanadas, pumpkin soup, grilled cheese and garlic sandwich, and a delicious homemade pineapple and orange smoothie. I would absolutely recommend. On the way back, I managed to pick up some more dogs who began to follow us around, something which seems to have become a bit of a habit of mine. We did try to shoo them off (these roads are no place for dogs to be running around!) but thinking it was a game, they just became more attached. I can't say I minded the company though.

Added benefits of the Belmar include it's private nature trail, which takes about 25 minutes to walk through and was very enjoyable particularly as there's no one else around; a large pond from which you can watch the hummingbirds buzzing around the tropical plants (and attempt/fail to take photos as they move too fast) and complementary yoga twice a day which I tried and am still aching from. 
Another early start for our main adventure in Costa Rica - a guided wildlife tour around Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Unlike many places of natural beauty, Monteverde is not a National Park, but a series of private reserves so it's up to you which section of the forest you'd like to visit. We were collected at 7am by our guide Oscar, who looks more like Tom Hanks than Tom Hanks does. To be honest, that fact was more interesting than most of the tour. He spoke as if presenting a nature documentary: "Sometimes...in the forest...we hear sounds...If I hear this...'ch ch ch ch'...I know it is a bird...There are many trees here...all of which...hold secrets..." Nonetheless, he knew his stuff. 
Unfortunately, we seem to be pretty unlucky with wildlife lately and in our four hour trek, only saw the back of an agouti (a large guinea pig type creature), a couple of birds, a dead wasp (interesting apparently because it had been paralysed by a parasitic fungus) and many hummingbirds, most of whom we found in the artificial environment of sugar feeder stations. But, as they say, nature is as nature does. What we hadn't been aware of is that sloths, the animal we were most keen to see, are very rare around these parts and are only spotted 2 times a month maximum. So there you have it folks, you can spend a week in Costa Rica without seeing a single (complete) sloth! 
As the tour was shorter than we'd anticipated, we needed something to occupy ourselves for the afternoon. Having visited the town the previous day, this left pretty much only the adventure park where you can zipline etc, a frog terrarium, visiting some of the other reserves but probably seeing nothing without a guide, or going on a tour of the Don Juan coffee plantation. We chose the latter and were collected by representatives from the plantation who drove us to the other side of town. In fact, we ended up getting a better view of an agouti from outside one of the hotels than we'd had in the reserve...

The tour was a good way to pass the afternoon, although expensive as has come to be the norm in Costa Rica. 60% was dedicated to the coffee plantations, and we were shown how they grow from bean to plant, how they are harvested and dried, and how the beans are extracted and roasted. Whilst not a coffee drinker myself, I did learn new things about coffee, for instance that the darker and more bitter the coffee, the less caffeine it contains, although most consumers probably think differently; and that Finland is the largest coffee consuming country in the world.
The next 10% was dedicated to sugar cane where we had the opportunity to juice some sugar cane and try some sugar water, first plain (as you'd expect sugar water to taste) and then with a special Costa Rican citrus (like flat Sprite). Tasting is always the best bit of any food-related tour (for further proof - check out my Mexico travel blog!)
They saved the best til last - chocolate. We were brought into a room where we were told how a cacao pod becomes chocolate, and given the opportunity to taste the beans straight out of the pod where they are covered in a fruity pulp, crushed cocoa nibs, a lovely paste of cocoa, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, salt and pepper, and finally as the finished product - dark and white varieties and milk chocolate covered coffee beans. The tour finished with coffee tasting (in the gift shop of course) and we were then sent home, full to the brim. 
Our final activity in CR was a last night walk. As it was organised through the hotel, we were able to go to a private reserve that only the hotel uses, meaning it was just us and 2 or 3 other groups which was much nicer than loud voices and torches everywhere. To be honest, our guide wasn't particularly good and only spotted a few sleeping birds and a frog himself. Yours truly actually managed to do better spotting including some scary-looking spiders, more insects than you'd care to find in your room and most spectacularly, a scorpion. This was very cool as we turned off all the torches, shone a UV light, and it flouresced. Very very cool. Thankfully we did run into some of the other groups whose guides pointed out a kinkajou (raccoon-like creature up in the trees) and a snake. Not a mega successful trip but I was pleased to have found so many creatures! The following morning after a quick walk around the hotel to spot a coati, we got back in the car to San Jose, and to home.
Tips for Costa Rica: timing and location is everything. If there are specific animals you want to see, check when and where they're likely to be, and plan your trip around this. Furthermore, plan as much as you can in advance. Whilst it might seem like you can't be bored somewhere as exciting as Costa Rica, in places where there's not much to do aside from visit nature reserves, you'll want to know there are things to fill your time when you're tours are over. Finally, bring dollars as well as the local currency (colones) - CR is expensive so depending on the exchange rate you might do better with one currency over the other. ¡Pura vida!

Thank you for joining me on my round the world trip! Don't worry, that's not all the travelling I'm doing and they'll be more very soon - stay up to date by following me on Twitter @CiarasCountry I'm choosing where to travel to next and I'd love your opinions - leave a comment below!