Costa Rica (“rich coast” in Spanish), officially the Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica), is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around 4.5 million, of whom nearly a quarter live in the metropolitan area of the capital and largest city, San Jose.
This trip was going to be a lot of firsts for me as I had never been a big water person and here I was signed up for a trip that starts with sea kayaking, snorkeling and ends with whitewater rafting (class II, III, IV). I had a friend coming with me on this trip so I figured if he could do all this, then so could I. Too bad I didn’t know that he was an avid whitewater kayaker.
San Jose
The capital of the country is a fun town but lots of security. I remember walking to a local strip mall near the hotel and their was an armed guard, with a shotgun, at each end. Not sure if that made me feel better or not, but I know I never felt threatened at all.
Beach Camp on Pacific side
Early morning we hoped on a small bus and headed west to catch a small ferry, and then to the coast in Curú National Wildlife Refuge for our sea kayaking lesson. Well, I am not sure how much of a lesson it was, a 5 minute talk and then our guide pointed to our destination and said he would meet us there. We camped right on the beach in a small cove which we shared with many red crabs and many, many insects just waiting for you to step into the jungle. 🙂
Crossing the country
After camping we headed back towards San Jose for a night. Seeing just how lush and dense the forest was really made you understand the partnership between the people and the land.
Venom Research Lab
Our guide’s uncle ran Serpentario Viborana, a venom research centre, so we got to have a private tour and see all their snakes and frogs. Costa Rica has some very venomous snakes but anti-venom is widely available so in case someone gets bit. I must say, after this visit the group didn’t wander off into the forest without a guide any more.
Back on the road, backtracking a little from the Venom Research lab, and stopping on the edge of a lake at a wonderful boutique hotel, Casa Turire, for the night. They had a wonderful pineapple rum that I wish I noted the name of.
Rainforest Lodge
The family of our second guide owned this rainforest lodge, Rios Tropicales Pacuare Ecolodge (closed due to 2020/2021 pandemic), where we stayed for a couple of nights. It was a great location, right on the river with some nice hiking trails around it. Uhmm, I’m remembering all those venomous snakes, I don’t think I will wander too far by myself.
We rafted to the lodge, explored the area the next day and then rafted out the next day close to the Atlantic coast. It was a great experience and our guide made it look so easy.
Logistics
This trip was organized by Mountain Travel Sobek and is no longer offered with the itinerary that we had. The trip started and ended at the San Jose airport (I do appreciate airport pickups and drop-offs). We had one night in San Jose as everybody gathered and then we would drive and ferry out to the Pacific coast were we would kayak out to our beach camp for a few days, then return to central Costa Rica for a night before heading further east to start our whitewater rafting and to stay at a rain forest lodge for a couple of nights.
There was only 6 guests on this trip, which was great, and 2 guides.
This was a trip I talked about for many years as the guide we had, Johnny Paloma, was absolutely excellent. He knew so much about the country, was a great cook and made the whitewater rafting look easy.
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