Rapids are rated Class I to Class V, so we were quite satisfied with trying Class II & Class III on the Rio Balsa, with Desafio Adventures.
First though was a finger-lickin' good breakfast at the Tree House Hotel, some "comida tipical" - typical food....beans and rice, scrambled eggs, fried plantain, and pineapple.
Trip Advisor seems to like the Tree House...
Then a 45 minute drive to the Desafio office in La Fortuna, where we boarded a small bus with a few others which took us to the Rio Balsa, which ironically turned out to be very close to the Tree House Hotel.
After each of us were outfitted, some basic on-land training, and a safety review (mostly related to what to do if you fall out of the raft!), we were ready. Well Jenni & Cory are anyway.
And looking at the river, well that doesn't look so scary does it...
So off we go, I'm riding shotgun, Cory right behind, Jenni at the back, all with smiles on our faces, just enjoying the ride...after all it's only Class II or Class III...
Hold on...there might be just a bit more to this than it looked at first....
Cory seems OK with it all though he probably hasn't realized yet that his mum has disappeared! Oh oh.....
OH! there she is...knocked to the bottom of the raft, not out of it and still smiling too!
Doesn't look like she'll be able to get back up anytime soon...
Now is this boat supposed to be going sideways???
Taking on a bit of water!
But we survive...all is good though not everyone is back in position yet...
And we're ready for more..
Oh yeah, we got it now....up....
and down...
Looks like someone';s having a good time back there!
Aren't these things supposed to float?
That can't be fear on Michael's face now, can it? Certainly isn't any on our guide's face!
None on Cory's face either...
Will closing eyes work?
Yay! We made it through another one!
Let's go for another one, shall we?
What the hell...where did everybody go?
Ah, they're here after all...
OH NO...this can't be good, even our guide Kendall is bailing on this one!
Smart move! (Jenni was thirsty anyway..)
just holding on for dear life now!
Get a bit of river water in your mouth there Cory?
Yep, made it through another one, all accounted for...
After all that excitement, a gentle drift down river and a chance to just enjoy our surroundings and the experience of rafting in Costa Rica....and you can hear our guide Kendall give us instructions..."forward"...."stop".....
Cory took the plunge....the crocodiles come later in our trip.....including "Mike Tyson", a mean 18-footer that we get up close with...but that's for another blog update coming soon!
And then a little break....our guides cutting up some fresh Costa Rican pineapple and watermelon for us to enjoy....
Kendall then invited me to sit up on the hull at the front of the raft - I think by then he had realized that I make a better tourist than a paddler....though he did say Cory was a natural and invited Cory to join him in a Class V ride sometime....Cory didn't take him up on his offer though...
So I was able to get some video from that vantage point...and as some of my Facebook friends know, I can be bossy sometimes....
After all that excitement and hard work, Desafio Adventures - who provided us with a first-class day of adventure while keeping us safe - treated us to a lunch.
And then off to Paradise Hot Springs, near the Arenal Volcano. By then the skies had clouded over with a few drops of rain, but who cares about rain when you're sitting in a natural hot springs - with a swim-up bar even!
After all that paddling, some nice warm water on the shoulders....
Cory's liking that too...
And then a magical moment, one of the moments that all three of us still regard as one of the absolute best moments of the trip.
It had been cloudy since the end of the rafting trip. By the time we arrived at the Hot Springs, it was late afternoon (darkness falls early in Costa Rica, 6pm all year long) and still cloudy but in the low 30s C. We knew that we were in the Arenal Volcano area but because of the cloud cover, we had no idea how far - or close - this inactive volcano was to us.
Now we live in a place full of mountains some even volcanoes - St Helens really isn't that far and we can easily see Mount Baker in northern Washington state on any clear day. All our volcanoes are covered in snow all year round - in fact Cory trained in July 2007 on Mount Hood in Oregon.
What we didn't expect was this...as we walked in the hot springs pool around a small island of flowery bushes, we saw this...the clouds had lifted and there was the perfect cone-shaped Volcan Arenal....there isn't a photo that can possibly and fairly represent the moment....the volcano filled our field of vision and really we just stood there awestruck by the immense beauty of this mountain.
And the clouds continued to lift until we could see Arenal in its entirety...
We would see two more volcanoes later in the trip - one of them active - but this moment, likely because it was so sudden and unexpected - was a truly remarkable moment of our trip.
And worth a beer and mojito celebration back at the swim up bar...
Wrapping up a terrific day, dinner at Las Brasitas in La Fortuna....after which we were brave enough to drive in Costa Rica after dark...but on a road back to the Tree House Hotel that we had previously traveled twice, so it all went well. the meal was ok but not particularly memorable. We did choose a restaurant where we could park right outside to keep an eye on our vehicle. There are reports of theft from cars in Costa Rica so we either avoided leaving anything in the car or made sure we could see it at all times. Just basic common sense and awareness as at no time did we ever feel unsafe in Costa Rica.
So that brings our first full - definitely full! - day in Costa Rica to a close. The next day would bring another adventure - first a tour of a coffee plantation in Naranjo and then....a boat trip along the Rio Tarcoles to see those crocodiles!
But even scarier might just have been the drive to go see those crocs! Yep, that was an adventure.
Stay tuned....
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