Pacuare

Friday, June 29, 2007
11:24 PM

Yesterday was rather boring, so I won't waste any time writing too much about it. We did go to a sloth "rescue" center, which was little more that a lady who likes sloths and takes them in to care for them. The people are in no way veterinarians, but feel that they are making a difference in the sloths life. I believe the story actually is that there is an overpopulation of sloths and these people just happen to like them, so the ones that mother nature tried to get rid of through death, they take in and treat as pets. After seeing the entire setup, you would think the sloth, or "slowth" as they call it, is endangered. I'm pretty sure that it isn't. It is probably about as endangered as the North American squirrel.

Don't get me wrong, they had a very nice setup with very nice facilities and a nice canoe trip through the rain forest. It was all entertaining, but very much overpriced to go see someone's pet sloths. Having said they, the sloths were awesome. I think about $5US awesome, not $15US worth of awesome, though. Oh, and then I bought the most expensive can of diet coke I have every purchased at $2US (oh, and it was canned just up the street here in Costa Rica, not imported).

We did end up having a nice bonfire last night on the beach where we messed around taking cool pictures with a flashlight. Tyson and Myra definitely take the cake when it came to being creative with the light.

Enough about the sloths…On to the good stuff

The Pacuare river emerges from a spring deep in the mountains of Costa Rica. As it makes it's way to the sea, it passes through two deep, fast, and beautiful canyons. The entire way is lined by dense green, primary rain forest. It has been named in the top five rivers for rafting in the world by the main rafting association (whatever that is), and National Geographic named it as one of the 10 most beautiful rivers in the world. It was easy to see why the river owns both those titles.

Most of our group went on the tour, so we got our own private raft with our own guide. The river was full of class 3 and 4 rapids, and with all the rain they have been getting down here the last couple weeks, they were really strong class 3 and 4. We went the entire time without any real accidents, though on the ride up they scare you about all the things that could go wrong and how to get rescued in emergency situations (they tell you this right before you sign your life away on the little waiver they give you). At one point we were going over a huge wave in a class 4 rapid and one of my fellow rafters jacked my chin which put a lot of pressure on my TMJ (temperomandibular joint--sorry, I now know the name and feel I should show that bit of information off) and now I can't bit down all the way because it hurts. I don't think I caused any real damage other that some mild inflammation of the joint--which does hurt quite a bit, but the way.

I was really proud of haley on the river. She paddled hard the whole time and when we were done four hours later, she wanted to keep going for another couple hours (everyone else including me was quite tired at this point). She even fell out of the raft at one point, but then we were all standing up with our hands interlocked in a circle as we went down a class 2 rapid. It just so happened that the way our boat turned that we all kind of pushed her and Chris (from switzerland) into the water. Don't worry, though, I rescued her quite swiftly. I also "rescued" a couple other girls in our group and when you pull them in you are put into a rather compromising position with the said person laying on top of you. It could potentially be awkward. Oh, and just to have a little extra fun, we went down one of the class 3's backwards (on purpose--some other groups repeatedly did it on accident) and then we also did another class 3 while closing our eyes. Our river guide, Diego, was really good and recently went to the rafting world cup in Ecuador (I don't know if he placed in any category, but impressive nonetheless). It was all a blast.

Oh, and it did have a light rain the entire time which both kept us really cool and enriched the already saturated green lining the canyon walls. There were so many vistas of canyon wall with clouds rising from the rain forests floor. Then there were over a dozen waterfalls along the river, some falling from over a hundred feet up. We joked that if we were to die on the river that we not realize it because we were already in heaven (unless some of us end up in hell, then we might notice a change in scenery). The only part that bugged me about the trip was that I was unable to carry my camera with me on the journey because of all the water.

One a side note, Haley and I have been listening to these books by Vince Flynn about terrorism and the CIA. They are really intense and hearing all the different stories kind of put me in commando mode where I am constantly on the look out for people that could give us problems (especially after the recent muggings in the area here).

I feel this entry was just a jumbled mess, but I wanted to get some of my impressions down really quick before I forget some of it. If you ever find yourself in Costa Rica, I highly recommend the Pacuare river, you won't be disappointed. It might end up being the highlight of the trip, depending on how Bocas Del Toro goes (I remember it being incredible as well).