Rare Adventures

Category: Costa Rica

Stories from our adventures as we tour Costa Rica and test out the tours

Rafting adventures on the Pacuare River

White water rafting has to be one of the most fun things you can do on a trip, it is by far our favourite holiday adventure activity. We did our first raft ride on a river in Thailand back in 1991, but that we on a bamboo raft but I got the bug for flying down rivers and going through the rapids.

Our rafting history

The first chance for white water rafting was the River Tully in Queensland, Australia. That was exactly how I imagined it to be, with warm water, dropping over waterfalls and ending up in the river at every opportunity, though the sight of baby crocodiles sat on rocks watching us didn’t help with the confidence.

Since then, we have rafted on 4 different continents, and probably the most exciting was the Kali Gandackie in Nepal, an epic trip that I will relate at come point in the future. So, when we see white water rafting as an option, we always check it out, and in Costa Rica there seemed to be lots of options.

A bit of research led us to the River Pascuare being the best rapids, the trips are classed by their difficulty. Class 5 rapids are the hardest that can be run commercially, this was what we ran in Nepal. The Pacuare River had Class 4 rapids, so it was going to be exciting, and the trip was organised by Excuriones GTE.

The obvious other factor to consider is water level. Costa Rica has just started it’s rainy season, so though the water levels were quite low, this meant there would be more rocks to navigate (high river levels just go over the rocks so it can be easier), with the recent heavy overnight rain there was a lot of fresh water speeding up the river.

Rafting is dangerous

The thing about rafting is that it is dangerous and people do die. The rivers are powerful, and people can get trapped in rocks, under the rafts, or other obstacles and the power of the water just pushes them under, so the safety briefings are really important, and they were great on this trip. The rafts are accompanied by kayakers who are there to help in emergencies, and they also make useful photographers !

We set off with our crew of 5 people, in a 6 person raft. The way these runs go is that some of the best rapids are at the top of the river where you board. This is because the river is narrower and higher up, so you are into the big rapids almost immediately, which wakes everyone up.

The big rapids start early

The guys at the front get the wettest as they are being hit by all the waves, so they provide protection for the rest of the crew, they are also the people most likely to be thrown over the side by a wave. Wooksie and I took up positions at the front as we and done it before and took the biggest battering in the first half of the trip. In the second half Wooksie swapped with Anny from Barcelona who was clearly up for getting wet and having lots of fun too.

This is the only water sport I have ever known Wooksie get involved with, and she has an amazing track record of staying in the raft whatever the circumstances, I have tried to drag her over the side unsuccessfully on every trip but she is like a limpet attached to a rock.

This river didn’t have any waterfalls, but it had a lot of rapids with the water flowing over and around the boulders really fast. The excitement started straight from the start with a choppy Class 3 rapid to get us going from the start and bring reality to the team on their first run.

The river battered us for most of the 3 hours we were on the water. Some rivers you have sections where you drift along without much to do but we had white water bubbling around us all the way down thanks to the heavy rain on the previous nights.

Beautiful scenery along the way

The cool thing about rafting is you travel through really remote areas, and we saw loads of wildlife, in particular birds, hanging around on the edge of the river hunting for their lunches. There are also villages for the indigenous people that have been living on the river end for hundreds of years, so it is not just the adrenalin stuff.

Being cramped up in the raft can be pretty uncomfortable as you are twisted to face forward whilst your legs are locked under straps and flotation bags. The break after 90 minutes and a stretch on the beach was very welcome even if it took us about 2 minutes to recover the ability to stand up straight and walk again.

Class 3 rapid video

Then we were into the second section of the river and the ride home. This included two fantastic runs through sheer canyons which made for dramatic scenery as it squeezed the water into the narrow gaps at high pressure, so the waves and obstacles were flying past.

This video is of a Class 3 rapid near the end of the ride.

And then we finished up with a Level 4 through the canyon to finish the day in style.

Eventually we reached the end of the run back at the rafting company HQ and ready for a nice lunch, talk about the excitement with our new rafting mates and a sleep on the coach in the way home. The rafting company had taken some great photos on the trip, and I had been experimenting with my new GoPro, so we have some videos as well.

31/07/2025
Porto Viejo – best highlights and our first Sloth

Howling monkeys and a visit from nature in Porto Viejo.

After San Jose we headed to Porto Viejo, it turned into a 6-hour drive to cover 120 miles thanks to it being their public holiday and a new road being constructed by a few blokes with pickaxes.

It was worth the drive when we saw the Caribbean beaches and pulled up into our Eco-friendly hotel. When we say ecofriendly, it was basically in the middle of the jungle. Wooksie looked particularly alarmed at the proximity to nature and the potential for insects and panicked when I opened a window to look outside.

We stayed at the Cariblue Beach and Jungle Resort. The hotel is very unusual, the whole place is in the jungle and made out of bits of the jungle, everything is wood and ecofriendly. That is OK other than it would have been nice to have a kettle so we can have a cup of tea in the morning.

So, an evening in a beach bar, sushi and listening to a decent DJ helped us get over the journey and ready for the fun to begin. In the middle of the night, nature took over, there was an almighty racket when two gangs (troops) of Howler Monkeys started to have a row about territorial rights over the hotel trees.

They are called Howler Monkeys for a reason, what a bloody racket and it went on all night until it was time for breakfast.

Our first sloth

Up early, we were off on our Sloth Hunt, which involved a walk through a bit of forest and a kayak ride through the jungle. The Sloths were quite accommodating, and we spotted a couple almost immediately on the walk, then we found a troop of Howler Monkeys, who looked rather exhausted and docile, presumably after their overnight punch up at our hotel.

We drifted through the jungle, Wooksie had her first kayak ride and saw lots of turtles and stuff but apparently, we aren’t allowed to eat Sloths, just look at them, which is a bit of a shame. I suspect that we are going to see an awful lots of Sloths, but it is quite exciting when you see the first ones.

We then settled into another beautiful evening on the beach, listening to tunes and drinking cocktails. I noticed on the horizon a few clouds with great storm pillars in them, which I noted and then forgot.

Visit from the Weather God

We had just finished a lovely meal when the waiter approached and asked us if we would like a table inside – “no thanks mate, we are British, a little rain is fine”.

Soon the few drops became a little more incessant, I assured Wooksie it was nothing to worry about, just a passing shower and nothing to worry about.

The rain then got heavier,, so we opted to sit under a grass shelter and continue with our evening, listening to the music and chatting.

Unexpectedly, and to my surprise, the rain got even heavier. At this point, the DJ was forcibly removed by the bar owner due to the imminent threat of him being electrocuted by the rain storm, and specifically the lightening.

We also noted that there was now a stream running under our table, and within minutes, there was definitely a river running under out table.

At this point Wooksie enquired as to whether I had a plan, which luckily, I did. I tried to attract the waiter to order a couple more cocktails. Wooksie intervened and asserted the need for a plan to get home, not another drink. We decided to make a dash for it and became immediately soaked as soon as stepped out from the shade.

The whole world had flooded while we were sat at that table, it was like there had been a biblical event while we were discussing important matters like which was our favourite beach bar in the world.

We waded through the floods and discussed whether we might need an Ark in the morning rather than a kayak. Luckily I lent Wooksie my hat to keep her dry.

So, we arrived back at the eco friendly which was now an under water hotel, and we were grateful that we were on the first floor not ground level, though any snakes or creatures that were on the ground would surely have drowned.

On the bright side, this should make for a much more exciting white water rafting expedition on Monday!

27/07/2025
San Jose – our first day in Costa Rica

I guess the lesson from the trip out from London is don’t fly via the US to get anywhere, Newark airport is now on my blacklist along with Paris airport.

When we finally got here after 24 hours travelling it was typically clunky, and we could have done without being given a room next to the motorway by Radisson, but it’s all sorted now, and we are happy again.

My mate Jason Cole told me not to bother with San Jose because there was nothing to do there, as normal I ignored advice.

How wrong he was, we found a walking tour of the best sights that included TWO markets, eating strange fruit, chocolate and coffee tasting and we even cooked ourselves a meal in a café, and this tour generally proved that there is actually nothing much to do here.

We did learn that in Costa Rica their version of an orange is actually yellow, and moreover it tastes of absolutely nothing – which is weird.

So we went for a beer and watched the parrots giving the pigeons a bit of an airborne kicking in the park.

Clearly the Spanish and Portuguese weren’t interested and gave it a miss but at least we proved Jason’s theory, so tomorrow we have a long drive down to Porto Viejo on the Caribbean coast and then we go sloth hunting, by canoe, in the forest on Saturday, hopefully we will bag a couple for tea.

25/07/2025