Rafting On the Rio Balsa

7-11-11

                Today we went rafting on the Rio Balsa near Arenal. We were able to sleep in since the transportation for rafting would not pick us up till 10:15. So we had a leisurely breakfast with chocolate freezes and tropical jams. After breakfast we got our adventure clothing on and our dry clothes for the lunch afterward. We were the first ones on the bus today and we went to pick up another family before heading to the river. The other family was a dad and his two sons. One was 20 and the other was 16. The 16 year old immediately reminded me of Tony Zanghi. His family is from California, but he lives in New York and goes to an art school there. He has been in several Broadway plays. They were a really interesting group to rides with; Riley (the actor) had actually met many famous actors while he was working.  On the way we stopped by a fruit stand to get watermelon (still better in NC), pineapple and mango for our snack after rafting. The fruit stand was very interesting because it had all sorts of crazy fruits and lots of local products.

                We got to the rafting site after about a 30 min car ride and the guides set up the gear while we took pictures and found life jackets and helmets. The guides gave a little tutorial before we were divided into the boats. Each boat held 6 people. In our boat we it was the 4 of us and our guide Oscar. In the other boat were the second family and two Italian men. This river is class 3-2, smaller than the other rivers we have done, but still a fun trip. We started right away practicing our commands, get down, lean in, forward and backward. We were doing well on our synchronicity but, it was hard to hear our guide over the rush of the water. We were the second boat and had started off a ways behind the first boat; however, they were having paddle issues and managed to get suck at the bottom of the rapid just as we were coming down it. We kind of ran over them… but it wasn’t our fault! After that we passed them and they got a remedial lesson in paddling. Since we had a smoother trip than last time we got a safari on water. Our guide Oscar stopped along the way to show us different plants and animals (soap berries, anise..). He also explained what the river was used for (the river rocks for building). He stopped to show us several sloths (and explained which trees they are likely found in), iguanas and the cherry on top, a poison blue jean frog! Oscar pulled the raft over, ran up into the woods and came back holding a tiny, vibrant, poison red and blue frog. It was so tiny and cute, but I was not about to touch it when he offered to let us hold it. I’ve seen enough planet earth and Nat Geo to know not to touch brightly colored animals in the wild. Oscar had no fear though, and he didn’t seem to be badly affected by the frog.

                We spent about 2 hours rafting down the river and we didn’t fall out once. Devon and I were disappointed. We almost fell out on some of the big rapids in the beginning but managed to stay in since none of us wanted to go over the baby waterfall without the boat. At the end to compensate, Devon  and I jumped out and swam the rest of the way to shore. By the time we arrived the guides had the raft flipped over and had a spread of cut up fruit. Mango is now one of my favorite fruits. I probably ate about half of one after rafting in addition to watermelon and pineapple. We went back in to the water to splash around a bit more before we left for lunch.

                We had a traditional casado lunch at the country home of the 1948 president (the one who abolished the army).  The hacienda is an active sugar mill and they also make moonshine. We had lunch on the open porch of the old ranch house. The lunch was delicious, everything was produces using products from the farm and made on a wood burning stove. We had yucca, plantains, heart of palm, beans rice, your choice of meat and fresh juice. For desert we had a traditional Costa Rican sort of fudge/brittle made from sugar cane on the farm. We were also able to try samples of their homemade liquor de Cacao, and homemade whiskey. I liked the liquor de Cacao, but the whiskey was very strong. Once we had finished lunch the owner of the restaurant and his wife came out and played and sang some traditional music of the countryside. It was perfect.

                Once everyone was stuffed we walked around the old house to get to the antique/artisanal sugar mill. It is one of the only still operating in Costa Rica. It’s an old iron machines that’s powered by oxen and it grinds the cane juice out of the cane. That juice is strained and heated until ti becomes a molasses that you can place in a mold that hardens into sugar. This type of sugar is actually healthy and good for you (yes!).  To get the normal white sugar you must refine it even further which removes all of the good vitamins and minerals and concentrates the sucrose. After the tour (and free samples!!) we piled back into the van and returned to the hotels.

                It was about 4 when we got back, and we were all full and feeling lazy so we changed into our swim suits grabbed our books and moseyed on over to the hot springs. Since we had eaten after rafting, and had such a great lunch none of us were very hungry until much later. We spent about 3 hours swimming and reading in the spring. Finally we decided to go out to eat something lite before the restaurants closed. Since we were wandering around the town our first two places were a bust, but we decided to go to get some pizza at, of all places,  Luigi’s Pizza. Our waitress was the very energetic owner who repeatedly told us that even if it wasn’t on the menu she could make it. I’ve never had bad pizza in CR and this was no exception. We returned late and Devon and I went for one last trip to the hot springs since we were leaving Arenal in the morning.