Daily Archives: January 21, 2014

Costa Rica

Wild water rafting on the Pacuare river

Today I went wild water rafting on the Pacuare river. The rainforests that surround the river are home to exotic animal species such as jaguars, monkeys, ocelots, and a very large number of birds. Also it was considered one of the 5 nicest rivers to practice rafting by National Geographic. Enough with the wikipedia stuff. It was simply AMAZING!

We did a 4 hour trip of 30 km without any stops, but it felt like an hour. We sat in a boat with six people and one guide. The guide gave instructions when to peddle forward, backward, stop, left backward, right backward and so on. In the beginning you just follow the instructions and don’t know why, then you see a big run ahead which swings you all across the river. After a while you can anticipate on what the guide is going to say.

As we approached the misty mountain steeps where all the wild animals live, it felt like that scene from Jurassic Park where they approach the island LOL. We went on a 1 to 4 level raft. Level 5 is for pro’s. So when the guide screamed: “THERE IS A LEVEL 4 AHEAD, FORWARD HARD!!” You start peddling like crazy! At one “level 4 run” we lost one of the rafters. She bumped in to the water and had to be saved. We also had a lot of nice, quiet pieces though, where we could relax and enjoy the great nature around us. The water coming from the hot springs is so clean you can drink it. There where beautiful butterflies surrounding us along the way. They had really nice colored, almost luminous wings. At one point we voluntarily jumped in to the water and took a swim. At the end of our trip it started to rain, giving the surroundings an extra scenic appearance. One word: WOW! This shouldn’t be in the top 5, but numbero uno!

Costa Rica

Arrival @ San José

DSCN0072Wow! I’m slowly getting in to that mind set.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this is al really happening. Last days were like a complete movie. I met the most interesting people, heard real interesting stories and my trip has just started. It took me a few days but I’m in my zone! It’s indescribable, even with pictures, so I have to remind myself to make some.

My flight Costa Rica was leaving in a few hours and I still had to pack my backpack and book a hostel for San José. I did this all quick, took a bike to the bus station (with my backpack and daypack on lol). My bus arrived at Miami international Airport on time and I saw this beautiful work of art saying: “Peace & Love”. I though I could have me some food @ a Japanese sushi bar with a glass of sake. Well.. dinner was served 5 minutes before my boarding time. I never ate and drank that quick. :D Eventually I got on the plane on time. I had a bumpy 3 hour or so flight. Really a lot of turbulence. An old woman next to me firmly held on to the chair in front of her and kept praying and saying: “Maria, maria, Ghersus, ghersus”. I guess it helped. :)

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I took a taxi to the Hostel Casa Colon in San José. San José is like a starting point. I will I only stay here for three nights and then head south to the (so they say) beautiful Manuel Antonio to get the real Costa Rica nature experience. But first I will go for a Wild water raft tomorrow. I have to be up @ 6!! It better be nice! ;)