DAY 89: Sunday, 13th
of May
Trying out another sport: white water rafting in Costa Rica
The morning is gorgeous. Nothing
would tell you that it was raining cats and dogs all afternoon and night. We
have breakfast on the balcony with clouds drifting past and the sound of
Carmina! Tucker had suggested we try white water rafting this morning. We are
not so sure. None of us had ever tried it and it all sounds a bit dangerous.
But we don’t want to be cowards and so we let it happen.
 |
| preparing the rafts |
Tuckers team picks us
up and we drive down the valley passing coffee and sugarcane plantations. The
road gets worse and worse but finally after an hour we arrive at the launch
site for the ‘duckies’. Donned with safety jackets and helmets we finally
venture to the river. It looks pretty wild to me! White rapids and big rocks as
far down as I can see. I am sure we will tip over and I break my bones. Besides
Phil there are three young Americans that dare to test this adventure.
 |
| let the adventure begin! |
And
there we go: helped by our river guides we take to the first rapids. A big
swell of water splashes into our boat and I fear that we would sink with so
much water in it. But the boats have holes and the water quickly drains and on
we go to the next white rapids. Alberto my guide teaches me how to row: “easy
forward, stop, backward!” he shouts across my shoulder. After the first couple
of rapids the thing starts to be real fun. It’s a bit like ballooning does with
the wind, here you have to go with the water. Not too much, not too little,
develop a feeling for the flow of water.
battling the elements
|
We sail down the river for about
9miles and pass beautiful huge trees and sandbanks. After two hours of hard
work my bones start to ache I am glad to arrive at our lunch site. A delicious
picnic has been laid out for us with salads, fruit and nuts. This was great! We
both are glad we did it – even though Phil made very close and wet contact with
the water!
Just as we arrive back to the
house the heavens start with their daily downpour and it won’t stop until late
that night. How lucky we had been!
Day
89/13 May
Sunday
morning 8 a.m. sitting writing at the laptop on the balcony of Tucker’s house.
Our favourite ‘Carmina’ tracks play over excellent speakers whilst the sunlit
valley below is filled with rising mist.
Today’s
target is to go white-water rafting on a river near Turrialba .Neither Allie
nor I have done this before and are both nervous about the prospect – Allie apparently
more concerned about me than herself. After more than an hour’s drive over
mostly unpaved roads the start point is reached and the raft team goes through
a very thorough briefing.
The equipment looks professional and well maintained
so we steel ourselves for the experience. Each of us is paddling our own small
inflatable kayak along with a river guide who is an experienced rafter.
Two
hours of crashing foam on a Class 2/3 river turns out to be exhilarating rather
than scary and, though I got stuck on a rock and later fell out on a
particularly vicious rapid, was well worth attempting.
It is nicely concluded
by a riverside lunch on an upturned boat timed to finish just before a
torrential thunder-storm announcing the start of Costa Rica
 |
| we survived and are enjoying a delicious lunch |
Tucker
and I again talk into the night about the future of ballooning in general and
Cameron Balloons, for whom we both worked in senior positions for nearly 20
years, in particular.
No comments:
Post a Comment