Despite there being plenty of walking trails in the nearby area, we took a respite from jungle trekking on our first full day here, instead choosing to visit a number of small live animal attractions.

As Emma is a huge fan of bats, it was logical that the first place to visit would be called Bat Jungle, a place run by a “World Famous Bat Expert”. Not really knowing much about bats or the worldwide bat expert community I couldn’t really vouch for the authenticity of this claim, but if the quality of the exhibit was anything to go by then I would say there was some truth to it. Along with the fascinating live bat enclosure (featuring those mainly of the fruit-eating variety), there was an extremely informative poster exhibition, featuring a huge pair of bat ears that you could try on for yourself. The guide here was particularly well versed with all things bat-natured, giving an interesting and informative 101 on the flying mammals.

After taking coffee at Chocolate Cafe (which just happened to occupy the same Quaker community run building) we made our way back into town, visiting the Serpentarium along the way. Featuring around 40 species of snakes, it’s good way to see some of the more venomous species without putting yourself in harms way. Lizard and turtle enclosures add icing to the cake.

It was getting dark by the time we got to Mundo De Los Insectos (World Of Insects), but that was a good thing - based in a pitch dark dome, the main features of the exhibit are best seen by torchlight. The tour (guided by a humorous and enthusiastic guy who had only worked there a year) was excellent, lasted about an hour and incorporating a jungle-like “trail” inset with a number of small enclosures containing the more venomous species. As we were both bug-fans, we found this exhibition easily as fascinating as any outdoor jungle walk, and left the guide a fairly generous tip to suit.

We finished the day at the novel Tree House restaurant, named for it’s giant (and very real) tree growing right through the centre of it. If you’re missing all the usual stuff from home such as pizza, pasta and grills, then this is the place to come as although it’s incredibly touristy, the food is great and the atmosphere is low key - there was even a live latino band playing a laid back guitar and vocal set .