I know I'm about to make everyone jealous with this blog but I just can't help it - sorry! At least I know that most of you will have amazing trips to look forward to yourselves and perhaps some of you will actually be going to one of these trips in Costa Rica too - lucky things!

I had the privilege of accompanying some interested journalists on a whistle stop tour of Costa Rica and our projects. In just 3 days I was able to see our community and building projects in San Ramon, our turtle and surfing project at Buena Vista beach on the Pacific coast our fantastic conservation project deep in the cloud forest near the Tenorio volcano.

After flying into San Jose International Airport near Alajuela we headed to San Ramon, just a short drive away. First stop was the Hogarcito where we met with Sarah one of our volunteers who is working there. It was great to see Sarah really settled in to her role at the project and helping to care for the kids that were there. These children have been removed from their families for reasons such as abuse and neglect and the Hogarcitos is now their home. The permanent “aunties” look after them daily and volunteers make sure they also get one on one attention.

Then it was on to the Building project where Oddny, Jack and Carl were getting stuck into the foundations of a new build. This house was being built for an elderly couple who could not afford their own home without the assistance from this charity that works to improve the living conditions of Costa Rican’s. The locals get low rate loans from the charity to build homes and this is only possible with the help from volunteers who make sure that the property can be built at a very low cost – genius!

After a full day at the projects it was time to jump into our wheels and hot foot it over to the Pacific Coast and the town of Samara. It was a long afternoon and morning to reach the beach but it was certainly worth it! After wading through the river to get to the beach we met Tia and Shyla just as they’d finished their first surfing lesson and Shelly who was working on the turtle project. The three ladies had only been their one day but were very excited as the night patrol had given them over 50 baby turtles to deal with. Everyone jumped into action to move the babies from the hatchery to the beach and they all watched as the hatchlings flapped their way into the ocean. What an amazing first night in paradise.

Last but not least was our trip to the Tenorio volcano where Helcionias Eco Lodge is based. I had the opportunity to wander the trails and saw plenty of animals in such a short time there were toucans, sloths and many, many more!. I’m not sure whether it was exhaustion or the wonderfully clean air up here that made me sleep like a baby. The Heliconias Lodge is run by a local farming cooperative who have created the accommodation and trails so that there is a future for their families which doesn’t involve cutting the forests down. Sadly there were no volunteers there on our visit but the team were raving on about a past volunteer who we had just missed that had been amazing!

After all of this can you believe I actually managed to cram in a horse trek and a visit to the Rio Celeste (one of Costa Rica’s big tourist attractions) where the water has been turned blue by sulphur and copper. It looked great but shame about the smell. It was certainly hard to say goodbye to my new found friends after I had seen so little of this amazing country – I will definitely be coming back for more!