Across the course of the weekdend Stef had been getting steadily more ill with a fever etc, eventually we decided it was best to head to the doctors. Despite the trip to the doctors on Saturday afternoon, by Sunday evening Stef wasn't in a good way, and by Monday morning (my deparature time) she was worse again.
I left Stef in the care of some of the other volunteers and headed with George by bus up to Punterenas to get the ferry to our next volunteer placement. About half an hour into the three hour journey I got a message from Stef saying she really wasn't well and had collapsed twice. I immediately made the decision to drop George off with the others in Punterenas and head back to San Ramon to make sure Stef was ok.
About 5hrs of buses later I arrived in San Ramon and headed straight to the hospital. Unfortunately the first doctor in Manuel Antonio had prescribed the wrong pills and although the shot he had prescribed had worked in the short term, it had quickly worn of. Stef had a chest and throat infection and needed bed rest to get back up to full strength.
Once in San Ramon I made the decision to stay with Stef until she was better and more accurately until she returned to England.
Whilst Stef got better her host mother, from the family she was staying with during her volunteer work, insisted we stayed with them.
Flory's house
Flory was our host mother and took care of us as though we were her own children. I don't think I've ever eaten so well in my life and I've definitely never had as many fresh fruit shakes. Flory baked cakes for a living and sold them to local bakeries... which ment delicious cake after each and every meal.. Also I think maybe Flory thought I looked undernourished from my time in the rainforest, as their were numerous mornings I ended up with at least two breakfasts. How I haven't gained ALOT of weight during this period I'll never know haha.
Flory, Stef and lots of fresh fruit (and a cake)
Stef and the raw ingredients of another fresh fruit shake
After my time working at Heliconias I was desperate to do some washing and everything was looking decidedly grubby... especially my trainers (all three pairs). Flory would not hear of us doing our own washing and waged her own personal war on my filthy trainers. As the below photo shows, Flory won the war and my trainers actually came back cleaner than when I purchased them
San Ramon itself is a relatively small city about an hour or two outside of San Jose, mostly famous as an administrative capital with a large proportion of Government workers and a fair sized university to boot.
The view over San Ramon
One of the many busy streets of San Ramon
The Cathedral
And finally heres another photo for Mum, Dad, Nick, Gran and Gramps and anyone else who appreciates the wonder that is... Malta buses. Again this is Costa Rica, and more specifically, San Ramon's take on the malta bus.
Malta bus
