Rio Pacuare

Yesterday was the ever anticipated white water rafting trip. But before I tell you about the day, let me preface this with a dream I had the night before we went rafting...
In my dream, I was tubing behind my dad's ski boat (which he won in a raffle), and the tube had at least 6 people in it. But we were tubing in really shallow water, and there were rocks everywhere. Since my dad was an inexperienced boater, he took a turn too sharp, and I flew out of the tube, through the air, and onto the rock. Now, luckily, in this dream I was not hurt. There must have been an angel to soften the fall. Later on in the dream, my cousin Rachel hits her head against a boat in the lake, and I have to save her life.

And at 7am I wake up with these thoughts in my head, ready to raft in a class 4 river all day long. I honestly didn't know what to think. Is this a bad sign? Am I just anxious? Did the Benydrl mess with my mind? Regardless, lets just say I prayed a lot that morning. A lot.

The bus came to pick us up and we ate breakfast at a beautiful hotel with a gorgeous view. Once we were back on the bus, one of the guides begins to brief the group (which included other crazy people outside of our UGA group) on the safety rules and procedures. I quickly realized that there was a lot to remember, and no "practice run". It was get it right the first time or fall out of the boat. The latter was not an option for me. And the fact that he gave some terrifying "what-if" example/scenarios, didn't help my fear any. One of my favorites was- "When you fall out of the boat, float on your back. If your legs are down they'll get caught in a rock and you will drown." Well, that's wonderful. Or this one was good- "The paddle is the most dangerous thing today. I lost a tooth because a lady in my boat let go of her paddle." At this point, it was all I could do to breath and try to pray some more. Honestly, I wanted to turn around and go home, but it was way too late for that.

We arrived at Rio Pacuare and there were several other groups there, probably ten rafts. Each raft holds six people and one guide. The guides were local Ticos who knew the river well. We had 5 girls and 1 boy in our raft, which didn't make me feel any better. Our guide's name was Roberto, he had a little crush on me. :-) "Me gusta sus ojos bonitas" was just one of the things I heard from him that day. Along with, "Want to be my girlfriend?"

Once we got on the river and through the first few rapids, I LOVED it. Rafting the Rio Pacuare was one of my favorite experiences in Costa Rica so far. It was an amazing way to see the country. The river bends and winds through beautiful canyons, mountains, waterfalls, etc. I really can't describe the view, it was breathtaking. So when the rapids weren't keeping us busy, I would just stare at the view. Water would just flow down the side of the mountains and into the river.

We ate lunch at a beautiful spot on the side of the river, then departed again for more rafting. In all, it was about 4 hours on the river and 18 miles. My favorite part of the day was one of the narrow canyons we went through. It was a very calm part of the river, and Roberto let us get out of the raft and float down the canyon. It was relaxing and peaceful. What a beautiful way to enjoy God's creation.

Roberto was sad to see us go, but we had a wonderful time. And I might actually do it again if given the opportunity. Gracias a Dios for keeping us safe :-)

I'll try to post our group picture with Roberto soon.