Day Five: 10th Anniversary & Rafting the Pacuare River June 14

We started our official anniversary date with an amazing breakfast and then we loaded up the van and headed for our rafting trip on the Pacuare River. Our first stop though was at a local snake expert reknowned in Costa Rica and who taught us a class on the poisonous vipers of the country including two deadly ones: the bushmaster & fer-de-lance. Loasia thoroughly described the 21 different species of venomous snakes one might encounter in Costa Rica. Fortunately Costa Rica is well equipped to deal with poisonous snakebites (with less than a 1% casualty rate among snakebite victims. Part of the problem with snakes in CR is that they have provided an ideal environment for snakes to live: coffee, banana & other plantations. I had assumed that if one were looking for a snake they would visit the jungle - apparently that's a good place to visit to not see snakes!

Minor says that many scientists study the taxonomy or venom of these snakes but most have never gone into the field to study the behavior of these snakes. He shared a story of a famous herpatologist who decided to do a field trip and find a particular variety of snake and found none after a period of months. He says that more study needs to be done in the field to prevent snake bites and how the many species of snakes are propigating. I loved his line, "To many, I am a snake expert but to me I am a snake student." Wise words!


We then viewed many of the snakes from his lecture in his serpentarium and later he took a few outside for us to take pictures of. I also took a few shots of some artifacts he had on display that I found intriguing.


Later we met face-to-face a beautiful red eyed tree frog that posed appropriately on some local vegetation and yes my wife's shoulder!



From the snake guy we headed for the river put-in and loaded up the raft by around 11am. We learned all the lingo like: positions, left back, right back, forward two, highside right, etc. The first section was class three and a lot of fun.


Half way through our paddle we took a break and took a short walk (and wade) by a creek that turned into sort of a mini waterfall - simply gorgeous!


We then took the raft a little more downstream and found a flat bank for lunch.

Later after a few more interesting sets of rapids we arrived at the camp - again we were very impressed. Cabinas were our lodging - little cabins on stilts and walled by mosquito netting and a roofed by a green waterproof tarp (see below). Aside from the cabinas, an amazing open-air lounge area for eating - simply luxury in the great outdoors! Also showers and working toilets!



Amazing views of the mountains nearby, the whitewater below us, and the flora simply gorgeous!



All in all I was very impressed by the rafting experience - kayaking is still more fun but the teambuilding potential of the sport is impressive! Getting back to our anniversary - it is amazing how fast these past ten years have flown by. I also can't believe where we've all gone to and through as a couple - and yes still loving it!