Whitewater rafting in Turrialba
An early finish on Friday provided the opportunity to venture a bit further afield, so rather than heading to Poas we decided on Turrialba with its status as the best place in Costa Rica for white-water rafting.
A surprisingly comfortable bus ride later we were deposited on the streets of Turrialba. The hotel we’d picked from the guide book (the cheapest in town) seemed to have closed down and I completely vetoed the next cheapest based on my preconceptions. Hotel Interamericano is where all the Extreme sports types hang out, all eating pizza to the Extreme and grooming their Extreme(ly) wispy facial hair whilst calling each other Extreme and comparing Extreme things they’ve done, most of which is paid for by pocket money from their mummies back home. Instead we just wandered into a hotel and completely struck gold.
The Hotel Herza is in the town centre and when we visited we had the place to ourselves. For the princely sum of $8 we had private rooms and bathrooms, a huge communal area with free internet, and a balcony with a great view over the the town backed by the 3500m Turrialba volcano. The husband and wife team treated us like house guests and arranged discounts on taxis and the next day’s activities.
Hotel Herza: Por las Gradas del Hospital, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Web: hotelherza@gmail.com
Tel: 2556-1097
We headed back into town for lunch which was a hit and miss affair. The girls both went for tuna salad, which consisted of salad and a tin of tuna emptied on the plate, brine and all, with some processed cheese chopped up on top. I opted for a beef sandwich that was really tasty, but it was obviously cut into three parts and the middle section seemed to be missing. Maybe the chef or waitress got hungry.
After an unstrenuous wander round town, which really didn’t take very long, we relaxed in a bakers. Despite being drawn in by the crazy fluorescent cakes we stuck to drinks and spent ages talking about kids TV shows, which always seems to happen on these trips – I still can’t find anyone who remembers The Adventure Game. I’m sure it wasn’t a dream. Doogy Rev.
With a few hours to spare we found a toy shop and bought a 750 piece puzzle and a huge bag of pick-and-mix and went back to the hotel. Extreme.
Some hours later, with the puzzle still very much in disarray, we gave up and went for dinner. With only 3 restaurants in town, we avoided the expensive hotel and the place we’d tried for lunch and ended up in a pizza joint. They advertised their small, medium and large pizzas by hanging life sized models on the walls. These turned out to be massively underselling their size and we could barely finish half of the food we ordered. Possibly we confused them by ordering a vegetarian pizza, with additional pepperoni.
Saturday
Turrialba used to be a bustling little rail crossroads until earthquakes in 1991 indefinitely closed Costa Rica’s entire rail system. Now relegated to a back water town, the addition of a series of hydroelectric dams on the town’s two rivers gave them the opportunity to reinvent themselves as possibly the best place in Central America for white-water rafting. The dams release a torrent of water Monday through to Saturday ensuring a constant flow over the rapids, which are mostly Class 3 and 4, with a few 5s for good measure.
We were picked up from the hotel and driven an hour offroad to the start point, where a sloth helpfully sat beside the road. Unlike most animals there wasn’t much fear of it running away so after taking a few leisurely photos we sat through a safety briefing and jumped in the boats.
Rather than attempting to describe how much fun it was there are a few photos and videos below which don’t really do it justice. In all we paddled and/or just hung on for 4 ½ hours and 25km of river before reaching a narrow canyon where we could swim in the clear waters and get our breath back before reaching the end. There we met a boat full of Americans whooping and high-fiving every time they bumped over a small wave. This was the boat from the Hotel Interamericano, at which point the girls just said “Good call on the hotels”.
Badly linked videos:
Tired but happy we changed and went to a highly recommended local restaurant (Don Pedri) up in the hills. On arrival we were rather surprised to find everyone leaving by 7pm but at least we got a table easily. At 8pm a small TV started showing Costa Rica’s World Cup qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago, which explains why all the locals wanted to get home early. The waiter was a bit distracted but the food was outstanding, and three courses with wine was only about $15 a head. By the time we got back into town Costa Rica had won 4-0 and celebrations ensued until way past I’d fallen asleep in the corner.
Sunday
After a late start I convinced the others we needed to try the famous local cheese, so one disappointing cheese toastie later we went to the CATIE Botanical Gardens. I found them rather underwhelming, being just a field full of disparate trees and flowers, but found a nest of huge black grasshoppers so played with them instead.
