A weekend of relaxation!

Travel was successful and the long day consisted of breakfast in two parts, lunch, tea and supper, then a small supper at the hotel. But I understand you have to move from one timescale to the next and this is what it entailed. I also read the New Statesman from cover to cover, some very funny Trump articles, read the second half of a novel and watched two and three quarter films! So I think I made the most of what can be a trying day of travel. What's more, I had a front seat with lots of room.

David met me at the airport, there was slight tension as always as I waited for my case. There were a lot of pink cases and this time it would have been very difficult to replace the contents.

The Villa Blanca is a beautiful hotel, with cabins, a dairy farm and biodiversity research station set in the Los Angeles cloud forest. The weather can change from one minute to the next and generally it's like a sauna. The mirror in my bathroom only clears when I use the hairdryer. 

There is a small chapel with hand painted ceramic tiles on the roof, where today a wedding is to be held. So it looks like all hands on deck!

I made it clear I was here to practice my Spanish and everyone seemed pleased and has been very helpful. I have had conversations with the dairyman, the security guards, the waiters, the handyman and can also satisfy my curiosity as they are full of information. They tell me my Spanish is good, so that's satisfying.

I have walked several of the footpaths, and last night went on a night walk. We saw frogs, insects, spiders but no snakes or mammals and I know there are plenty here as I watched a film at the research station. However I had a surprise yesterday morning when I opened my doors to the patio to be confronted with a pack of coatis, the cleaner said sometimes a mother is followed by her babies. Their tails are like walking sticks!

It's not just Spanish I am learning. I now know how to milk a cow. I had a bit more success today than yesterday. Antonio showed me how to do it but both he and Rudi who was there today seemed able to extract more milk than me. You have to be quite fierce!

Feeding the calf was easier; I won't make a farmers wife but it's one more step towards self sufficiency. Am not sure Berrall Way is ready for cattle though!

This afternoon I am indulging in a couple of spa treatments, then tomorrow it's off to Monteverde, where I will be pleased to unpack the case, go shopping and settle in for three weeks.