I know that Sue promised you that I would have my trip spreadsheet ready by today, but I am afraid that I just have not gotten to it yet. Have no fear, I will get it done, perhaps for my next post. In the meantime, we have been looking at all the things to do in Costa Rica and I have come to the conclusion that we just don’t have enough time.

One absolute requirement is that we go whitewater rafting again.  There are whole bunch of places that do it, but broadly speaking there are three areas.

The Pucuare River is about 2.5 hours east of San Jose. It is considered one of the top rated rafting rivers and runs alongside the Talamanca Mountain range.  There is lots of wildlife to be seen, everything from monkeys to deer to jaguars. The river has Class III-IV rapids. There are single day or multi-day trips.

The Tenorio River is about 3 hours north and west of San Jose. This is a relatively short 8-mile rafting trip. It has many quick twists and turns. Overall is rated as Class III-IV, but does have one 12-foot, class V rapid.

The Naranjo River is also about 3 hours from San Jose, but southwest. It is only about 15-20 minutes from Hotel Costa Verde, where we are staying for part of the trip.  This river has Class VI+ rapids and is apparently geared towards “thrill seekers.” It features 9 technical narrows and a tight squeeze though a canyon.

Yes, there are so many decisions to be made. This is just rafting; we need to decide on where and when to hike, which waterfalls to take in, whether we want to do repelling, jungle tours–daytime or nighttime?–do we take a rain forest cloud tour,  how about zip lining? and so many other things to decide.

Let’s face it…we need a spreadsheet to keep track of all this.  😉