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Published: July 19th 2008
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Pascuare Rafting Crew
Matt, Tiffany, our guide Ricky, and Liesel and David after a great day on the river. Hi everyone, David here (actually writing from Hotel Brio in a tiny village called Gigante on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua). As expected, time is flying and we're having a lot of fun but as a result we're a little behind on our updates. It is currently raining outside (a blessing as the last couple of days have been seriously hot and humid) and Liesel and I are taking advantage to update our blog.
As the title of this entry states, I'm going to share some of the more memorable action-type adventures we've undertaken on our journey so far.
The 30th of June 2008 was a great day for two main reasons. Firstly, I had finally made a full recovery from a nasty bug I'd caught earlier somewhere between leaving Brazil and arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica, and secondly we would soon be white river rafting in Costa Rica, something we had both been looking forward to for a long time.
After an early start we embarked on a three hour road trip to our rafting base on the Pacuare River (one of CR's most popular rivers for rafting). After arriving at the base and enjoying a
Post River Rafting Beers
Chuffed after a great day on the water! quick brekkie, we donned our suntan lotion and rafting gear, hopped on board another shuttle (together with thirteen fellow adventure seekers and our guides) for a thirty minute drive to the start of our adventure on the Pacuare. We all walked the final kilometer to the banks of the river because the road down the final stretch of the valley was too steep and muddy for our bus to safely travel on. As we got closer and could clearly see and hear the gushing water below us, we both couldnĀ“t help feeling a growing sense of excitement and nervouseness.
After the mandatory safety briefing and a crash course in white river rafting basics, Liesel and I piled into our raft together with our assigned team mates for the day (Johnny and Carla from New York) and our two guides, for four hours of water time including churning over and through more than forty class III and IV-plus rapids. Needless to say we absolutely relished in the excitement of our many refreshing and very wet encounters with rodeo-style dips and lurches. After about two and a half hours of rafting (and thankfully no spills) as well as views of spectacular
jungle covered ravines and lush green valleys, we made our way onto a flat stone-covered bank for a much anticipated river lunch which was prepared in double quick time with military precision by our guides. After tucking into delicious fresh watermelon, pineapple, fajitas, salsa, corn chips and lemonade we completed the final hour or so of our journey on the river with our ultimate surprise being a very narrow, high, steep and throughly spectacular ravine that lead us into the final kilometer or so back to our base.
Of course we ended the afternoon with some ice cold Imperials (not the best beer we have enjoyed so far but hey, beer is beer!).
Having slept very well, Liesel and I woke up feeling rejuvinated and also excited about the second day of rafting ahead of us. This time we were headed for the Reventazon River and specifically a three hour stretch known as the Pascua section which is not often rafted because of the dangerous conditions and class IV-plus rapids. Due to the acceptable level of the river we were lucky enough to be able to raft it much to Liesel's dismay (but she thoroughly enjoyed it in
Disco Pool
Liesel getting down in the disco themed pool at Baldi volcanic hot springs in La Fortuna. the end). This time, we were paired up with a really nice couple from Dallas (Tiffany & Matt) and together with our two guides and one other raft we were soon hurtling over our first set of rapids and could immediately tell that the water was quite a bit bigger than the day before (which was great!).
The next couple of hours were pretty much one big adrenalin rush interspersed with a bunch of "Pura Vida" (Pure Life in Spanish and a popular Costa Rican greeting) high fives every time we survived a rapid! By the time we paddled the last couple of strokes to our end point we were all completely soaked, tired and exhilerated. Oh, and yes, afterwards the beers were just as good.
Later that evening, we embarked on a three hour shuttle trip to a town called La Fortuna famous for the active Arenal Volcanoe and natural hot springs. After checking in to our hotel, Liesel and I wasted no time in grabbing our swimming gear and heading off to one of the town's hot-spring resorts for some post-rafting R&R. We chose a resort called Baldi which is essentially comprised of about ten pools
Cloud Forest
Taken by Liesel en Route to Monteverde from La Fortuna. of different shapes, sizes and themes, and as much as we enjoyed the experience, we couldn't help laughing at the overall cheesy feel of the place with the highlight being a disco themed pool complete with mirror ball, disco lights and early 90's rock.
Unfortunately we never got to see hot lava spewing out of the volcanoe (I thought active meant there was a good chance we would have to evacuate at some stage but it wasn't quite that dramatic) but we did get to see the volcano itself.
The next morning we headed off to Monte Verde famous for CR's largest cloud forest and home to the country's original zip line canopy tour. After arriving at the base, we were quickly geared up with harnesses, helmets and thick gloves (the gloves it turned out were actually the brakes!) and together with about seven other people we made our way along a forest trail for about thirty minutes to the first zip line.
Essentially the canopy tour involves climbing a chain ladder up a (very) tall tree, standing on a steel mesh platform while the guides hook you up to a safety line as well as the
main zip line, hurtling off the platform and zooming anywhere between twenty and fifty meters (at heights up to 60 feet above the ground) to the next platform, using your gloves as brakes to prevent yourself smashing in the tree in front of you, and then doing it all again. Basically a whole lote of fun in a very beautiful setting. A highlight of the day's adventure was rappelling down the last 60ft platform all at the mercy of one of the guides who of course did his best to enduce as many screams as he could.
Our final adventure for now took place in the small Carribean hippy-come-surfer town of Montezuma in CR and this time involved an ATV or Quadbike. Liesel and I hired a big red Honda ATV and after a very quick overview of how to change gears, where the brakes were and how to switch over to the emergency fuel tank, we were soon heading off to explore our surrounds. By way of context, all of the hilly roads around Montezuma are sand, or more accurately mud, and in varying degrees of disrepair, therefore ideal for a quadbike adveture. With our bag firmly strapped
Hang On!
Liesel having a great time zipping between trees. onto the front, Liesel clinging on for dear life on the back, and me mastering the throttle and gears, we quickly found ourselves enjoying the freedom of the potted roads.
The rest of the day was spent riding an approximate 40km round trip, through rivers and mud pools, up and down gravel-strewn steep roads, and through farmland and alongside beautiful beaches. A particular nerve racking moment came when we decided to head off on a small side track to view some plots of land that were for sale (purely for interest of course). After about ten minutes we approached a small and seriously 'rustic' house in the middle of the forest (something straight out of Fiela's Child) and as we drove past, a mad, vicious and large dog appeared from nowhere and was intent on stopping us. My immediate response was to shout to Liesel to hold on tightly while I opened the throttle fully and we roared our way over the bumpy road eventually leaving the mad beast trailing behind us. Of course we had to come back the same way and after calming Liesel down and warning her to hold very tightly we gingerly made our way
Biker Team
About to set off on our day of quad biking around Montezuma. back. As we turned a bend, we saw the psycho canine standing guard in the middle of the road, urinating everywhere to mark his territory and waiting to finish us off. This time I hit the throttle from further back and basically didn't give it a chance!
Ok, more than enough from me (Liesel keeps trying to edit out my rich and stimulating detail) and until next time, adios amigos.
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"Frenchie"
non-member comment
It looks like that during these weeks you had great time and have seen superb landscape. I looked all the pictures and read all the stories... amazing. Thanks keeping us updated to what looks and read as a unique experience. Please keep rolling...