We relunctantly pulled ourselves out of bed at 6 am for the earliest excursion in ou plans here: white water rafting with Aguas Bravas. We tortured Andy out of bed (having found him holding an itouch under his pillow and with a mountain of chocolate wrappers by his head after an apparent late-nighter). We skipped through some marginally acceptable teeth brushing and threw ourselves into the car, headed just past La Fortuna.
An hour later, having arrived, disembarked and dispersed children in all directions, we were approached by our river guide who informed us that we should definitely NOT go on the scheduled class 4 rafting excursion. Looking the boys over, he said, no I would never take children this small out on a 4, way too dangerous, someone will fall in and be in danger.
Inwardly, I couldn't help smugly thinking, hmmm, that guy just doesn't realise that our kids are tougher than most, ready for a bit of rough and tumble. Outwardly, I agreed with him that, if he didn't feel comfortable taking kids this age/size out on a 4, he was probably right. We all agreed to come back at 11 for a class 2-3 rafting trip.
Before the rafting commenced, Brittany (our Cat Whisperer) and Andy found a beautiful kitten, I fell in love with this cow and Justin and Sam entertained themselves
As we sat in a bakery in La Fortuna, sipping coffee and hot chocolates, all I could think was Great, just great! I could still be warm and cosy in bed, laying around for another half hour. Oh, how I missed that extra half hour.
For the first time since we've been here, the clouds cleared from the top of the volcano and we got some beautiful snaps of it looming behind La Fortuna, sulking and steaming. a proud, perfectly cone-shaped mountain.
The girls took the opportunity to go through the souvenir shops in La Fortuna for friends and family. We decided that from now on, everyone should argue with all their friends just before leaving and then make up after returning so that they didn't have to worry about bringing a lot back. But they chose some very pretty colorful bracelets, flowery hair-holders, rustic miniature pan flutes and an impressive little array of forget-me-nots to bring back.
When we returned to the rafting center, Aguas Bravas, the children hunted down the tiny kitten that Brittany had found earlier in the morning and procedeed fight over who loved it or deserved it the most - the poor kitten looked quite beewildered as it was squeezed and grabbed. It had only ever chosen one person to come to - Brittany, our Cat Whisperer. I think the poor thing may have been reconsidering the decision.
We left for the rafting spot, about 45 minutes drive. Having been mainly in El Castillo and La Fortuna, it was was interesting to see the homes, cafes, farms and all sorts of things along the way.
We met up with a other tourists at the launch site and were all kitted up with life vests and paddles. I hooked the GoPro camera over my helmet and was ready to go.
After a brief description of all the commands and actions we needed to know, we launched into the water and began paddling. The river looked pretty tame and I thought, ghee, I hope this isn't gonna be too babyish..
But it wasn't too long before we were in white waters, with fast waters splashing us around small boulders and river bends. With the first real drop of the raft I was all of a sudden appreciating that we were on a 2-3 and not a 4! What on earth was a 4 like?! Our river had plenty of points at which it tried to throw a person over the raft or shake us from our positions. Glancing at the boys, I was happy that Sam was in the middle and not near an edge! But he was absolutely ecstatic, smiling and laughing as he worked to keep his balanace. Andy and Ben didn''t have to row for the 1st section, so they wouldn't bash Sam with their paddles. The girls chipped right in with the paddles.
We saw several sloths, an eagle, a large orange iguana, and many cormerants (large, dark birds). It was funny that we saw so many more animals here as we whizzed down the river than we did on our hanging bridges jungle trek. Our guide, Didier, was great at spotting creatures in the trees ahead.
At one point, another raft became stuck on a rock in the middle of fast moving waters. They were in trouble, with water coming onboard. Didier left Justin in charge of our raft and headed over to help out. I felt our guide was the best of the lot - but may have been prejudiced!
Didier had Sam and Ben take turns to sit on the bow of the boat, legs astride the point, as we navigated through turbulent waters in the 2nd section (class 2). They loved that, it was like riding a bull and being in a water park both!
When we finished, we were offered sections of watermelon and pineapples, freshly cut ... sakes alive, did they taste good after all that paddling?!!
After the rafting, we headed for a sustainable ranch for lunch. It was gorgeous, with exotic flowers growing along the main path and crops of tropical fruits and veg visible. Under a thatched roof palapa, there were several long tables arranged. We were each able to make a tortilla out of a dough ball and take it to a lady to bake in a stone oven.
As the tortillas finished cooking a few minutes later, we were presented with a meal of Casada - made with rice, beans, chicken and an assortment of the ranch vegetables. We drank star fruit juice from the ranch as well. It was a lot like orange juice, we all, even the boys, enjoyed it. Andy had a second plate full.
After lunch we walked to another palapa and sat around the edges to listen to the ranchers talking about the local fruit and veg products. Using members of our little audience, including Andy and Ben, they showed us how to bash and then strain sugar canes for their juice. We each drank some, but it was even too sweet for me! Then they brought out the local alcohol made from sugar can juice. We each had a sip of it. While it wasn;t unpleasant, my throat warmed to burning, I coughed and spluttered and think my tongue was exfoliated as a result. The kids attempts at a sip were even more funny.
Saying goodbye to the ranchers, we made our way back to the van and then the rafting office. We all piled into our car for the hour long trip home, stopping also by the grocery while in the 'big town' of La Fortuna where we could find a supermarket.
Any and Ben extract juice from a sugar cane and we all sample the juice .. as well as a sip of the alcoholic product (akin to paint stripper)
all the pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105332575943799967078/20111227CRRaftingWithDidierAndRanchVisit
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