Hi Everyone

The journey here yesterday was long but uneventful and all went according to plan.  The US customs now have a full set of my finger prints and a scan of my retina!  When I got to New York, I had to re-claim my baggage to go through customs and then check it straight back in again!  The guys who took it off me at the airport didn't exactly instil confidence in me but it turned up in one piece in Costa Rica.

When I got to Costa Rica, there was supposed to be someone there to meet me but no-one was!  The plane arrived about 25 minutes early so I thought that might have been the reason.  A man from the airport was very helpful and rang the contact number for me and was told that Marta was on her way and sure enough, she arrived as we were on the phone.

The drive to Atenas took about 45 minutes and for most of the way, the road was pitch black and I could see nothing of the scenery.  When we arrived at the house, I was greeted very warmly by Genia and Carlos.  As the time differnece is 7 hours behind the UK here and it was about 9p.m. when I got here, I more or less went straight to bed.

When I awoke this morning, I could hear some very exotic sounding birds outside.  It rained very heavily in the night.  I had my breakfast sitting outside the house and the views are unbelievable.  It' very lush and green and there are mango trees in the garden.  I am told that there are many toucans flying about but as yet haven't seen one!

I've been lent this lap top by a guy that lives in the house and he has said I can use it any time so hopefully I will be able to keep up a regular blog.

Tomorrow I go for an 'acclimatisation day' but not sure what that will entail.  When I've worked out how to load photos onto here, I will post some-

Keep in touch.

Pat xxxxxx