Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

Our final stop in Costa Rica took us to the stunning national park of Manuel Antonio. World famous for being one of the most bio-diverse places in the world, the park has everything from tropical forests to mangroves and white sandy beaches, making it the perfect environment for thousands of different types of plants and animals to flourish.

Our journey to the park was eventful. Our bus pulled over on a bridge and we all piled out to see a huge float of crocodiles basking on the bank below us. There were at least thirteen of the little beasties, all resting in the sun with their huge jaws wide open... It was a slightly scary sight to say the least!

Once we'd arrived at the Manuel Antonio National Park we got stuck in straight away, heading deep into the vegetation to see if we could spot any animals. We weren't disappointed and before long, we came across a shy little lizard.

And then a not so little lizard....

Then came the monkeys! There were two different varieties- the small, chattering spider monkeys and the larger, more boisterous cappuccino faced monkeys. Both troops were flinging themselves through the trees and playing with each other and there were even baby monkeys clinging to the backs of the older ones!

Then, the best thing happened! We spotted the one animal I was desperate to see- a two toed sloth! Even better, for some reason it was surprisingly active, climbing up its tree and swinging between branches.

Just look at its little smiley face!

Can you see that little green patch on the sloth's back? That's a symbiotic algae which lives in the sloth's fur which helps the sloth camouflage!

After quite a walk, we emerged from the forest and found ourselves digging our toes into pure white sand. The beach was just beautiful. The waves crashed on one side, while monkeys played in the trees on the other and racoons scampered on the sand. We even found another sloth and its baby in a seaside tree!

Day two in Manuel Antonio took us to the mangroves. We started at our guides house where we had a traditional Costa Rican meal and he told us about the importance of tourism in Costa Rica. Tourism is a relatively new industry out there and it became very clear very quickly how important it is, having risen to be the biggest economic sector even over the long established trades, such as the exportation of tropical fruits. We'd seen first hand how welcoming many people working in tourism had been, but it was fascinating to find out just how much it meant to the individuals in the industry and how it had lead to a boom of small businesses.

Before long, we found ourselves bobbing through the mangroves on the lookout for more exotic animals.

The mangroves were teeming with life. Little birds hopped around and jewel coloured crabs scuttled up and down the tree roots. Then, our guide excitedly pointed upwards where a tiny silky anteater was dozing in the branches!

We also spotted some snakes and more giant lizards!

Our last day was spent relaxing beside the pool at our hotel, Plaza Yara. From my sun lounger, I could see the jungle and in the morning and evening, monkeys came and played in the trees. The hotel was also shockingly lovely- we had an absolutely huge room with a jungle view and the entire place was decorated beautifully! The hotel also used the restaurant next door, Z, which turned out to be absolutely wonderful. (It kept my mother very happy as they had a choice of three different seafood platters!).

Manuel Antonio had to be my favourite area of Costa Rica. The entire country has been incredibly vibrant, but Manuel Antonio took this vibrancy to an entire new level.

Malta: Part Three

Day three's adventure saw us climbing onto a little speed boat and jetting off at top speeds to Comino Island. Comino Island is locally famed for its Blue Lagoon, where the sea is supposedly a stunning shade of aquamarine and the sandy bottom a glittering white. I was quite excited for spending a day sun bathing and soaking up the scenery. But first, the journey there and the caves!

We met at 10am outside our hotel and waited for the mini bus to come and collect us. It was late, but we were expecting this- one thing we've learnt out here is that everyone runs on 'Malta time' which is at least 10-15mins behind the rest of the world. However, it was worth the wait since we met the best bus driver we could have hoped for. He was friendly and determined to tell us everything about every place we passed- I felt we learned more from him in the 30min bus drive than I had from anything else so far!

My top five favourite facts were:

• Malta is teeny tiny at only about 17miles long and 9miles wide!
• Apparently, Malta was so heavily bombed in WWII that more bombs were dropped per day on the little island than on London in the entirety of the Blitz! 
• To escape this bombing, the island residents had retreated to the huge cave networks which run under the whole island.
• Malta has no naturally sandy beaches. At the end of the Cold War, Russia gifted Malta a load of sand and it has been imported from the Middle East ever since! 
• A large number of films have been shot on the tiny island, including Troy, The Da Vinci Code, Munich and Midnight Express.  

Don't we all feel more worldly now? 

Our driver stopped and let us all out at one point to see the Popeye film set which was visible from the road. We looked down this cliff and could see all the houses, set around a beautiful bay of some of the most strikingly coloured water I think I've ever seen! However, after our quick photo op, it was time to get back on the bus and trundle off towards our boat. 

Before long, we were clambering into the speed boat and skipping over the waves towards Comino. On the way, we pulled into some rocky areas and got to see some of Malta's dramatic sea caves. 

We then arrived on Comino and I was surprised by just how busy it was! The narrow area around the Blue Lagoon was covered in deck chairs, sharp rock and people- luckily we found a spot when we did- had we been any later, there wouldn't have been room to move! The bay was very pretty (the water a beautiful blue as promised) but the number of people there ruined it somewhat for me. At least the deck chairs were cheap, starting from 5euros for the entire day. However, we made the most of it and spent the day sunbathing and paddling in the crystal clear water. 

All in all, I had a lovely day and was very glad we'd gone on the trip, despite how busy Comino was.  We'd seen some very pretty scenery, the boat trip had been exciting and we'd learnt a lot about Malta. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that food, drinks and deck chairs on the island were cheap, despite the fact that you were trapped there until your boat came to get you and so they could have forced you to pay more for everything. I would definitely recommend visiting, but aim to get there as early as possible to beat the crowds!

Alcúdia, Majorca

Last week, my best friend Meggie, my sister and I went on holiday together. We visited Majorca some years ago, where we stayed in Pollença, a pretty seaside town in the north of Majorca. This year we were back, staying in the historical town of Alcúdia.

Alcúdia is beautiful. The old town is surrounded by a castle-like stone wall which dates back to the 14th century. It shields and restrains the narrow sun-drenched streets and the stone houses with their pained shutters.

Alcúdia holds a market every Tuesday and Sunday so we popped down to see what we could find.
There were some interesting stalls holding everything from leather goods to Majorcan olive oil (often infused with a variety of different flavours such as lemon and mango!), dried fruits and delicious looking nuts. Lu and Meggie were a little grumpy from lack of sleep but cheered up remarkably when they spotted a heaving stall covered in sweets!

We also found a wonderful little shop tucked away down one of the narrow streets which was filled with large glass vats of vinegar and liqueur, flavoured with local Majorcan herbs and spices. The shop owner was really friendly and kept giving us tasty little morsels to try. Lulu ended up buying a deliciously sweet liqueur which was flavoured with herbs claimed to aid your digestion. Whether or not this liqueur would do the same we've yet to see, but it was nonetheless a tasty buy!

The weather in Alcúdia was beautiful and we spent much of our time either by the pool or lying on a beach by the sea. The beaches we visited were all rather dramatic, surrounded by ancient volcanic rock forms. The water was a stunning shade of blue and rather on the warm side which inspired a few bouts of paddling and a determined swim around a tiny island. When we were sick of the salt, we retired to the refreshing waters of our villa pool, where we basked on the lilo or played pool games together.

Alcúdia is a lovely little town to visit if you're looking for a short break somewhere where the sun is hot. The old town and port is pretty to look around and there are plenty of restaurants to keep you well fed. Personally we found the best nightlife is a short taxi ride away in Pollença, but that does mean that Alcúdia is a wonderfully quiet and family friendly town. We had a lovely little break and came back suitably tanned, much to our delight!