Just Around the River Bend

This was the soundtrack to my weekend (either as I sang it in my head, or out loud when I knew no one would hear me).

Saturday Mom and I went white-water rafting down the Pacuare River (rated the 5th best river in the world to raft on). It was great! We spent about 4 hours on the river in a pleasant sun or in the shade of a beautiful canyon going down class three and four rapids. It was nice to get out of the fog and bustle of San Jose into nature (which is both tranquil and thrilling). Some of the cool things we saw were the hanging nests of the Oropendula birds, two toucans (one flying and one sitting in a tree), a hummingbird nest and the mom, a flying morpho butterfly whose iridescent indigo wings remind me a fairy leaving a trail of fairy dust behind it, and this 'bridge' made by the Indios of the region--basically a cable stretching across the river with a little box hanging below it and you pull yourself across. 2 hours deeper into the foliage there are still groups of Indios who live like as small plot-farmers. We had a great guide and navigated through the rapids like pros. The tour group we went with even fed us breakfast of 'gallo pinto' (beans mixed into rice) and a lunch of beans WITH rice. (The food though, was good). The only glitch with the whole day was in the morning when mom and I overslept our 5am alarm and had to race around town in panic for over an hour trying to catch our ride.

Sunday the three of us rented a car again. Here is an example of how everything happens for a reason. Last week mom and I tried to go to San Pedro (the neighborhood around the University of Costa Rica), got on a wrong bus and wove around some random areas in San Jose before sheepishly asking the driver if he would pass the university and he condescendingly told us we are on the wrong bus. Anyway, those 'wasted' hours winding around proved to be super useful today in order to navigate our way to Cartago and avoid the congested city center. In Cartago we stopped at the famous Church which was overflowing with people attending service, but we stood inside for a few minutes to take in the gorgeous light that was streaming in from the windows.


Then we drove through the scenic valley of Orosi and I would say that it was the prettiest area I have seen so far in CR. We had lunch at a restaurant in the midst of a coffee farm right on a lake with the greatest vegetation to explore. Later in the afternoon we got out to a nearby national park and hiked through the rain on some great trails. Feeling in touch with nature, I again sang Poccahontas songs as we walked along.