San Jóse

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San Jóse isn´t the most picturesque town so I immediately book White Water Rafting when I arrive. So another early night as I´m picked up at 6.45. A 2 hour bus ride to the tour centre where we have breakfast. We then make sure we are wearing only things we don´t mind getting wet, everything else to stay in the bus. We drive 45minutes more to the river start. I am now petrified, we have had the whole safety talk about what to do when you fall in, I am reassured by the guide though that few people ever fall in...
I join a group with another Brit and 2 New Yorkers, none of us have done it before! We are taught about 10 commands in 5 minutes, the only one I remember is "Oh Sh*t", this means get into the boat from your resting position on the edge of the raft. I also take note of how to keep my feet firmly secure under the raft centres, I do not want to fall in!
We start down a level 2 rapid, that scares me even more as I know we have level 4 in an hour or so! I finally get into the swing of it though as once I´m all wet it´s fine. We go down a few more 2s and suddenly Michael is in the water, he later claims it was on purpose...
Many rapids later we reach our first 4 and survive it excellently. The next one is trickier as it has a rock in the middle so the paddling has to be spot on to miss it, we manage it with style. The next 4 however, beats us. There is a huge hole half way down, we make it past but the water brings us back right into it, "Oh Sh*t" is shouted and Bren and I are in the boat. Michael wasn´t listening so he goes in taking Marco with him. I thought the whole raft was going over. We look into the hole but they are not there, the current is so strong there are already well on the other side of the raft. Hilarious!!! We have to get them in quick though as we need paddlers to complete the rapid.
Many rapids later and the water calms so we all get in for a swim, the current is strong so no actual swimming is needed, the water takes us whether we like it or not. We quickly return for the next rapid and after a few more Bern is in the water.
As the water calms again the guides pretend they are discussing how many people have gone in, it´s just a ploy to distract me though so that one of them can pull me in from behind, not impressed....
A few more rapids, our guide then steers us into a waterfall for fun! Then another swim through a ravine with waterfalls and the trip is finally over. Amazing! 3 hours of spectacular scenery and some adrenaline rushes.
Back for lunch and cleverly the bus has waterproof covers on the seats, I had wondered what would happen when we got back in later with dry clothes on. We are all shattered so the journey home is a sleepy one.
One of the kayakers had taken photos the whole time so Mum can get scared by looking at those!
Today wandered around San Jóse, not much to see at all. Luckily Matt is in town tonight so I´m about to go out for a mad one. I have an 8.40 bus to La Fortuna and he has an early flight home. We can sleep then!

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Photos

Top of the first large rapid
It´s only a 2