soitgos
Joined: 29 Jun 2006
Posts: 113
Location: Price
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| Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject: Costa Rica |
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Thought some of you may be interested in this.
A funny thing happened on the way to San Jose . . . On the flight from Phoenix Bo (my son) and I sat next to Carmen Winn, an 18-year-old adventurous girl from Grand Junction, who was on her way to Costa Rica to learn Spanish and work as a river guide. In her young life, she has already run rivers in China. Of all the people on that full flight, I’m sure there was only one person going to Costa Rica to be a river guide, and she was in the same row as us. What are the odds?
We ended up spending the night and part of the next day with Carmen, since the taxi driver couldn’t find the hostel she was supposed to be going to. We were staying at the Cacts Hotel, a wonderful old-world hotel. Carmen ended up sleeping on the floor on her ThermaRest. Her bus to Quepos was at noon, so we wandered the streets with Carmen for a few hours before wishing her luck and parting ways. We exchanged email addresses, I’m anxious to hear how her adventure is going.
Bo and I wanted a true Central American experience. The Cacts Hotel fit perfectly into that plan. It is different than any hotel I have ever stay at and the owner is friendly and charming. I highly recommend it.
The bus to Turrialba was also part of the Central American experience. It was also cheap. About two bucks.
Being in a strange place without reservations is a little unnerving, even if it is part of the whole Central American experience plan. Anyway, when we debarked at Turrialba, we grabbed our bags and started walking. There are several hotels within walking distance of the bus depot. We ended up at the Hotel Turrialba. Cost was $15 a night. Accommodations were Spartan, but acceptable. Twin beds, a gismo on the showerhead that heats water, and towels. What more does a person need?
Settled in for the next several nights, we were off to find an outfitter. We hooked up with “The legendary Phil Coleman of West Virginia,” as stated in the guidebook, Chasing Jaguars. Phil owns Rainforest World.
Phil recommended the Lower Pacuare, then perhaps the Pascua section of the Reventazon. Bo quizzed Phil about some of the more difficult rivers in the area. Phil told a little about the Upper Pacuare, a true class IV-V river. Phil suggested we do the Lower Pacuare as a warm up, and then perhaps move on the Reventazon. Bo suggested we do the Reventazon as a warm up and then move on the Upper Pacuare. Phil looked at Bo with a bit of skepticism.
So did I.
Phil explained the Reventazon is serious stuff, and the Upper Pacuare is even more serious.
“That’s just what we’re looking for,” Bo said.
We are? I thought.
I think a bit reluctantly Phil agreed and we started negotiating price and equipment. It took one of the guide’s kayak and paddle, and the skirt of another, to get Bo outfitted, but in the end he was satisfied.
I decided to R-2 a Shredder. We would have two guides. Onhill, a very experienced Tico, would kayak with Bo. Peter, a mid-20s American working for Phil would join me in the Shredder. As it turned out, we ended up with one more kayaker, a river guide from France.
We met up with the guides the following morning and after a bit of a cluster, we were off in a 1950s vintage Range Rover, pulling a small trailer. The Range Rover had lost any suspension it may have once had. After three days in this thing I was ready for a kidney transplant. But it was certainly a continuance of the Central American experience.
The drive was about an hour and we were at the banks of the famous Reventazon River.
There are big rivers and there are technical rivers. And then there are big, technical rivers. The Pascua section, as defined by the locals, is actually three sections in Chasing Jaguars, the Peralta to Pascua, the Pascua, and the Florida. The total length we were told was 16 miles, but it is about 13.5 miles according to mileage in Chasing Jaguars. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 30 rapids class III and above. The guides call four of these class V. Who am I to argue? There are close to a dozen I think are in the upper IV-plus or V-minus. I’m sure it changes with flow. Since there are no flow measurements online, there’s little way to know. I saw a gauge at one point, but didn’t think quickly enough to get the reading. The guides don’t worry about it much. When we asked, Onhill said, “I think it’s a little higher than last week.”
If anyone is interested, there is a website with some pretty good information here:
http://www.costaricamap.com/ing/avjrafting.html
Peter and I did pretty good in the Shredder, although we each had a swim. Fortunately, not at the same time and we were both back in the boat pretty quickly. We were hammered in one hole, spun around and we had to high side from tube to tube to keep it from going over. We finally stabilized it and paddled ourselves out. When I told Phil later about the swims, his comment was, “In that thing, that’s pretty much inevitable.”
Bo thoroughly enjoyed the big water and myriad of places to surf and play. It was, indeed, a warm up for something more challenging.
The 13.5 or 16 miles, whatever it was, went fast. With one break, we were still off the river in 2.5 hours. I’m still grinning. For pure whitewater rush, it doesn’t get any better than this.
The next day I chose not to do the Upper Pacuare, sometimes called the Bajo Pacuare. I think it was a good choice. Mario Delaof was called on to go with Bo. Mario is a bit of a legend in his own right. The guides all call him the best kayaker in Costa Rica. He doesn’t work for Phil, but was willing to come in to do this trip. When he realized he had someone who could keep up with him, Mario decided as long as they were going, they may as well tack on the Upper Upper section, as well. “You don’t want to miss out on rare opportunities,” Mario grinned.
From the above website describing the run:
Bajo Pacuare - San Martín (Class V-VI): Only the brave and skillful attempt this 15 miles of classic boiling white water and even they are forced to walk around at least one of this section's more treacherous Class VI rapids. Some of the local outfitters run the trip for groups of expert paddlers from all over the world that come to Costa Rica to challenge this section, but you won't find it on any of the lists of tours offered by the major rafting outfitters.
I spent the day exploring Turrialba, found an internet café, read about the Upper Pacuare, drank lots of great Costa Rican coffee, and waited anxiously to hear from Bo. I went back to the hotel at 3:30 to wait. Much to my surprise, Bo was already there. I didn’t need to ask how it was. The ear-to-ear grin said it all. He said there are close to 20 class V rapids/drops on those two sections, which together are about 13 miles in length. Mario portaged three of the drops. Bo ran the first two of the drops Mario portaged, but Mario talked him out of running the last one. The guide calls it class VI. I only wish we had some video.
The next day was the jewel of the entire trip, at least from a scenic standpoint. The Lower Pacuare is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Bo and I paddled a Shredder on the 16-mile section. If an of you have been there, you can attest this place is incredible. You paddle through a tropical rain forest, complete with several impressive waterfalls.
While a challenging river, it is not as serious as the Reventazon and allowed for some casual floating and lots of site seeing. We went with Brian, a Tico guide, and met up with some folks from Georgia who were on an overnight trip. There are several permanent camps along the river. One is a lodge. The others, including Phil’s, has some huts and covered tents. We’re thinking of taking a group of college kids down next year. We would definitely include an overnight trip in the itinerary.
We brought a kayak paddle for a guide who broke his the day before. I’m not sure what the plan would have been if we hadn’t been on the river. The guides are very competent and the equipment is acceptable, except for the helmets (take your own). But, they don’t carry spare kayak paddles. We did carry spare paddles on the Shredder.
The overnight trip included a paddle raft and kayaker, plus a kayak guide. We had lunch at the camp and paddled the last half of the trip with the others.
The trip included a first for me. We picked up a hitchhiker. Seriously. He was on the left side of the river as we approached. He asked the raft guide if he could catch a ride, and started to swim across the river. We paddled over to him and gave him a tow. He then transferred to the raft.
The Lower Pacuare concluded the river portion of our trip. We then did some site seeing, went to one of the many reserves in the country, did some bird watching, and spent the last couple days of our trip in San Jose, which was interesting, but I don’t suggest spending much time there. There are better places to be.
The trip was incredible. Going with Bo made it very close to perfect.
Steve Christensen |
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