The Adventure

This a story about a group of friends adventure to Costa Rica, to help their friend Charlie (later to be dubbed Don Charlie) celebrate his 40th Birthday. A simple party would just not do... The cast of characters was recruited from the US Virgin Islands (Charlie, Martine, Russ, Leslie, JP, Kathy, Craig, Kathy, Jack, Hilary), California (Scott), and Switzerland (Danielle).

Our adventure truly started when we arrived in San Jose. Naturally, American Airlines managed to mislay 5 out 7 persons luggage during the stopover in Miami. Nevermind, there were cold margaritas waiting for us at our Hotel Don Carlos, said our host Charlie. We piled into a taxi van and ventured into the city of San Jose. Unfortunately, due to our lengthy visit with the airline baggage folks, it was past 10 pm and the hotel bar was closed. So as group of 10, we set off on foot to the Blue Marlin Cafe, a 24 hr cafe at a Casino-Hotel in downtown San Jose.

We rose early the next day, our bodies clearly didn't realize the 2 hour time difference.After a leisurely breakfast we spent the day exploring downtown San Jose.We visited the numerous public parks and museums... and off course, in true tourist fashion, checked out as many shops as we could between the hotel and Mercado Central...Our luggage finally arrived from the airport after dinner, a relief as we were leaving for a rafting trip early the next morning.

Day two, the bus arrives for rafting at minutes to 6am. Yikes...Half groggy with only one cup of coffee under our belts we board the bus. We did our best to help Charlie, who had been out the night before with the guys getting a jump start on his birthday. An hour and a half later we arrive at the put in point on the Pacuare River. We traveled in two boats, myself, Russ, Leslie, Scott, Danielle and Kevin (our guide) in one, Charlie, Martine, Kathy, Craig, Kathy, JP and guide Mario. A third raft followed with our gear and food. After brief paddling and safety instruction we set off. The river was running very low. Normally class III and IV, the river was running at perhaps only class III. We didn't mind we were off on an adventure in the middle of the jungle... We stopped at different places to swim in waterfalls and check out the local wildlife (including some red dart frogs used by Indians to add poison to their arrows). Our overnight stop was at the well appointed Pacuare Lodge. Our guide took us on a short hike to yet another waterfall while the crew unpacked and readied a gourmet lunch. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and looking for birds. The next day was a longer one on the river, with wilder rapids... We only had one minor mishap while getting stuck behind a rock and started to fill with water, Leslie started to fall out of the boat but was sved by her husband Russ. We took out near Siquirres, in the District of Limon.