San Jose 2 - September 2008

There were about 15 people going rafting. We arrived at the river by 7.30am and were given a very short health and safety talk and an overview of how to raft. I was amazed at how stable I felt despite having to sit on the edge of the boat and the only thing securing me to the boat was my feet tucked under an inflatable ‘seat’ in the middle of the boat. We were split up between 3 boats and I was with Rachael (travel buddy). Our boat capsized once which was kind of scary as we were all got chucked off the boat and were in rapids for a bit then floating downstream at quite a speed before we were rescued by another boat. It was pretty exciting too! At least we capsized on grade 4 rapids rather than the measly grade 3 ones as one of the other boats had! Ever so often we’d have a calm bit of river and just were able to relax and enjoy the scenery which included passing through a beautiful large canyon. Three hours later we were at the end of the rafting and were at a nice cafe where our lunch was provided for us. It was a rice and chicken dish, and then crisps and bananas, so I just ate my weight in bananas! We then had a couple of hours on the minibus before arriving in San Jose so we all slept, totally exhausted from not sleeping the previous night. Three of us were all staying in Hostel Toruma so got a taxi from the centre of town up to the hostel. We then went out shopping for more souvenirs at the market that Rachael and I had visited on our first San Jose trip.