My Garden

My multi-coloured roses - yellow and pink on the same plant. I got this big climbing plant by pulling off a twig from a friend's garden it just grew like crazy! In fact all the plants you can see in this shot are stolen from someone's garden. I love it!

These two white flowers just popped right up from a really boring looking plant.

Here is my lovely garden. It's growing like mad now there's loads of sunshine. I just hope the boys living here will look after it. Rob reckons her will grow herbs so I have hope.

Getting excited

I am so excited to jet off to Vietnam. We just got our flight details and the information on our first social. We are flying via Quatar on Quatar Airlines. I was a bit disappointed as I hate flying and now we have to do a transfer it makes it twice as bad. But never mind I have got over it!

We have a social on the fist Saturday when we get there - off to a Czech micro-brewery. Sounds like something we would do in London. I hope it will be easy to meet people and make friends. It sounds like they have an organised social committee unlike here where the principal organises the Christmas dinner etc. and we end up sitting in the art room having dinner. I can't wait!

Less grumpy!

I feel so much better than yesterday. I went to the gym last night, ate healthily and got a good sleep. Although I did dream like crazy. I hope this week goes quickly. We have a party to go to this weekend for our friends' one year old kid. They have already had the kids party but think they should also celebrate so we're going round theirs on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up after the holiday.

Back to school blues

I feel crap although I slept really well last night. I look shattered and people have even said that. So much for a holiday rest! I didn't sleep very well while we were away and I think getting back into routine will help me feel better. I was gutted to get back to school today to find my classroom in a big mess. I left it perfectly tidy and was looking forward to coming back to an organised room. They had ripped out two windows and it was so dirty. They left all my stuff in a mess and didn't bother to put anything back and some of the kids work from the walls has completely disappeared along with the chair I sit on. I was fuming. If I had know I would have put all my personal stuff away.

I need to eat healthily and go to the gym. It makes such a difference. I have only ten weeks to slim down a bit before pigging out in England. It's terrible to think like that but if I loose weight before I get there I can put it back on again in the summer!

Back home

We're back in Mexico. We're all unpacked. I don't mind being home but I can't bear the thought of school tomorrow. It's boiling hot here. For some reason I thought it would be cold. My garden has grown like crazy and looks gorgeous. I am going to organise a party outside now it's warm and dry. Only ten weeks of term then big, long summer holiday!

Out for a nice meal after our mega walk.Frog!

Great big leaf on the way to the top of the volcano.

Looking into the steaming volcano. It stank of sulphur and was quite choking.

After visiting the volcano we went to a butterfly and snake place which had a waterfall walk through the park. Bit of a climb again! My legs will be super strong when I get back.

Not what I call a holiday

The hill we climbed - it looks more tame from a distance!

We spotted 3 different toucan species and I managed to get a shot of this one.

At the start of the walk.

We went on the craziest hike today. It was about 6 hours and straight up or down a so called hill - it was more like a mountain. It was amazing being right in the forest. It went through a rain forest and then as we were higher a cloud forest. Both of the forests have completely different animals and plants. It's like there is an invisible line where they change dramatically. It was beautiful but I was shattered. Of course Gareth loved it but I would have preferred to be lying by the pool! I collapsed when we got back and slept like the dead. Gareth is taking me to a lovely restaurant and has promised a bottle of wine for my efforts.

Zip lines and Tarzan swinging

I have just screamed my lungs dry by scaring myself silly on a swing. We went on a tour where you fly through the forest on zip lines. It was very professional and I felt totally safe but some of the lines were so high up and very long. The longest was 450m and about 30m from the ground. It was really exhilarating and we had great views of the town and the volcano. I was very brave though when we came to a Tarzan swing. You had to jump off like a bungy jump and it took your breath away then instead of bouncing you continue to swing like on a big rope swing. I went so high - right up into a tree. I screamed my head off and all the blokes though I was very funny. I came down shaking like a leaf and my legs felt like jelly. Now I am glad I did it - but I wouldn't do it again soon. We're going to have a lazy day. I'm off to pig out on white chocolate covered coffee beans. I love them. So much for the healthy eating!Me on the Tarzan swing

Hot Springs and Erupting Volcanoes

We had the best day yesterday. After lunch we took a hike round the volcano. It was incredible to feel it rumbling and we saw it chucking out rocks and lava. It is one of the most dangerous kind of volcanoes as it does not have a lava flow but sends out explosions of lava rocks. So we couldn't go right up close and take a look - we had top stay pretty far off. But it was amazing - like a natural firework display.

After that we went to some hot springs. I thought the would be man made pools on a cliff like the others we had visited but this was a full on spa. It was idyllic. We had fresh towels and it was a welcome relaxation after a hard day of hiking. The pools we huge and all natural with little waterfalls and smooth rocks to sit on. Some of them were a bit too hot 41.5C was the hottest - I'm sure that's hotter than a bath. They had a bar in a cooler pool where you could sit in the water and drink. I had a naughty but yummy cocktail. We had dinner with the other people we had been hiking with. They were rally nice . A couple of girls from Mexico, so we had lots to talk about, and a couple from Arizona. All round a great day out. This is the best picture I could get at the springs as it was too dark and steamy. You can just about see a water fall behind the steam. You could sit underneath it and it felt like a steam room.

Volcanoes and Rainforest

We're just in the middle of a trip. We have had lunch and have an hour or so to waste so I thought I would take the chance to add my photos so far today. We went on a hike this morning through the rainforest. We started with the volcano smoking behind us and we could hear explosions along the walk - a bit scary. It was really high up in the canopy across suspended bridges. The wobbled about like mad and I was a bit of a scaredy cat. We saw some poison dart frogs - the ones you can kill people with darts by wiping the points on the frogs skin. I was careful not to accidentally lick one.After that we went to a lovely waterfall. It was a killer walking up and down. I used muscles I haven't used in ages. But it was worthwhile to swim in the plunge pool of the waterfall. It was really cold but refreshing as it's so hot today. It was the cleanest water I have ever seen and felt lovely in my hair. We just had a nice lunch and it chucked it down with rain - we have timed it so well. Now it's stopped and we have another hike to take round the bottom of the volcano. Then on to some relaxing natural hot springs.

Jungle Photos

On the beach after our jungle walk

Bats having a daytime sleep

Vey poisoness snake / called eyelash something (can't remmeber exactly)

I look a bit manic here as I was up far too early and I got to hold this bug. It was all too much.

If you ever wondered this is how pineapple grow.

Monkeys

Wildliferama!

Seen loads and loads of animals. They reckon the place we just visited is as good as the Amazon for variety of animals. They have panthers and puma, loads of monkeys, sloths, crocodiles and cayman and lots of birds and snakes. I loved it. I am (sadly) an animal planet fanatic and know loads of factoids about animals. So it was great getting right in there to see them.

We left the beach early on Saturday and took a bus to Totuguero National Park. It is a protected area as it is the only area left in the world where green back turtles still nest. Unfortunately as the leave the Nicaraguan poachers are still killing them. It was a beautiful trip and we had to take two boats. There were huge crocodiles along the way. They said they can reach 6m in length and could smash our boat with their tails (I got a bit scared then especially when we saw a baby and they said the mum must be nearby and could get angry). We stopped in a little town with the river on one side and the sea on the other. It was a nice place unfortunately our room was a bit damp and stinky - but we only had one night.

The next day we took a boat tour along the canals right through the jungle. We saw loads of crocodile and cayman and I got a great picture of a crocodile head with the teeth out. There were lots of monkeys who were very cute doing their thing in the trees. A snake even dropped right into our boat - luckily it got right out again. We saw some tree snakes and could get right up close. I have some great photos to put on tomorrow. We had a nice lunch and then went on a jungle walk. I was very scared as there was a massive crocodile right by the boat as we got out and our guide had just been telling us horror stories about people being eaten. We walked into the jungle and saw lots of poisoness snakes. Apparently you only have one hour if you are bitten. Luckily the were snoozing and were totally disinterested in us- they only come out at night. We spotted a sloth - I was disappointed as it was so far away but at least we saw one.

We then took the boat out of the national park and arrived here in La Fortuna near Arenal volcano jut a few hours ago. We have splashed out on a lovely hotel with a pool and balcony with rocking chairs. We have had 3 early mornings in a row and I am looking forward to a lay-in and relaxing tomorrow. I will post photos then too.

Monkey Attack

Gareth was attacked today by a bunch of cheeky monkeys. We went snorkeling in the morning on the reef then were dropped off in the jungle where there is a walk back to the town alongside the beach. There are sloths, monkeys (like the one in Friends) and a whole load more creepy crawly animals (especially big spiders) along the way. As we arrived we went to have some lunch on the beach. I was watching the cute monkeys when suddenly 2 of them start charging towards me. I realised they were after Gareth´s cake he had just taken out. They ambushed him hanging off his shirt and grabbing the cake right out of his hands. A whole load of other monkeys saw the fun and Gareth was surrounded minus his lunch. I thought it was very funny. Gareth says he´s going back to kill them later. Unfortunately I didn´t have my camera but at the next stop I hope to snap loads of monkey shots.

We went for a lovely walk yesterday but have mainly been chilling on the beach. It´s like Swiss Family Robinson here. So deserted and wild. I love it! I´m still eating all the seafood and doing my share of napping. Great!

Costa Rica

Been in Costa Rica for a couple of days now. I am having a nightmare with this keyboard as it's a Spanish one but all the keys are in the wrong place so forgive any weird mistakes. When we arrived we stayed in a hotel near the airport which was nice but very American orientated - for the spring breakers.

We then took a bus to the Caribbean Coast to a little town called Puerto Viejo (I spotted 2 sloths on the way). The town has about 5 main roads that are all dusty tracks and is really chilled out. You have to wait at least an hour after ordering any food. It's a different pace of life to crazy Mexico City. We were lucky to find a place to stay as when we arrived it was a mad rush as this place is tiny. I was so lucky to be pointed towards this lovely hotel. It feels like a tropical paradise - little paths through lush plants. It's so noisy at night though as there is so much wildlife. I think we have monkeys chucking stuff on the roof. Last night I heard howler monkeys - really loud. Luckily no scorpions yet - I hate them. We have fitted right in and have not really moved from our hammocks except to take a swim and a stroll on the beach - even that was too energetic for me and I had to lie down. The seafood is great and the fruit lovely and fresh. I will post photos soon.