|
Surrounding area of Sarapiqui: 71 km (44 mi)
Breakfast here is much better than yesterday at Poas Lodge. It starts with fresh fruit and a freshly squeezed juice follwed by ham, cheese, jam and toasted french bread. The “main course” is “Gallo Pinto” either with scrambled or fried eggs. We are really surprised how delicious rice and beans can be. This is mainly because of the fresh herbs, especially coriander, which is widely used here. Breakfast is not included in the room rate, but is a charge of 10 US$.
We leave the Havienda at 8:00 a.m. for our rafting tour which will start at 9:00 a.m. Tour operator Aventuras del Sarapiqui is situated abt. 35 km away from Hacienda La Isla. We are just on our way as it begins to rain. The vcloser we get to our destination the heavier becomes the rainfall. To be honest, we don’t feel very much like rafting anymore.
But we have paid already US$ 55 per person, so we have to get through it. At Aventuras del Sarapiqui they are already waiting for us, and they immediately alley our concerns. “This is perfect weather for rafting. You will get wet anyway and the good is that you don’t have to care about sunburn.”
Fortunately we are not the only ones going for the tour this morning in defiance of the lousy weather. There are abt. 12 people, most of them Germans. Two of them, Janna and Holger, even come from Düsseldorf. The live in the same district where I grew up. It’s a small world!
A small bus brings us to the place where the rafting tour starts. First of all we are provided with life jackets, helmets and paddles. Then one of the guides gives us important instructions. There are five commands we have to follow, and we are also tought what to do in the unlikely event that anyone falls overboard. We get into the boat with mixed feelings since this is our very first rafting adventure
We are distributed on three boats, and soon we are on our way.
During the following two hour two we do have a lot of fun.
It’s easy to learn how to follow the instructions of our guide Ronaldo, and we enjoy the adrenalin rush whenever the water gets wild. Rafting is real fun!
Half way we do a break and the guides offer us fresh pineapple and water melon. Meanwhile we are soaked to the skin. Pouring rain and the water of the Sarapiqui River have done a perfect job. It’s a bit chilly too since the air temperature is only abt. 20°C (68° F). Anyhow, paddling keeps us warm and hopefully we won’t get a cold.
The tour ends at our meeting point early morning. Here they have changing rooms where we can get rid of our wet clothes. What a great relief! On our drive back we even switch on the heating in our car.
How to spend the rest of this rainy day? Let’s have lunch! Not far away from our accomodation we find restaurant “Rancho Robertos” near the intersection of roads 32 and 4. Very nice ambiance and good and cheap food. Very recommendable.
Since it is still pouring with rain we have a siesta. The remainig afternoon we spend reading.
Dinner we have again at the Hacienda. This time we are the only guests and solely enjoy the service of our hosts. Food is again delicious. Tonight the main course is fish prepared in a white whine boullion served extremely decoratively with green asparagus and jumbo prawns.
|
Travelogue Costa Rica — Day 4, Sunday, 21st November, 2010