Pacuare River

Once again we didn't take a day off this week! Instead of sleeping in and just hanging out, we went whitewater rafting! We started the day at 4:30am and planned to meet our bus shortly after. Instead of being on time or even running on "tico time" (usually more relaxed and less punctual), the bus driver was early! We headed to the airport to meet the rafting company's bus that would take us to river, but were dropped off on the side of the high way with no clue as to where we were meeting our group! Our expert planner, Elle, managed to find us a ride to the pick-up site and after 2 hours of waiting for the bus in the bushes near a Hampton Inn, we were finally picked up. The 12 of us scurried across a busy highway and climbed aboard an empty bus where we were dubbed the "mystery group" by our driver Marvin! After that mishap, we thought we had avoided all obstacles! But ooooh were we wrong!

The traffic jam on the "Calle del Muerte"

The 1 and a half hour drive to the company's main site turned into 3 hours when an accident on caretera 32, known as "the street of death" stopped all traffic and somehow created 5 lanes out of 2! Ticos are some crazy drivers, and Marvin got us safely to the main site. From there we were geared up and fed and off to the put-in spot on the Pacuare River!

The river flows through some of the most beautiful mountains and forests in Costa Rica, and even through one of the parks in which Jurassic Park was filmed. At any second, you could have seen a pterodactyl fly overhead! Our guide was nicknamed Yiyo ("jee-joo") and led us through some awesome rapids. Lunch was provided on a beautiful, rocky beach where every rock had been perfectly sculpted by the rushing river from the rainy season! Farther down the river we went, and entered a huge canyon that let us swim and float until we entered our last set of class 4 rapids!

The whole trip lasted about 5 hours, but we were far from being home! The bus ride home was filled with other rafters and we all chatted and slept until, of course, we hit another huge traffic jam. This time however, a land slide from earlier in the day was blocking our path! Marvin explained that it could take up to a day for them to clear it, but before we knew it (3 hours...) we were moving again! We finally got home around 9:30pm. That made it a solid 17 hour trip in all, but well worth it!


Since then, we've been working on a big Econ project evaluating the serviced provided for visitors to Poás Volcano National Park. This morning I also killed my first chicken! It was really intense and kind of scary, but I thought it was something I should experience at least once!
Tomorrow morning we are off on a trip to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve for the next 3 days!