On Saturday we went to the pacuare river to white water raft. It was about an hour and a half away from San Jose, up more mountains and around windy roads which we’ve become accustomed to. We had to get up really early again in order to leave by 6:30 to make it for breakfast at the white water rafting place. We tried to get only guys in our raft in order to paddle stronger and faster, and we almost succeeded but didn’t. We had a little briefing session in the van on the way up to the river., but not super detailed. Once again I felt unsafe, but oh well. There were class 2-4 rapids Most people in our boat got tossed out at one point or another, and it was really really fun. Probably one of my favorite parts of this entire trip. Going down the river, we were in the middle of the jungle which was quite breathtaking. Unfortunately, my camera is not waterproof so I have no pictures. We even got to see native Costa Ricans (like indians) along the side of the river at points which was pretty cool. We were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Our guide was great, and nobody was seriously injured thankfully. We ate lunch on the river and swam around, and after lunch we rafted for another hour. I realized that being in the front of the boat is 50 times more fun than being in the back because you get splashed and its just out of control. After we finished, we went back to San Jose and pretty much everyone just crashed at home since we had to get up even earlier the next day to leave for the Osa Peninsula on the pacific coast near Panama.
Sunday, we had a very long bus ride to the Osa Peninsula, including a moment when we had to get off the bus so it could "perform a somewhat dangerous manuever" which involved students pushing the bus from behind so it could bottom out on a tiny bridge. We had to ride on boats to get to the town we were staying in on the peninsula, and the ride was really fun. We went through a forest on the boat (pictures to explain that will come later) and got to go pretty fast out on the open ocean. We got to our camp/tents/nice place that would serve as our hotel for 3 days and everyone got to relax which was wonderful. Dinner was delicious too which made the travel day much better.
Monday we had another early morning, around 7am, to go to the corcovado national park which we had to ride a boat to. This trip has been so crazy for our normal schedules as college students considering all the early mornings. There were 3 groups of about 10 students, and luckily I had a really crazy guide who also worked at the hotel we stayed at. He was in tune with nature to the fullest and hadn't worn shoes voluntarilly in 15 years. He let us on the trail and had us eat termites if we wanted (which taste like wood/dirt but are extremely healthy), eat some kind of muscle thing that was growing on a rock in the ocean, and swim in the this swimming hole that was at the base of a stream coming out of the peninsula that lead to the ocean. We saw lots of bugs like spiders and leaf cutter ants and even a jaguar footprint in the dirt. We also saw tracks of the Tapir on the sand. The Tapir is the largest mammal in the park, and kind of looks like an anteater. We headed back for lunch and saw a half-eaten sea otter that we had to wade past which was pretty repulsive. After we ate lunch and hung out at the beach, all the groups went to the waterfall. My crazy guide lead a small group of us from this little waterfall everyone was at (about 6 feet tall) to a the huge waterfall upstream that was probably 30-40 feet tall. We climbed up rock faces and there were multiple times that I thought I was going to slip and fall off of it and die, but luckily there were no fatalities. After the waterfall visit we took the boats back to our hotel and played cards until dinner and after dinner. This weekend was full of more cards than I've ever played in my lifetime probably.
The next day we went by boat to rainy boat ride to the island where we went snorkeling. The water was clear blue which was gorgeous, and the coral reef we were over was pretty far down so to get a close look at the fish you had to dive down a little bit. We also hung out on the beach for a little bit and then went home early for fear of being trapped on the island by what seemed to be an incoming storm. Most people went to sleep in their tents when we got home but I wasn't tired so I read outside and thoroughly enjoyed the awesome view from my deck. I slept a little before dinner since everyone else was still sleeping and then hung out with everyone at night.
On wednesday we road the boat back to the town where we left our bus and had the longest bus ride ever. It was a long day.
itinerary until i leave
Thursday, June 5, Leave to La Selva Research Station, Caribbean (BRING MU T-SHIRT)
Friday-sunday, chill in the puerto viejo, go to banana plantations,
Monday, June 9, Return to San Jose
Tuesday, June 10, Class, Lunch, Class
Wed, June 11, Evals., Group Reports, lunch, Final Exam
Thur, June 12, Poas and water falls visit (no swimming) (BRING MU T-SHIRT)
Fri, June 13, Free day, packing, Farewell Dinner
Sat, June 14, fly home
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