Our Saturday morning in Costa Rica started at an early 6:30a.m. After breakfast we headed to Exploradores Outdoors to take an extreme trip down the white waters of Rio Pacuare. The two-hour drive started off mainly with sleeping, but as we neared closer I was once again captivated by the views of this beautiful country. With phones ready, we captured shots of green mountains and blue skies! I even accidentally took a picture of a goat walking alongside the road!
As we arrived at the base we were greeted with a traditional breakfast and introduced to one of our guides for the day. As we headed towards our launch site he instructed us on our safety equipment as well as commands we would be hearing while in the water. Commands such as; “forwards”, “backwards”, and “get down” seemed simple enough in the safety of our bus, but would later prove to be a little more complex! After a bit of a drive we switched to vehicles that would drop us off at the river. Lets just say these vehicles were more equipped to handle the off-road terrain. With a fifteen-minute drive of constant bumps, ups and downs, and squeaky breaks, the river was in sight!
I shared my raft with Christine, Kelley, Molly and Sarah, along with our guide for the day, Jorge! Decked out in our life jackets and helmets we hit the water. As we practiced commands you could feel the excitement building. We felt like masters with our oars! No one wanted to say it out loud but there was a feeling in the air that our raft might not be the most successful so the command of “Get Down!” where we sink to the bottom of the raft in cover was definitely the one we took the most serious in practice!
As we started to go we reached our first set of rapids and executed perfectly! As we celebrated and laughed at our concurred obstacle Jorge insisted every celebration end with a shout of ‘Pura Vida’, and an oar high five! We obviously obeyed his instruction and celebrated our victories over the water many times throughout the day!
As we worked through our nineteen-mile trip down Rio Pacuare we faced rapids leveled 1-4. Nothing can truly begin to explain the feelings you get when rafting. Your excitement levels are through the roof but at the same time you’re constantly nervous about which rapid will be the one to throw you overboard. It’s exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at the same time.
As Christine and I sat in the front of our raft we braved the massive waves that soaked us and the gigantic rocks that I thought were surely going to be the icebergs to our Titanic! Although we weren’t the best paddlers in the world we still moved down the rivers with, well not exactly grace, but we’ll just say efficiency!
Once we became comfortable in the water Jorge through us for a loop… no literally, he spun us in circles going down the rapids! We also went down backwards and sideways! There was definitely never a dull moment!
A little after the halfway point we stopped for lunch. Each guide carried parts of our meal with them in the raft and they worked together to create an amazing buffet-style meal in nearly no time at all. We sat around eating burritos and sandwiches with all the toppings and even got to experience some Costa Rican candy nuts and desserts. Molly had the first life changing experience of the trip with her first taste of pineapple! A moment she will never forget!
As we set off to finish our journey down river we never could have guessed the sites we would see. Beautiful waterfalls and wildlife surrounded us but nothing compared to jumping in the water and swimming down one of the canyons. Arm in arm Christine and I floated down the river on our backs and soaked in as much of the view as possible. The cliffs seemed to go up for miles and the sky a perfect shade of blue. In that moment, everything stood still, in that moment it actually sunk in that we were in another country and having a once in a lifetime opportunity. As we climbed back in our rafts Molly said what we were all thinking; “That was by far the best moment of my life.”
As our journey came to an end we thanked our guide and left him with what I will leave you… Pura Vida! Until tomorrow!
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