Well ladies and Gents add another country boated for the Bottoms Up Crew – Pura Vida it’s Costa Rica! A good crew from the Valley (Tyler, Lou, Paul O, Brendan, and Dan) decided in November that it was too cold for the Ottawa and made the winter migration to the warm tropical paradise known as Costa Rica and settled in a house in Turrialba. Many that have boated in Costa Rica use Turrialba as a base because of the close proximity to dozens of world class runs such as the Pacuare, Reventazon, Orosi, Pejibaye and lots of others. Every run has a very different ‘feel’ to it which adds a lot of variety and spice to the trip. The Reventazon is a big water lovers dream with several different sections like the Perralta Dries (which only runs after big rains) that is not only big water but also really steep. You could tell the Ottawa boaters by the way some of us were throwing big tricks in some of the hardest rapids. Paul and Lou were throwing big backloops off of pillows, while Brendan was surfing some of the gnarliest holes on the run. Tyler and I wimped out and just ran the standard lines. Wimps. The next 30 miles or so of the river contains very continuos big water fun with some ‘I’m glad I wasn’t three feet to the left or I’d be swimming a long way’ style holes and great scenery. The Pacuare is an altogether different adventure with five different sections including the headwaters that requires a horsepack hike for about three hours in knee deep mud that rewards you with fun read and run whitewater surrounded by breathtaking scenery. The toughest (and in my opinion best) section is the Upper section. Here you will find two canyons with several class V drops and some really sticky holes. I decided to test one particularly deep hole (backed by a rock) for about two minutes before it finally spit me out. Must admit I had my hand on the pull tab ready to pull the chutes – but only because I needed to cool off. Yeah, that’s it. The Lower section (which is the popular commercial raft run) comes with some fun rapids, huge waterfalls cascading into the run, jumping pit vipers on shore, and a really unfriendly undercut. Paul decided to see if it was as bad as it looks and inspected it up close in his boat, and then out of it. After deciding that it indeed sucks he bounced on down shore. Thanks Paul. After knocking off the standard runs we decided to adventure south for a multi day trip on the Buena Vista and General. We found some lovely continuos class IV stuff for the first few miles, set up camp and waited for morning hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately the rapids slowed down and the pollution sped up. We had heard that water quality was and issue and were a little worried about this bacteria known as Leptospirosis. It seemed like a bad idea to paddle it but that’s what makes for the best adventures right? Maybe not. Halfway through day two or our scheduled four day trip the smell of ‘hot garbage’ became too much. Every time the water splashed your face it made your eyes burn. Gross. We decided to gun for the takeout and finished a day early. Don’t be completely turned off the run though. We did see lots of great scenery and animals including an 8 foot crocodile that slid into the water in front of us. Paul was a bit freaked and asked ‘what do we do?”. I told him, “paddle by and try not to look wounded”. Fun times. When we got back to Turrialba the water was low which meant some of the steeper runs were good to go. First up the Upper Orosi which contains a beautiful section known as Dinosaur Gorge. This short stretch includes countless, slots, boofs and pitons through crazy shaped van sized boulders. Definitely one to do if in the area. With the Orosi in our minds we talked to local steep creeking guru Ferdinand Steinworth and he pointed us to the Vereh, a tributary to the Top Pacuare. At the put in we were wondering if it was a bit too low but things start to tighten up and then get….. interesting. The first major rapid is death. The water literally funnels down into a hole that a body would not fit through. Time to walk. Just downstream the rapids come fast and furious including a big 40 footer that we elected to rappel beside because of a very poorly placed tree at the top. Next time. Below is where the fun really begins. After all cleaning the next set of drops I had scouted a little 10 footer and couldn’t quite see the landing but decided it would go. I ran the entrance and got a micro eddy above the drop. I went to peel out and something just didn’t feel right and decided to scout from the other side. Best idea ever. It was one of the craziest caves I’ve ever seen. The water poured back under the rock for as far as we could see. If I didn’t check that out I’d still be in there. Scary stuff. Below this it was a blur of tight technical creeking, bushwacking through the jungle to walk around death drops, clean 10 footers and the ever present thoughts that it gets dark real early and we don’t know how much farther we have to go. At about 5:30 my boat splashed into the Pacuare off of the last drop on the Vereh. We made it, sort of. We still had about 6 miles of the Pacuare to run – in the dark. Good times. Luckily our trusty shuttle driver CAMPI was waiting for us, unimpressed, but waiting for us. After a month it was time for Lou and Tyler to continue on their mission to New Zealand (which started with 70 hours of travel for Tyler) and Brendan, Paul, and I have started exploring using the busses as shuttles. Nothing like having an 8 foot 5 inch boat and trying to cram it into an 8 foot storage compartment. We managed some good missions including the Upper Pozo Azul which has three big drops and a fun canyon in between. We spent a day at La Paz drooling over some of the huge drops that lurk there. I bet one is a world record and perfectly runnable. Maybe next time. With lots of other things to occupy our time, the beach, volcanoes, even some work, the boating is slowing down and we are all planning on touring around central America just being tourists. I’ve got a few more runs on the list but am having trouble working out the logistics (meaning I can’t convince anyone to come and do the stupid things I want to do). To sum it up an amazing destination with enough different types of boating to satisfy everyone from the scenic class II to balls out class V+. Big thanks to all the helped us out- Mario Vargas, Jose Rodriguez (sp), Matt Johnson, Ferdinand Steinworth, Luis Mangany, David at the Sarapiqui Outdoor Centre, CAMPI, and lots of others. Check out some of the footage in BUK’s first video release, ‘valley High’ due out Summer 08. Dan Caldwell Photos: Brendan Rivison, Louise Urwin, Paul O’Keefe, Tyler Fox and Dan Caldwell Costa Rican Jungle Love
The Locals, PURA VIDA !!!
Tyler Fox, Meditation
Dan Caldwell, Techno Whiz
Louise Urwin, Wheres the Gnar, Over There?
Paul O’Keefe, I don’t know?
Brendan Rivison, Rasta-fara!
“I Love Going Down” TF
“I Love Big Holes” DC
“I Love Long Walks on the Beach” LU
“I Love Getting a Face Full” PO
“I Love Tight Slots”
Have Boats Will Travel
Some Sweet Verticality
Boofy Goodness
Me Likey the Playboatie
Is that a Mullet?
Its All Good
Watch Your Step!
You Go Girl
Over the Top
Keep on Truckin
Oh So Orosi!
Look Mom I’m on TV
Cotton Candy
Another Beautiful Day
Jungle Momma
Big Water Bonanza
Airing it out
Carpe Diem
Another Beautiful Scene
Boulder Dash
This ... IS the Line
In the Midst of It
Thats a Bloody Big Hydraulic
Super Duper Slip & Slide
YEAH CAMPI !!!!
Bottoms Up Kayaking < SLIDESHOW