Adventures of Wes and Laura

Rafting the Pacuare - "Tequila!"

Although I am having to borrow pictures here from a student in the program (thanks Brandon) I couldn't resist going ahead and sharing this rafting experience. I ordered a copy of the professional kayaking-photographer's pictures but those may have to wait.

With many from the group of students and professors in the program, we set off on a Rios Tropicales out east of San Jose in the Limon province. The eastern face of the Talamanca mountains blocks the moisture from the Caribbean, and yield some incredible rivers cutting through thick wet tropical forest. The volcanic origins of the region and high rainfall results in rivers filled with large stones and charged with torrents of runoff from the heavy rains ( = awesome rapids). The Pacuare is one of the most pristine of these rivers, and we probably got to see the most scenic 21 miles of it in this 2-day trek.

So we were told to split up into groups of 5-6 based on our desired adventure level. Yes I was one of those who wanted to go 'big' along with my colleague from home David P. and four other crazies. Our raft guide, Roy, was more or less the head honcho of the armada, a Costa Rican who we later learned had grown up on this river and with this company which made his versed command of it all the more understandable. But that didn't explain his crazy gusto which I can only attribute his uniqueness as a Puro Tico Loco. The Class II and III rapids on the first day weren't enough for this loco and so he taught us some new vocabulary and moves which undoubtedly any raft guide in the States would get the boot for. The first of these tricks, exposed to us about 30 seconds into the journey, was the not so opaque command of 'flip the raft' , chase the boat down river, and then get back into the boat on your own muster or be pulled with two finger hooked into your nostrils (the last part was the only part he said in jest). Another trick was to throw the passengers on the back left out of the boat by basically spinning out on the river (and I was the lucky back-left side passenger). And the biggie was the ''pop-a-wheelie", where Roy stood off the back of the raft like holding on cowboy style to a rope attached to the bow, and we all crowed around him and used our combined weight to tilt us to a 90 deg angle with only our backsides and the back edge of the boat touching water. Of course it was only the fourth 'wheelie' were we finally were able to flip ourselves bow over stern, that time sticking poor Jamie's (female) shin submerged between a rock and dead weight bodies. But the ultimate deviation from the norm was the famous "Tequila" command, where we would side up next to the victim raft, launch ourselves on to it and commence throwing every passenger from it into the river. As a result we quickly gained a reputation as ruthless pirates and every boat regarded us with extreme caution when we approached and would keep their eyes on us even if they were about to hit a Class III rapid. And am I giving the impression that I was put off by Roy and his antics --- because by all counts I loved every minute of it. ;-)

We went about half the distance that first day, and stayed in their georgeous jungle lodge overlooking the river that night (sight of these photos). Below was the house where the students stayed.
In the morning we got to do some zip-lining through the canopy before breakfast (an interesting 7AM activity)
My only complaint was that we were rushed too much in the morning and had no time to digest the big breakfast in one of these hammocks or hang out under these falls
We hit the bigger rapids the second day and peacefully exited the boat to float on our backs through a scenic gorge on the way home.
This was a memorable trip and I definitely want to do another one - I told Dad about it in my Father's Day phone call and I think he's in as well. -Wes

posted by Wes and Laura @ 6/21/2009 11:14:00 PM