Pacuare River Rafting

On our first full day in Costa Rica, we went whitewater rafting on the Pacuare River. We got picked up around 6am and drove to a ranch where we had an awesome desayuna tipica with eggs, gallo pinto (rice and beans), potatoes, and of course, mass amounts of salsa lizano. Good stuff. We then went to the river and took off with our guide Walter and two safety kayakers paddling down the river with us. It is a really beautiful place, you are going through the rain forest and we got to see a lot of birds, including some toucans. The rapids were a lot of fun, and we got to jump out and go swimming a few times which was really cool. Everything was about the same temperature (the river, the air, your body temperature), so it felt good and even though it started storming pretty hard at the end, nothing was ever that cold. At one point, it was raining on us really hard, and then it stopped abruptly, but if you looked 100 meters down the river, it was coming down insanely hard at that spot! It was really strange, like something out of Lost or a cartoon where it only rains on one guy but nowhere else. It was a great trip, they gave us lunch at the end and took us back to San Jose.

We explored more of San Jose and walked down Avenida Central. There were lots of shops and people selling bootleg DVDs or produce on the street, it was a cool area. A lot of the buildings are stone and look haunted at times, and there are a lot of parks around. San Jose is a pretty busy city, dirty and congested at times, there is definitely a lot going on there. It was Dave's birthday also, so we got back to the hostel in time for happy hour cucaracha shots and other drinks at the bar. The shots were tequila with coffee liqueur that you light on fire and then drink with a straw. I'm not the biggest fan of tequila, but these shots were pretty good. It was a fun night, and a good way to end the day of extreme rafting.