Morph goes to Costa Rica!

Hola Amigos! 

Wowee Costa Rica, you really blew our socks off! 

We were expecting a spectacular holiday and boy did you deliver.

Turtles, Tucans, monkeys, sloths, hummingbirds and frogs.

 Canals, beaches, forest and lush vegetation. 

Tree houses, thunderstorms and hammocks. 

Coffee, fresh fruit juices, tacos, burritos and casado. 

Friendly ticos and don't forget the beans and rice! 

Costa Rica has it all!

The trip started with 2 days in the capital San Jose where we visited the Doka Coffee Farm,

Poas Volcano,

and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Rescue Center. 

This was the first opportunity to get up close with a toucan. How beautiful is this guy??

There was some exploring around San Jose as well and when the rain came down we took cover under a gazebo in the park and played checkers!

The first of many cool down ice-creams! It was blistering hot and humid the country over. 

After 2 days in San Jose it was time to get our 2 week Intrepid tour started. First stop: Tortuguero. Transport by public bus (not too shabby for a public bus!),

and canal boat!

We stayed at Miss Junie's Lodge (pronounced a lot like Miss Eunice) right on the beach.

The Caribbean coast where we would swim a number of times and see turtles lay their eggs later that night. 

The day in Tortuguero started with an early canoe trip on the canals, an excellent opportunity for wildlife spotting. In the afternoon we took a walk in the National Park and back along the beach.  

Towel art in San Jose,

and Tortuguero. 

The next stop was Sarapiqui where we stayed at the wonderful Alex's place. 

Some people stayed in a tree house but we stayed in the beautiful stand alone honeymoon suite =)

My travel buddy Justin in our beautiful room. 

The perfect place to wait out an afternoon thunderstorm. 

In Sarapiqui we enjoyed a really good guided walk through the La Selva Biological Station where we saw loads of cool animals, birds and plant life. 

The iguana restuarant on the way to La Fortuna! Huge but friendly. 

Amazing sunset over the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna. 

Good use of a free afternoon in La Fortuna, the Danaus Eco Centre. 

This was the first time we saw a sloth moving and eating and what a good view of him hanging out his tree we had too. 

We bravely tackled the extreme hike up Cerro Chato, or the Happy Indian, a smaller extinct volcano next to Arenal. Note to self: check with guide first what 'extreme' means before agreeing to the hike! 

A much deserved cool down swim at the La Fortuna Waterfall after the hike,

followed by coffee time at the Rainforrest cafe. 

Fig and coconut iced coffee chill time before leaving La Fortuna.

Rice pudding!

Many restaurants and 'Sodas' serve a small complimentary rice pudding after meals. This particular one was especially caramely and delicious!

We also enjoyed trying out the other kinds of tropical fruit along the way such as the interesting looking mamon chino. Once you work out how to eat it, the fruit is delicious and refreshing with a light litchi flavour. 

The next stop was Monte Verde and first up, a walk in the Curi Cancha Reserve. 

Followed by a treat at Stella's bakery nearby. 

Bats are totally underrated but seriously cool creatures and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to The Bat Jungle; a highly informative talk by a very enthusiastic biologist-guide followed by the opportunity to see different species up close in the bat cave. 

We bravely volunteered for a night walk on these canopy level hanging bridges in the rain and returned the next day to check it out in daylight. We didn't see that many animals in Monteverde in general but we enjoyed the experience of a cloud forest and the different very lush and green vegetation. 

One of our favourite fresh fruit juices: a jar of pineapple and basil juice with hints of mint at the Orchid Cafe. 

Cake o'clock! 

Guinuess chocolate cake and chai tea, nom nom. 

Frogs can be hard to spot in the forest, except perhaps the blue jeans frog, so we headed over to the frogarium for an insightful tour with live examples of many Costa Rican frog species and returned at night with a frog friendly flash light to see the nocturnal frogs too. 

Shooting the breeze after a long day in Monteverde. 

And then we were in Quepos, the last stop of the 2 week tour =( 

We found Quepos itself to be filled with suspicious characters but we had a lovely day exploring the Manuel Antonio National Park. 

Our Intrepid guide Edson marking out a route in the park. 

Beautiful white sand, people-free beaches at Manuel Antonio. 

We enjoyed many a swim in the warm Pacific Ocean. 

Our tour ended back in San Jose where we rented a car and drove down to Peurto Viejo in the South near the Panama border for a further 5 nights on the Caribbean Coast at the beautiful Physis Caribbean BnB. Thank you Emily and Jeremy for a great week! 

First on the must see list was the Sloth Sanctuary! Hola Buttercup!

We loved our visit to the Jaguar Rescue Center; no jaguars, but plenty of sloths, toucans and baby monkeys up close and willing to climb on you if you let them. 

Flying through the trees at zip-lining! 

And a Tarzan swing for that extra adrenaline rush! 

We were privileged to have a guided walk through Manzanillo National Park by Aquiles, a local who lives in the park. Gracias Amigo! 

Our last full day in Costa Rica arrived =( 

We used the beautiful day to explore Cahuita National Park,

and squeeze in more swims in the beautiful warm Caribbean Ocean. 

Gracias Costa Rica and Ticos for an amazing holiday!

Until next time, hasta luego! 

A typical week in Vitoria

Following on from a typical week in Lima, here is a typical week in Vitoria! 

This was the building where we lived.

And the view from our apartment on the 12th floor before we moved.

We moved to a new apartment in this condominuim two weeks ago. 

We are on the 12th floor of the second tower on the right. 

And this is the view from our new apartment. Quite an improvement! 

We are very happy in our new apartment. Justin can walk to work and comes home for lunch everyday which is nice for both of us. We don't get any direct sun so the apartment is much cooler which is super important with summer coming up soon. We also now have a squash court, pool, gym, kiddies play area, and beauty salon in the common areas. We plan on playing loads of squash as soon as we can get our hands on some squash rackets! (A lot of blocks have squash courts but you can't buy squash rackets in Vitoria....)

Our weeks look like this: Justin goes to work and I take care of the home admin.

This is the building where Justin works, a quick 5 minute walk from home. 

Hooray, no more taxis and traffic! 

Justin's corner of the open-plan office with a similar view to home.

Justin and his taxi driver Bruno for the daily commute before we moved.

Bruno is about 1.90 m tall and only just fits into his car! 

This is the OK Hipermercado, a 5 minute walk from the previous apartment, where I did all the groceries. I really like this supermarket and still shop there sometimes.

Notice the floor? It's all granite! The state we are in, Esperito Santo, has rich natural reserves of granite. It is apparently the cheapest building material available in this area and is used for just about everything, including the floors of malls, unbelievable! 

The closest supermarket to us now is the Horto Mercado, a ~15 min walk from the new apartment. I like this supermarket too but am still getting used to it. 

I really like this green grocer 5 minutes further from the Horto. 

Pronounced 'ortchi frutchi', their produce is always good and they often have difficult to find items such as fresh mushrooms and asparagus and they have better cold meat options. 

And I really like this little organic market, only open on a Wednesday from 3-9 pm.

I'm neither here nor there on organic but the produce is always super fresh and of a good quality. These markets are the only place I can find butternut squash in Vitoria. 

Monte Libano is probably the best bakery in Vitoria. This one was a 15 minute walk from the previous apartment. 

Pharmacies are one every street corner here, kinda like London and Starbucks. Opposite to most countries, it is cheaper to buy toiletries here than in the supermarket. Pacheco is my favourite pharmacy outlet.

The Herring store! 

Fast becoming my favourite clothing store and sort of an H&M replacement. 

Vitoria Shopping is the only big mall in Vitoria and is now a 10 minute walk away.

We don't come here too often but it is convenient to have it nearby. We watched our first movie here recently; hooray for original version movies in English in foreign countries! 

On the weekends there are usually lots of walks on the beach promenades, ice cream dates, and impromptu get togethers with friends. 

Friday night dinner at Rock Burger (pronounced hockey burguer) with Justin's colleagues. 

Clockwise from Justin: Justin, Bronwen, Fernanda's daughter Milena, Fernanda, and Isaac. 

Bronwen and Fernanda at Friday night Mexican!

Marguerita time!

Cheers! 

Justin and Isaac at Friday night steak night at Outback Restaurant. 

We arrived at Happy Hour.... 

Moqueca lunch with Vivian and Niels 

Moqueca! 

Having your nails done is very important in Brazil. We use this as an excuse for the girls to hang out. Vivian and our favourite nail stylist Sereia. She even comes to you! 

Agnes chilling waiting for her turn 

The best part of the week: beach time! 

One of the local beaches Curva de Jerema at sunset.

Boibs chilling on the beach

Sometimes we go further afield, like this day near Guarapari with Niels, Vivian, Luciana and Alexander. 

Those stretches of empty white sand beaches you see on TV. 

And in one sleep it is time for a Costa Rica holiday!!! 

See you on the other side of fun in Central America and the Caribbean 

x x x

Is this Winter?

We are finally back in Vitoria!

After many trials and tribulations over almost a year, our 1 year Brazilian work visas have finally been issued. A thousand hoorays! But it was not without some issue right up until the last moment when we collected our passports from the embassy. And after a 20 week home affairs nightmare Bron’s birth certificate was also finally issued. I was going to do a separate blog post on how to obtain a Brazilian work visa and how to apply for a South African birth certificate but in the interests of my mental health it is probably better to leave that in the past.

A big thank you to all the people who assisted us along the way with the visa process and birth certificate application, especially when we couldn’t attend to it ourselves. Special thanks to Abi for willingness and assistance on the Cape Town end, to Mum and Dad Cross for submitting extra documents and contacting the presidential hotline, and to Bron’s Mom (aka Meeps) for doing the final stretch including collecting the certificate, having it apostilled and couriering it on. Special thanks also to Justin’s secretary in the Netherlands, Edna, for applying for our police clearances on our behalf and arranging everything related to that. We really appreciate all your help!

Last week we did the last of the formal procedures by registering at the federal police (this is similar to registering at the Gemeente in the Netherlands). Even this final step had some last minute issues even though everything was pre-arranged and we were amazed that no one working at the immigration counter speaks English. The bureaucracy and red tape of systems in Brazil can be extremely frustrating and leaves a new visitor feeling quite unwelcome and this is not a good image for Brazil to have, especially for a country whose people are known to be very warm and friendly. But we also don’t see this changing anytime soon. If you ever have to deal with Brazilian bureaucracy, hang in there! It doesn’t last forever and the sun, caipirinhas and friendly people soon make you forget about it.

We enjoyed this last time in Lima much more than the first time and were feeling quite happy and comfortable after 11 weeks there. Even though we were sad to leave Lima in the end, we are feeling happy and settled after 4 weeks back in Vitoria. It is possible that we may go back to Lima for another short stint sometime in the future, but it would be by choice this time.

The apartment we are in at the moment feels very much like a sparsely furnished short-term holiday rental so we decided to look for a new apartment that would be more comfortable for a long term stay. Decent furnished apartments are like hen’s teeth here in Vitoria so we were extremely lucky to find a much better furnished apartment quite quickly and the move date is set for the end of August. The new apartment is a 5 minute walk from Justin’s office and has a beautiful view of the third bridge, the Convento da Penha and the Santa Maria River. We are looking forward to a cosier apartment that is not in the flight path of the local airport, hopefully better internet that is not subject to the weather, skipping the evening traffic and not relying on taxi’s for the daily commute. We will of course miss things from our current area, especially the selection of good restaurants nearby, but for now it is good decision to move. Pics of the new view to follow soon!

In an effort to improve our experience of living here, we are starting a beginner’s Portuguese course this week. The course is 3 hours long twice a week for 4 weeks. This will be a tough schedule for Justin after a long day of work but we feel it is important and will help to improve our daily life here. People here are extremely friendly and we are missing out by not being able to interact more due to language limitations. Portuguese is a hard language to learn but we hope to be able to say more than ‘bom dia’ and ‘obrigada’ soon.

Since Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, it is officially winter here. With temperatures ranging from 24 - 28ºC everyday with the occasional 30ºC day, we can totally manage this kind of winter. Considering it is the dry season, we still receive a fair amount of rain. At the moment there seems to be a cycle of about 14 sunny days followed by 4-5 rainy days. At the moment we are in the middle of a rainy period. Even when it is raining it’s not really cold with temperatures around 23ºC or 24ºC. Our winter wardrobe consists of shorts and flip flops, what a refreshing change.

Otherwise life carries on as normal in the work-week routine but we try to mix it up and get out into the sunshine on the weekends. This often includes long walks usually on the beach or on the promenade. We have become friendly with the other expats and locals also working on this project and hang out quite regularly. Activities are usually impromptu and include dinners out, snacks and drinks at someone’s house, tennis or squash for the guys and cycling for the ladies, snacks and games night, treat days with manicures and pedicures for the stay at home wives, and trips to the beach whether here in Vitoria or a bit further afield.

In other news, we have booked a holiday! In September we are doing a 3 week trip to Costa Rica. We have booked a 2 week tour that includes the main sights and an extra 5 days on the Caribbean Coast. I know many of you think we are on permanent holiday but this is our first official holiday of the year. We are super excited and can’t wait! The jungle, volcanoes, hot springs, hopefully swimming with turtles, lounging in hammocks, the sloth sanctuary and the Caribbean Coast: here we come!!

See you next time from our new apartment!

Have a good week y’all! 

We received a special delivery package from London recently: little Joshua art!!

Thank you Shell and Joshie for these super special pieces to brighten up our fridge. 

(And thanks to Tim and Peter in the Newcastle office for your role in the delivery)

View from our apartment one sunset

A sunny Saturday recently we were invited to join our friends Frans and Agnes to a state park near Guarapari, about 45 min drive south of Vitoria:

The path down to the beach

Fun along the way

The best of both worlds: a fresh water lake and the ocean

Winter activities #imlovingit

Those stretches of empty white sand beaches that you see in holiday ads

Agnes, Bron and Frans after fun in the sun

Views while walking back in the evening