Turrialba-- the Real Costa Rica and Rafting the Pacuare

Every time I go to the Turrialba area, I fall in love with Costa Rica all over again.  It's a combination of the lush rolling hills and deep canyons, the super-friendly people, and the natural wonders of erupting volcanoes and rushing rivers.

We visited Maricela and Johnny on Sunday.  Our new brakes, however, went from being squeaky to smoking on fire as we descended into a valley.  We quickly pulled over and doused the smoking brakes with all the water we could find in the car.  Then we drove slowly until we could find a place to refill our emergency brake cooling water.  A man in a convenience store hooked up a hose and helped us.  Then a police man came by to see what was going on and he also gave us encouraging words.  Finally we arrived in Tres Equis.

Never have I been in such a communal environment as Tres Equis.  Everyone walks into each others houses, shares stories and greetings, and whatever food is being eaten.  The kids raced off to play with the neighborhood kids: Derek, Lenny and Brenda, while we enjoyed a constant flow of visitors. The food, as usual was spectacular.  I got the feeling that Maricela made an especially spicy soup just for me.  She knows I like my food hot and spicy.

The village headman, Don Rafa took us on a little trip to a local lake.  But we were clouded in and the rains dumped on us, and a tree had fallen, blocking the steeply inclined, rock pocked road.  We were lucky my 4x4 was able to make it back up the mountain in the torrential downpour.
Back in Tres Equis, we saw Turrialba erupting silhouetted by the sunset.

Two of Don Rafa's  sons work for Pacuare river rafting companies so we were given great advice on what sections of river we can do with our young teenagers and the state of the Pacuare as of that day.  All indications looked good.  The river was not too high and not too low.

That night we stayed in Turrialba and the next morning we met our tour guides in the center of town.  At the river, they quickly suited us up and got us into the raft.  As we floated toward the first set of rapids, our guide said, "I'm now going to explain the 4 important commands that you must follow."  He got through three of them and then we entered the first set of rapids.
"What about the 4th command?" I shouted above the crashing of waves.
"Oh I'll tell you later," he said.

"But what about if one of us falls in?" Ilana queried.
"Don't worry about it," he said.
Needless to say, we were all glad that we had rafted before hand and received full safety briefings on those occasions.

The river was a gorgeous green, cutting through ravines with steep jungle on both sides.  The first class 3 rapid seemed a bit daunting, but we quickly adapted.  Then the class 4 rapids were just plain fun.  It was like riding a roller coaster while slamming through walls of cold water.  3.5 hours later, we were tired, sun drenched, and so grateful to have had the opportunity to raft such a beautiful river.

This horse was just hanging out in Turrialba

As a final challenge, our guides took us to a rock outcropping where we climbed up a 15 foot cliff.  From there, they told us to jump.  I asked if it is deep enough.  He said, "Should be".   Marina, Benji and I made harrowing jump, if only to verify that it is in fact deep enough.

Great day. Great fun.  Pura Vida!