A journey down to the Pacific Coast on ‘Collectivo’ buses with the locals has become one of our favourite ways to travel even if there was no space for Rory and he had to hang on to the side of the bus (fortunately they don’t travel at any great speed!). Three buses and some four hours later we arrived at the tiny beach side town. We stayed with Brigitte, a Swiss lady who has owned a restaurant ‘Taberna El Pelicano’ there for the last 20 years but is in the process of selling up to move back to Switzerland to be with her boyfriend. We had planned to have a lay in as we were tired from hiking the volcano but when we asked Brigitte what she recommended doing in Monterrico she mentioned the mangroves which meant a 5am start. So once we finished a fish dinner in her restaurant we had an early night.

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It was still dark as Brigitte’s friend met us outside the house at half past five and we walked down to his cayuco (kayak). The morning was still and quiet as we punted along, out of the village port and into the mangrove swamps. It was such a peaceful place to watch the sunrise and enjoy watching the many birds catching fish and insects before the suns’ heat set in for the day. There was a large lake like area where the waters were shallow and hundreds of different birds gathered; tiny pink flamingo, white pelicans, egrets, colourful kingfisher and many others too. We quietly made our way back to the dock as bigger, motorised boats carrying people and cargo busied up the waters. By seven o’clock we had walked to the beach and along the dark volcanic sands to a café for a breakfast smoothie.

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The rest of the day was spent on a roof top with a pool overlooking the beach and the infamous ‘Monterrico Airforce’ (pelicans) flying in formation over the beach and waves, a perfect way to relax.