Monday, March 21, 2011

Day 2/Evening

Each experience here tops the one before. Our last post lead ended with the private time after our Rain Forest walk. Despite the beauty and slow pace of the walk, the steep terrain and potentially problematic muddy slopes kept us alert. With the help of Gio and a lot of teamwork we exited the hike without a single fall but a unanimous need for rest. Our glorious siesta led into lunch where we again ate like king and queens. Delicious home-grown red potato salad, home made guacamole and tortillas, and of course arroz y frijoles (rice and beans). They also had a blended fruit salad made from pineapple, banana, cantaloupe and guava. DELICIOUS! After lunch some local artisans arrived to display their hand-made crafts. These crafts consisted of braided wristbands, beaded necklaces made from shells and beads and hand painted cards featuring local wildlife. The girls surrounded the table and before long there were many happy faces on both sides of the table. This exhibit of international monetary exchange had to end if we were to make the launching site for the rafts.

We walked a kilometer or so to the gathering point and boarded a bus that ferried us to the rafts. Waiting for us at the launch site were 9 rafts and 60 other rafters from Europe. Once we were all suited up with our PDF's, helmets and oars, a safety instruction was conducted filling us in on steering calls, oar usage and what to do if you should happen to fall out of the boat (which no one did except for Gio). Finally we launched and what took place next was amazing. We drifted down glorious Sarapiqui River surrounded by beautiful vegetation and wild life, coasting some of the time and then paddling as hard as we could. At one point we saw what looked like another river merging with ours but it turned out to be last night’s rain on a nearby mountain rushing from the bank into the river. We had a brief stop on the riverbank where the guides sliced up pineapples for all 70 of us to eat, then it was back to more awesome sights and sporadic paddling. Cold, tired, soaked and spent, we exited the river and walked back to our cabins with a surprise side track by Gio for ice cream at a nearby cafe.

We don't know if Costa Rica has extra special ice cream or if we were just so tired and hungry that anything would have tasted great but this ice cream was incredible. Thanks Gio! Then it was to our rooms, a low carbon-print shower and off to visit the host families for dinner. Due to time restraints that story will have to wait until later. But here are some pictures to tide you over.... Everyone says hi!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hi to everyone! the rafting trip sounds amazing and you are all very busy! are there more photos? would love more photos. love the stories. keep them comin'! hi hannah!
eileen

Johanna said...

Sounds like so much fun. Keep the photos coming! Best, Johanna

Unknown said...

Very exciting! More pics please. And keep the stories coming. They are very entertaining. All the best to all!
Clark + Julie