Rafting el Rio Pacuare and Super Bowl Weekend – 2/7/11

We met in San Jose at 6 AM and rode to Turrialba in our own buseta.  By 10 AM we had all changed, picked up a few of our friends whose sites are in the area and we were sparsely dressed under the cold cloudy sky on the Pacuare River.  Our raft was absolutely the best.  Mo, Jonas, O, John Foss, Audrey and I.  The views of the valley were breathtaking same as the freezing water that splashed us as we descended on the rapids.  The toucans and flowers we saw provided the only colors around us other than the gray sky and dense green forest. 

Our guide Chalo had Audrey and I ride the bow down some rapids which was hilarious and thrilling.   He kept us entertained between every big rapid which is a favor I’m sure we returned.  We were paddling standing up for a while.  We started jumping only to have all of us fall laughing hysterically.  We butted heads as we crashed into boulders or threw ourselves into the raft crashing down the falls.  We climbed up to a gorgeous waterfall and got a chance to jump in the pool and splash around for a while.  We swam in a long section that the water had obviously carved through the mountain with the trees hanging over us that was awesome.  All in all, rafting the Pacuare – the #5 rafting river in the world was one of the best days of my life. 

I’ve had a lot of those lately but I guess living in Costa Rica lives up to the hype for me.  We went out to a delicious tapas place for dinner and I finally had non-greasy food with mushrooms and was in HEAVEN!  Afterward we went dancing for a little.  Sunday we woke up early to go to La Sabanas the big park in San Jose where PC volunteers were having a flag football tournament and sat in the shade on the prettiest days I’ve had in the capital cheering on the teams drinking coconut milk from pipas and eating ice cream. 

Went back to the hostel and sat out on the park bench chatting with some World Teach volunteers one of which is actually in Audrey’s site and then went to watch the Super Bowl at hilariously enough Hooters which turned out was a ten minute walk from there.  I have missed bar b-q so much that I actually ate chicken wings that night.  I’ve eaten chicken three times now since I’ve been here.  The first two times being arroz con pollo when that was the only food around to eat and trying not to bother my generous hosts.  But the wings were amazing.  Nicole came home with me Monday so she could see my site and because we had a meeting in San Ignacio Tuesday morning.  It was really nice to share my experiences with someone who could see it.  I can’t wait for more people to come visit. 

Gleeful,

Jenny