Costa Rica Exploratory Programs from Dec. 30th- Jan 10th Pura Vida Adventures is in Costa Rica experiencing what adventure opportunities are available and which companies we feel can provide the type of service our clients come to expect . We were invited down here by Desfacio Adventures who like us offer multi sport adventure opportunities. Our first five days however were on our own until we met up with a company in Turrialba named Explora Natura. The goal of this trip is to come back with a wealth of information about these companies so that we can recommend programs for our US and International clients:
Day one was spent on the Pacure River, considered one of the best whitewater trips in the world we were greatly pleased with the 20 miles of whitewater the Lower Pacure offered, as well as the scenic views. Our plan was to take the first day to scout the Pacure, only able to rent one kayak we, Julia and I, split time in the kayak while the other rafted. Photos of Day 1 River trip our included. Day 3 will bring us back to the Lower Pacure where now familiar with the river we will kayak as a team of two going at our own pace, scouting the rapids that need scouted, and having what hopes to be another great river day.
Day two became a two part adventure the first part of the day included a canyoneering trip with Explora Natura, followed by a mountain bike ride and educational tour of CATIE, an environmental research and study graduate institute.
First the canyoneeering tour I highly recommend this activity to anyone visiting this area. I would explain it as a zipline canopy tour on steroids, but more than doable for most people. Explora Natura has put a lot of time and thought into creating a canyoneering trip that is safe and exciting. The amount of work they put into rigging, trail building, and setting ziplines over the years I can only guess. The result of the work however is a great canyoneering adventure that many more people can enjoy. The program includes 4-5 waterfall rappels, a hanging bridge, 4 considerable ziplines, and knowledgeable guides not only in the area of canyoneering but also in the flora and fauna you would see around the way.
The knowledge the guides brought to us in CATIE during the mountain bike ride was even more incredible. I would explain this trip as an experiential tour of tropical plants with transportation via mountain bike. The physical difficulty of this program is not to difficult and could be easily done by a person of basic fitness. If you can walk four miles without much difficulty, this program will not be too difficult for you. The trip includes riding through sugar cane and coffee fields, as well as experiencing in nature where palm oil, rubber, cocoa, cinnamon and various fruits come from. The guides also tell you how trees of the same family can be cross pollinated to avoid fungus or disease that are putting a species at risk.
Day three of our trip provided us with another opportunity to kayak the Pacure River. This time Julia and I were able to rent kayaks from Mario Vargas at Costa Rica Kayak tours. Mario not only owns a wide range of Jackson kayaks which he uses for teaching and some rental, but also is known as a world class boater himself. His boats are reported by many as the best fleet of kayaks in all of Turrialba, Costa Rica.
The trip along the river was great Explora Natura provided us with a shuttle, a delicious lunch and a couple of great river guides who were working a rafting trip but more than willing to provide us any information we needed during the trip. Julia and myself both had clean runs on the river and were sorry to know that this would be our last day on the Pacure River for this year's trip. The rivers 23 mile trip and continuous class 2 and 3 rapids along every turn brought two great days of river action during our river trip. Below you can see video of Julia running the river right creek line on one of the class four rapids called Lower Huacas.
More info to come on this blog. to learn more info about our travel vacations to Costa Rica visit our website: http://www.pvadventures.com/travel/Costa%20Rica/index.html
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Costa Rica vacation programs that explore the various cultures and lifestyles found throughout Central America.
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