Miranda and I were up at 5:30 am to go white water rafting. We originally booked the Rio Pacuare which was supposed to be a scenic Class III-IV but due to the dry season it was pretty slow so our guide asked us if we wanted to go on the Pascua section of the Rio Reventazon which was supposed to be a more adventurous ride. We left at 7:30 am, stopped for breakfast and then we were on the river for 4 hours. I've only been rafting once before and this was so much more action packed. The Pascua has 15 Class IV rapids and there were hardly any slow times. Of course, it was during one of the slower times when I was talking and the next thing I knew I was in the river and I was holding onto the side of the raft. We had hit a rock and I never saw it coming. The lady behind me said it was all in slow motion, but I couldn't even tell you now what happened. There were two couples from Minneapolis on the raft with us and they said they would send us some pictures since we didn't have a waterproof camera. After the rafting, we had lunch which consisted of meats, cheeses, and veggies on your choice of bread or tortillas. We then took a van that went to La Fortuna.
La Fortuna de San Carlos is a rural town about 3 hours NE of San Jose. Now, this is what I imagined towns to look and feel like in Costa Rica. I was not impressed with San Jose, or I should correctly say the section I stayed in. Miranda and I ended up staying in Hotel Sierra Arenal, a small hotel next door to the Arenal Backpackers Resort. Although we had made a reservation and paid our $12 for a bed at the last hostel, they were full. We paid $10 more and had a much nicer two double bed room that had hot water! They even had cable TV so I could hear election news on CNN.
We asked for a recommendation for dinner and we went to Soda La Parada and for 5775 colones, (named after Cristobal Colon, Christopher Columbus) we each had grilled tilapia, rice, mashed potatos, pasta salad, black beans, grilled plantain, a hot chocolate, a coffee and a bottle of green tea. That's about $10 in the US. Currently, you get 530 colones for $1.00. Do you think there were enough carbs in that meal?
I exchanged about $60 for colones but most of the places I've been, you can use US dollars.
