After spending new years in Turriable we hopped on the bus and headed over to La Virgen. The place where the boys stayed last time was closed after new years so we decided to drop by a beautiful pace called Rancho Leona. after settling in we ran the upper stretch on the Rio Sarapiqui which was a beautiful run and our first taste of aqua blue whitewater. this river is known as the cleanest river in costa rica. The Rio Sarapiqui has been the most beautiful to date. The river was a little low the first day but still a treat it just meant that the class 4 rapids got a little more technical as we had to dodge boulders. This was a great treat to hop on this river after having driven most of the morning. It also helped some of us rid that hangover.

our pimped out bus

That night it had started to rain and the next day we did a wildlife boat tour down a lower stretch of the Rio Sarapiqui. on this tour we witnessed lots of Iguanas, beautiful birds, a Sloth, some Holler Monkeys, and a Cayman which is in the Crocodile family.

Cayman on the sarapiqui.

This tour was about $10 to do and was a truly amazing experience. After the cruise we ate lunch at the center that organised the boat tour. Lunch consisted of two deep fried chicken thighs which was heavy on the stomach but very light on the wallet. Some of the group could not handle the greasyness and took the afternoon of to rest, while most of us took another run down the Sarapiqui. With the rain the run had a little more water and was alot more fun. Sections that were a little boney the day before were now a little holey. Everybody had smiles on their faces after the days events, even the rested ones. This Night we
a couple of us jumped into the sauna

Take me to the Rio

The next day the nerves were shaking as it had pounded rain the night before, we had decided to put on the taurreau the day before but as we had arrived we heard large boulders being pushed downstream by gargantuan flow, whereas before in
Costa Rica we had only heard small boulders being pushed around (a truly unique experience, first time that I had heard it I thought that my boat had cracked). The Rio Tarreau was pumping very fast downstream and in the distance we could see a monster hole and from other bridge views on the way up what looked to be a hair raising run, We had made an executive decision and aborted the run. which was good too as we learned that a group of 6 germans had tried the river at similar flows resulting in 4 swims 2 lost boats and paddles and 1 lost paddler where one of the group had to do a second run of the river to find him.

Rancho Leona Lounging area

Plan B was another run down the Upper Sarapiqui. as we arrived at the put in we saw a truly amazing site the river had risen about a meter from what it was the day before. This run would have been an exceptionaly challenging run as well as there was a wave forming off the front of a large boulder that had a monster hole behind it that smiled carnage at us encompassing a ten foot long backwash. and stacked behind it was a simlarly large hole. the rapid leading up to this monster had lots of room for error. so we decided as a group to run the lower Sarapiqui that day. At theese flows the upper would have been an exceptional run, and would have pushed the limits of my big water experience. I can’t imagine that I won’t be back some day to try this gem out again.

Rancho Leona Dinning Area

Lower Sarapiqui was a blast as the river widened out was roughly class 3-4 big water and it was very diffcult to move accros the river from side to side due to the grandness of the river as well as the rapid flow. every time the river took a 90 degree turn around a rock face the was an interesting set of waves pushing of this wall as well as some gnarly swirly water that followed. The hardest part about this run was finding the proper takeout as our driver told us he’d meet us at the bridge but didn’t quite specify what type of bridge it was. in the end we had stopped at three bridges along the way often hiking out of the river to the rod to try to see our bus. It was a great relief to find the sketchy bridge with our bus parked beside it. On this particular day we had witnessed poisin dart frogs in the wilderness which were beautiful to look at and truly exotic, also a tiny glass frog had climbed up onto Ian and he was nervous as he wasn’t sure if the frog was poisinous or not.

After the run we headed back to the ever beautiful Rancho Leona. We have recieved exceptional service from the Managers and all the staff. Both the managers Ken, and Trish have been very hospitable and have gone out of their way to ensure that we had an exceptional stay. They accompanied us on tours we had taken at their direction which we wouldn’t have done otherwise and are very greatfull to experience the country in a way that was more rustic than the regular tourist attractions and gave us a better outlook on this beautiful country as well as exposing us to tremendous wildlife. For this reason we had stayed there for 6 days where we had only planned on initially staying for a few days. This place was a place that was beautiful to stay at and is set up more so of a piece of art than a place to stay. I am still contemplating heading back there to end my trip. They offer exclusive deals on tours are very knowledgeble about the location and very friendly. I recomend this palce to anyone who will be in the Sarapiqui area.

The good fellas.