Costa Rica: Day 9

Our last day on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica was a fun one. We opted to take the White Water Rafting tour which provided us transportation from Puerto Viejo, to the rafting centre and then back into San Jose for the night. People we told about us taking the rafting trip on our last day thought it was the best way to end such an awesome adventure. We would also have to agree.

The day before our last day in Puerto Viejo at the Banana Azul we checked out in the evening after a delicious dinner. It was sad to check out and it was sad to think that we would also have to wake up early to leave the next morning. Staying at the Banana Azul helped us fall in love with the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, the staff is friendly and helpful, the accommodation was relaxing and everything about it was pretty much perfect.

The following morning (January 4th) we woke up and made sure we were all set to leave. The private bus picked us up at 6:40am and we were on our way to the Exploradores Outdoors rafting centre where we would get to have some breakfast and store our luggage in their secured locker area.

When we arrived at the centre, the breakfast consisted of sausages, scrambled eggs, rice and fruit. Other buses pulled in as well so there was about 60 people who would be going to the Rio Pacuare to do some white water rafting. The Rio Pacuare is one of the Top 5 Rivers to raft in all of Central America, we were looking forward to it.

“The river plunges down the Caribbean slope through a series of spectacular canyons clothed in virgin rain forest, through runs named for their fury and separated by calm stretches that enable you to stare at near-vertical green walls towering hundreds of meters above – a magnificent and unique river trip.” – Lonely Planet, Costa Rica

After breakfast and putting our luggage into the secured storage area we were put back on the bus and our drive to the launching port started. Ricky (of Exploradores Outdoors) went over the safety rules and regulations etc that we needed to know. How to use the equipment, how to sit in (well technically on) the raft as well as the various instructions that would be called out to us by our raft’s guide.

Robyn and myself got paired up with a couple from England as well as two girls from the US. Our guide was a big fellow by the name of William.

Along the way, Ricky pointed out that the local cows (especially the bulls) were going to be part of the festivities back in San Jose the next day. Kind of like the Running of the Bulls over in Spain but with some other cool events like Cow Football.  The road was windy and bumpy and took probably about 30 minutes to get to the launch point. The view along the way was impressive and beautiful. The above photo is the first glimpse of the Rio Pacuare and our destination.

When we got to the launch point, we geared up with our life-vest, helmet and paddled. Here we met our raft guide William. Here is where our rafting adventures began.

Now I don’t have any photos of the beginning stretch as we were a bit nervous as this is both the first time Robyn and I have ever gone white water rafting. It was pretty cool, even if I was placed at the front it was a lot of work to follow William’s instructions. We went through Class 2 to Class 4 rapids for about 2 hours. If you’re trying to figure out how the Classes for rapids work, a Class 6 rapid is technically a Waterfall. William says they don’t let tourists do Class 5, but he loves them himself. Class 4 rapids are pretty large and would get me and Chris (the other guy on our raft) drenched. It was awesome!

At one point we were going through (what I think was a Class IV) and got stuck against another raft up on a couple of large rocks. Our raft went actually a bit under the other one, and poor Robyn was pinned underneath it.  William was able to maneuver our raft out from underneath the other and we continued down the river; “GET DOWN” he would yell, when we were about to hit some Class IV action.

At one point another raft completely flipped over. This means that EVERYONE in that raft fell out and had to be rescued by either another raft or the river kayaks that followed along with us. Robyn found out that William had to report the flipped raft to the owners of Exploradores Outdoors, which I would assume would be for legality reasons. Our raft was awesome, we didn’t flip and no one fell out (on purpose). We OWNED (or is that PWNED ) the Rio Pacuare!

We eventually made it to the area were everyone disembarked their raft for lunch. All of the raft guides prepped lunch for the large group of about 60 people as well as the kayakers that were our safety guides. The food was good, but was good quickly. We rested for a while before heading back to our raft to tackle the last section of the Rio Pacuare.

The last section of the river had a couple more Class IV but a lot of shallow areas as well since the river was at a record low. William did an awesome job instructing us as well as steering us in the right direction. After all, he didn’t want us to go in for a swim and have to be rescued.

I took our Robyn’s Optio W10 camera on this section of the river. People are always impressed when we bring out that camera as they don’t typically see waterproof cameras I suppose. The further down the river we got, the more the camera fogged up and I missed some REALLY beautiful areas of the river, including a canyon section that had an old wooded foot bridge spanning across it, some tunnels as well as some stunning waterfalls. That section reminded me of parts of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Photos of Robyn and I enjoying ourselves on the raft. William is the big guy at the back of the raft. I had to hold on to the camera and paddle while making sure I didn’t fall out while taking photos. I only took photos after or before any of the rapids as I had to concentrate on instructions given to us, as well as make sure the camera didn’t fall into the water. Yes, I look pretty funny in the helmet.

The last photo was when the camera began to fog up, which was a bit of a downer because with the canyon coming up the shots I took were kind of unrecognizable. Not sure why the camera fogged up, but after I put it away for a while and took it back out later the fog in the camera itself was gone. At least we have the memory of the stunning beauty the river holds, right?

When we got back to the rafting centre, we had showers, changed into dry clothes and boarded a bus back to San Jose for our last night in Costa Rica. White Water Rafting was definitely the best way to end an awesome adventure together. We’re looking forward to rafting more at home and we will definitely go again in Costa Rica.

Photos Taken So Far: 938

Next To Come: Our Accommodation: Banana Azul