We got up this morning to see impressive views of cloud covering the volcano Arenal. After a late start, the bus arrived to raft on the Class two and three rapids of the Rio Balsa (Balsa River). The sun once again had some fleeting glimpses through the cloud in the valley in the distance, though it didn’t shine on our hot water-less accommodation. Along the way, we saw another sloth! This time we got out to see this less than impressive creature wrapped up in the tree doing what they do best…. Nothing.
On arrival at the Rio Balsa, the rafts were ready and the river was flowing quite quickly. There were rapids immediately out from the river bank and our launch place. The safety instruction was informative but Tan was a bit unsure having not rafted before. 
We had a quick trial in the raft on the waters edge and it wasn’t that long until we hit our first rapid.
Paul and I took up the front corners, while Sal, Tan and Wendy sat in the middle. Ariel, our Columbian instructor, was great chirping out commands of “forward, back paddle, forward hard and get down”.
The team work was impressive with both sides in unison with the forward paddlers as shown in the photo below.
Our first Class Three rapid was close to a steep embankment and the boat folded up slightly going over it. The water was cool but the adrenalin was up so it the temperature balanced out perfectly.
In some places, we were close to over hanging branches and others we had to paddle very hard to switch from one side to the other. 
The sun come out in some sections and we all commented on how good it felt. We have been surprised with the weather in Costa Rica. It has been wet and quite cold for most of the time we have been here. Some rapids had a high wave length which obscured the raft.
By the end we were laughing and weren’t afraid of the rapids. By looking your feet in the foot straps and under the seats, we felt really safe.
All in all, we had a really great day on the water. The shower back at the hotel was ummmmm…. cold, so Wendy, Paul, Dana, Tan and I headed back to Baldi hot springs again.
We bid good bye to Larry and Ellen who had to head back to Washington DC, as Ellen wasn’t feeling too good. The group is down to nine now.
The water slide, which we missed the previous time was open so we had a couple of shots. The speed out of thing was impressive to the point you got airborne. My third and final shot started with a flying take off. This in hindsight was a stupid idea as I got a lot of air on the final corner and landed a fair way down the flat. When my head hit the slide my body had tingles all through for a second and I was a little disoriented when I finished in the water. That was about time to stop the water slides, and we ended up relaxing, this time with Mojitos and mango daiquiris in the top swim up bar.
Afterwards we hit the Soda La Parada for pizza and beers. Another great day in Costa Rica.
On arrival at the Rio Balsa, the rafts were ready and the river was flowing quite quickly. There were rapids immediately out from the river bank and our launch place. The safety instruction was informative but Tan was a bit unsure having not rafted before. We had a quick trial in the raft on the waters edge and it wasn’t that long until we hit our first rapid.Paul and I took up the front corners, while Sal, Tan and Wendy sat in the middle. Ariel, our Columbian instructor, was great chirping out commands of “forward, back paddle, forward hard and get down”.
The team work was impressive with both sides in unison with the forward paddlers as shown in the photo below.
Our first Class Three rapid was close to a steep embankment and the boat folded up slightly going over it. The water was cool but the adrenalin was up so it the temperature balanced out perfectly.
In some places, we were close to over hanging branches and others we had to paddle very hard to switch from one side to the other. The sun come out in some sections and we all commented on how good it felt. We have been surprised with the weather in Costa Rica. It has been wet and quite cold for most of the time we have been here. Some rapids had a high wave length which obscured the raft.By the end we were laughing and weren’t afraid of the rapids. By looking your feet in the foot straps and under the seats, we felt really safe.All in all, we had a really great day on the water. The shower back at the hotel was ummmmm…. cold, so Wendy, Paul, Dana, Tan and I headed back to Baldi hot springs again.We bid good bye to Larry and Ellen who had to head back to Washington DC, as Ellen wasn’t feeling too good. The group is down to nine now.
The water slide, which we missed the previous time was open so we had a couple of shots. The speed out of thing was impressive to the point you got airborne. My third and final shot started with a flying take off. This in hindsight was a stupid idea as I got a lot of air on the final corner and landed a fair way down the flat. When my head hit the slide my body had tingles all through for a second and I was a little disoriented when I finished in the water. That was about time to stop the water slides, and we ended up relaxing, this time with Mojitos and mango daiquiris in the top swim up bar.
Afterwards we hit the Soda La Parada for pizza and beers. Another great day in Costa Rica.
1 comment:
What? No mention of the intrepid Canadian woman and her graceful -- some might say spectacular (only some, mind you) header out of and re-mount into the *&^%#@ raft?
Intrepid Canadian woman
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