The past week has been quite a wild time. So much has happened, it is hard to really sum it all up. I came up to San Jose last Monday, and chilled at my friend Derek´s house for the next three days waiting around. Megan flew in on Wednesday morning, and Derek had to leave for Nicaragua, so we crashed at his place that night and left our big stuff there while we travelled. The next morning, we woke up and took a bus down to the caribean side, to my favorite town, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. We stayed at a [View Full Entry]

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I promise that this story is not all bad, actually for the most part, it was an incredible couple of days. I had talked to an old friend named Derek about a week or two ago, he mentioned that he had some other friends coming from our hometown to come visit him, he lives in San Jose now. I left him a message on his cell phone, and he traced the number back to me, so we called each other a few times but never made any firm plans. I got done with a canopy tour on Thursday morning and was [View Full Entry]

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What a ridiculous adventure. I honestly thought it was going to be a fun day on the beach, just a simple 2 hour stroll to a great surf spot. Never have I been so wrong before. We left the house around 10:45, wearing tons of sunscreen and pretty stoked to be out on a cool trip. It was about 90 degrees when we left, and extremely humid, so much so that we had to walk in the waves most of the way just to stay cool. We hiked along the beach, wearing backpacks full of water, snacks, and cameras, and obviously, [View Full Entry]

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Woke up WAY too early this morning to start a long day of running errands. After a long run yesterday afternoon and surfing until dark, my whole body felt completely spent when I woke up this morning. My shoulders are finally getting used to paddling out every day, but my legs are killing me from the running. There is a really cool run from the house into town, a long gravel road (if you would call it that) that follows the bluffs overlooking the bay, crossing small streams teaming with caimen and discarded tires. Once you crest the hill, there is [View Full Entry]

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Just got done traveling for the past few days, decided that I have had enough of living in the middle of nowhere where it rains all of the time. I had a great time working on the river and getting in the water every day, but work slowed down tremendously and it was hard to find anything to do. One of the other guides that lived with me there in the cabin told me about a place down in the southern part of the country where he could get me some work, so I packed up all of my things and [View Full Entry]

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The last few days have been a blend of way too much excitement cut with a dash of absolute boredom...quite a volatile cocktail. Two days ago, I went on the Florida section of the Rio Reventazon with a small group of clients, only 3 rafts with 17 customers. I figured that it would be a pretty normal day, the section is a fun, scenic class III stretch with some good action in the first rapid, Welcome, and then some huge holes downstream in upper and lower Bamboo. The ride to the river was awesome. Daniel and I, my buddy from Canada [View Full Entry]

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Just got back into Siquirres a little bit ago, after a HORRIBLE day on the bus. The last two days, I have been in La Fortuna, showing my uncle and his buddy around and enjoying the town. We went up to the volcano on Saturday night and had the incredible luck to see a good bit of lava flowing! Definitely the first time I have seen that, we parked on the side of a dirt road and watched the pyroclastic debris tumble down the mountain toward us, it was awesome. On Sunday, we went up to the waterfalls at Catarata, then [View Full Entry]

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I guess I have a little catching up to do, I haven't been to a computer in about five days. What a week! On Sunday, I got a taxi over to Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose, and waited for about an hour for my dad to get in. It was so awesome to see him again, and I know he loves coming down here. Hell, this is the second time in a month for him. We drove that night up and over the Cordillera Talamanca range, climbing over 10,000 feet before plunging back down onto the Pacific coast. We ended [View Full Entry]

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We spent the rest of our trip in Tortuguero doing next to nothing. I have no idea how they consider this work, because it truly is a paid vacation in paradise. I will ask time and time again to put on this assignment. Our last day we had one last gourmet meal-which by the way, does NOT happen to me here. I am used to simple, cheap casados and the usual comidas tipicas that are found in nearly every restaurant down here. To be treated so well is a bit overwhelming. Lounging by the pool and taking walks on the black [View Full Entry]

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Well, what an interesting few days I have had. I wound up in probably the wildest place I have ever been in my entire life, Parque Nacional Tortuguero. I woke up around 6:30 yesterday morning(normal for me now) and had a cup of coffee before heading over to the warehouse to check the schedule and help load all of the gear for the day. I assumed that I would be on another section of the Rio Reventazon, training on another stretch of whitewater, practicing technique. Instead, I was told that I had about 10 minutes to get ready, and that I [View Full Entry]

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