Set on the edge of the cloud forest, El Silencio is not quite silent but as close as you’re going to get. It’s set to the permanent background soundtrack of the river, taking clear water from the forested hills, and birdsong. It is hugely peaceful and the view from our lodge deck is wonderful.

We hiked to the waterfalls and took a journey over the hills to a market whilst we’ve been here. The nearby volcano is very active at the moment apparently although we’ve been unable to see it yet, unsurprisingly due to the cloud.

They’ve struggled, to be honest, with the whole vegan food thing. There were no vegan dishes on the menu they have been giving us, and although managed a nice pasta dish on the first night, they’d run out of ideas by night two and produced the same pasta again with a jar of sun-dried tomatoes tipped over it. Then inexplicably on day three produced what appeared to be a separate entirely vegetarian menu ! However on night three we were scheduled to eat the result of the food we’d bought at market so all a bit of a shambles really.

They have a tradition of painting oxcarts round here – we visited he last workshop in the region yesterday which was proper old-school and fascinating. Our guide was incredibly proud and passionate about his hometown of Sarchi, which was also famous for manufacturing furniture. Not our taste but extremely high quality woodwork using wahahka 

We head for Arenal by road today. The sun is shining. But in Costa Rica, that doesn’t mean it won’t be raining in five minutes. Like, proper raining as well. I like that – keeps you on your toes. And besides, it’s always warm rain.