Monday, November 21, 2011

Whitewater rafting down the Pacuare

After along week at the Community we went for drinks at Café Milagro ... I treated myself to a "Jugo de Maracuya", which is somewhat similar to passion fruit juice ...yumm!

Then we caught the bus and were off for a weekend of thrills rafting/canyoning down the Pacuare River. After a long journey we finally arrived in Turrialba after a good sleep our morning pick up was at 8:30 am. We only end up leaving at around 9.30... But hey, no problem ... we're on Tico Time!

And we're off! But first we still need to pick up Manuel our guide, the rafting boats and food for the weekend.

The adventure begins…First, we load our backpacks and stuff into waterproof bags and we do a short training to learn the commands. There is not much to it just …paddle, back paddle, stop, back paddle left / right and high fives (the high fives are just for fun)!

After several hours of rafting, a few stops at a waterfall and a river walk, we have arrived. We unpacked the boat and started our ascent to the campsite, A beautiful tented area with everything we could want, except electricity and hot water but who cares.

It is now around 2pm and our guide made a delicious lunch ... Simple but delicious, and plenty of it. After a refreshing nap, it is suddenly seriously dark. So we have dinner by candlelight surrounded by such beautiful unspoilt countryside, just blissful!
Of course less for me, because wilderness means 'mosquitoes' and they love me but hey what can you do! We finish our evening with a game of cards and a glass of white wine or a beer ...

On Sunday the alarm clock went off at a quarter to eight.
After breakfast we continue rafting trip, more rapids and lovely scenery.
It was a gorgeous weekend! Luckily it was raining all day because otherwise I wouldn’t have wanted to leave….
We made it back to the house at around 10pm, exhausted but happy!

Lore Tuytens - Volunteer


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