White Water Rafting

This morning I had to get up at 5:15 am. It was so early! But the sun was already up here. I had a bowl of cereal and a banana for breakfast. Finally, a breakfast like I'd have in Iowa! Kaydee, David and I met at school, which is where the company bus picked us up. The company was Exploradores Outdoors Costa Rica. We didn't go with the school this time on the trip, just us 3. On the bus, there were about 20 other people from around the world that were all going rafting, too. It took about 2 hours to get to the Pacuare River. It is the river of the green macaw. But, we didn't even see any. This river is the 5th prettiest river in the world to go white water rafting in. It was gorgeous!

There are 5 classes of rapids. 1 is the easiest, 5 is the hardest. This river had a lot of 3s and a few 4s. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was be. It was more fun than scary! When we got to the river, they gave us a safety lecture. They explained what to do if we fell off the raft. Someone could either pull you back in with their paddle, you could hold onto a safety kayak while they bring you to the raft, or the guide on the raft will throw you a rope and pull you in. They also told us what to do if we fell off and got trapped under the raft. Hearing that that even happens made me a little nervous. They said that if you fall off, turn so that your back is to the current and put your feet and legs up straight so that they don't get smashed by the rocks. The water was pretty shallow with a ton of rocks.

Next we ate a big breakfast. We had gallo pinto, scrambled eggs, toast, pineapple and papaya, coffee, and smokies. To raft, I wore my swimsuit, shorts, tshirt, and tennis shoes. It felt so weird wearing tennis shoes in the water! We also had to wear life jackets, helmets, and each of us had a paddle.

We drove up the mountain for 30 minutes to get toward the top so that we could raft down the river. We started at 250 meters altitude (820 feet) and we ended at 60 meters (197 feet).

Then we got split into groups for the rafts. There were 6 people to a raft and a guide. In my raft was Kaydee and David from Veritas, Davis from Bermuda, and Cathy and Lance from Florida. Cathy was originally from Brazil. Our guide was Arnoldo. He has been rafting for 5 years I think and kayaking since he was about 10. He kayaks in international competitions and is trying to get into the olympics. That's pretty cool! He was awesome. We got in the raft and stayed on shore while he gave us instructions and we practiced the commands. If he said "forward," we all paddled together at the same time to go forward. Another command was "stop," where we just put our paddles on our laps. "Lean in" means to stop paddling, grab the rope on the side of the raft, and lean in toward the middle so no one will fall out. "Right side" means that the raft might tip, so everyone jumps to the right side and grabs the rope to prevent it from tipping. Same with "left side." "Get down!" was my favorite. It means that there is a huge rapid coming up. We stop paddling, grab the side rope, and squat down in the raft to prevent from falling out. We did that quite a bit!

After a rapid on the river, there was a portion that was smooth and didn't have any rapids. That was nice so that we could rest and prepare for the next rapid. At one point, my tennis shoe came untied and I bent down to tie it during the rest period. I told Kaydee to let me know when the next rapid was coming up. She said, "um... Erin? I think you need to get up now." I look up and there's a huge rapid coming up. Good thing I got up when I did, or I would have been thrown off the raft :)

We rafted for 2 hours, then stopped at a part of the forest and had lunch for about 30 minutes. We had chips and salsa, lemonade, pineapple, tortillas with lettuce, ham, and vegetables, and a peanut mixture. In the forest there were 3 pigs running around. It was funny watching some of the people react to the pigs. They had no idea what to do with them! They're definitely not from Iowa.

After lunch, we rafted again for 2 hours. We switched sides of the raft, though, so that one shoulder wouldn't hurt more than the other. My shoulders and arms are so sore right now! It felt so uncomfortable being on the other side, it took awhile to get used to it. No one fell off of our raft. But, there were a few times where there was a long enough rest period in the river that we could get off of the raft and swim. It was weird swimming with tennis shoes on! The water was actually pretty cold. It was also really brown and gross. Yesterday it rained really hard, so a lot of dirt and mud went into the river. Later, the guide told us to give him all of our paddles. We stood up in the raft and made a circle. We held onto each other's life jackets and stood up through a rapid on the raft! I almost fell out but someone caught me, thank goodness! It was a lot of fun!

I was sad when it was over. It was a lot of fun! I bought a CD with pictures that the guides took, so hopefully they are good! Tonight for dinner we had baked potatoes, chicken, rice and fried plantanes. It was really good.

Yesterday when I got home, I put my wet umbrella in the porch of the house to dry off. Apparently, someone stuck their hand through the bars/gate of the porch, shut my umbrella, and stole it. That's what my mama tica said because I can't find it anywhere. When I got up this morning, it was gone. Who would want to go through that much work to steal an umbrella?!?!? I'm mad just because it's rainy season and now I have to go an entire week without an umbrella. I'll try to buy a new one tomorrow.