GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects

Challenge Family Portrait

DAY 1 Saturday 10th November 2012

The intrepid GVI Quepos Challengers were all packed and ready to go. Linnea, Helena, Katlyn, Vicky, Christina, Neil and Tom met up at Emilios (where else!) to catch the 9.30 am bus to San Jose. Waiting for the bus is usually quite a boring affair but on this occasion one of our favourite bus stop sloths showed up to wish us well! Once in San Jose we hopped on the 3 pm bus to Turrialba. We arrived in this cute little mountain town at around 5pm to meet up with our GVI Jalova Challenger Garrison at Hostel Casa de Lis. After settling in and some introductions, we headed off for a pre Challenge dinner and then a good nights sleep.

DAY 2 Sunday 11th November

The first day of the Challenge started at 8.30 am when we got picked by Alex our guide, friend and chef for the next 4 days. We took a scenic winding drive to start of our Challenge on the Pacuare at Tres Equis. There we were all 8 of us, at the rivers edge ready to start our first day of rafting. Our other guide Carlos gave us a safety briefing and a lesson in river rafting terminology. We split in to 2 groups: Tom, Vicky, Helena and Katlyn set off with Carlos and Gary, Neil, Christina and Linnea hoped on the raft with Alex. Not 10 minutes into the trip we got our first taste of some class 3 rapids.

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects
In their excitement the girls in Carlos raft kept screaming and forgetting to paddle and Alex was serenading the other group with his special interpretation of shes a lady and doing a very impressive howler monkey call. After a few hours of rafting through gorgeous scenery and some cool class 4 rapids we stopped off at a waterfall for a refreshing but chilly dip.

By now we were all rafting experts so Alex and Carlos decided a little competition was in order. A challenge within a Challenge- steer and paddle the raft from a sand bank, across the river to grab an ore placed on a rock, paddle back and cross the finish line paddle in hand. We had strategy meetings and then a game of rock paper scissors to determine who went first. Tom and Neil went head to head, Neil being outwitted 2 out of 3. This meant that Team 1 Neil, Gary, Christina and Linnea got the dubious honour of going first. After a slightly iffy start, Christina losing her shoes in the water and Gary our steering captain falling out of the back of the boat..we managed to grab the paddle and made it back in 2.39 minutes. Team 2 manoeuvred the currents gracefully and made it back across the finish line in an impressive 1.51 minutesworthy winners! After an hour or so more of paddling we made it the Costa Rica Extreme base camp in the hills overlooking the Pacuare. The 3 brothers Manuel, Alex and Carlos had spent the last 10 years building this beautiful camp ground. A gorgeous place with amazing views, little cabanas and tents dotted around the grounds, surrounded by trees, heliconias and orchids, a perfect haven for birds and frogs. We enjoyed a delicious burrito lunch, unanimously dubbed the best meal we have had in Costa Rica! Gary (aka Multimedia), Tom and Neil were full of energy and headed off for a walk around the grounds and float down the river. The girls on the other hand were feeling more relaxed and decided to have little yoga session on the terrace. Night was beginning to fall and well all sat around enjoying the stars, sounds of the jungle and river belowdinner was another feast. With tired bodies and full tummies we headed off to bed for sweet dreams in anticipation of our second day of rafting.

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects

DAY 3 Monday 12th November

The day started bright and early with a scrambled egg breakfast! We set off with Carlos on a hike up into the hills to visit a small Cabecar indigenous village, the mud was a bit much to take for some peoples shoes but we all made it in the end. The village consisted of a few houses in a clearing; no one seemed to be home except for some rather loud dogs. A little boy poked his head out of one of the houses, grabbed his ball and led everyone to the school yard for a game of soccer. Team 1 consisted of Neil, Gary, Linnea and Vicky and team 2 Carlos,

Tom, Helena and the little kid. Team 1 won, but deserved a red card as Gary ruthlessly knocked the local child over during play. Team 2 did not fare much better with Tom being replaced in goal by a dog! We arrived back at camp with muddy feet but excited to get back in the rafts. We gathered all the gear and had a leisurely float down the river. Carlos and Alex picked us up in the rafts and we were off for more adventures on the rapids. We stopped off for a little walk to the mystery rock hidden in the jungle. Back in our rafts again, next stop a class 4 into the canyon. Our guides suddenly noticed the sign that something was amiss on the river, a paddle planted in the sand. Another group of rafters were trying to remove a big tree that had fallen in the river. After accessing the safety we jumped back in and made in down with no problems. The canyon we arrived at was breathtaking; hanging trees, waterfalls, and a crumbling old suspension bridge overhead. Just so that we could appreciate the view even more we climbed the biggest rock we could find, jumped off and floated down the river through the canyon and out to a sand bank where we stopped for lunch.

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects

Our amazing guides prepared our food while we went for a little walk up the river into the surrounding jungle. Alex decided that he hadnt worked enough so he took it upon himself to remodel the river a bit by moving incredibly large rocks to form a small dam. Back in the rafters we floated down calmer waters and came across a rope swingwe couldnt resist showing off our gymnastic abilities.

Back in the rafts we soon made it to our second camp near Siquirres. It was time for a snack and beer run into town. Once again dinner was amazing and we had a little impromptu birthday celebration for Gary, with cake and singing!

DAY 4 Tuesday 13th November

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects

This was our first day out of rafts and in the kayaks. We were split in teams of 2 and started paddling at around 9 am. On this day we paddled for 7 hours total, we passed through, San Rafael, Manila, Imperio, La Perla, Las Vegas, Freeman all banana plantations which edged onto the river. Highlights of the day included:

Kayak bumper cars, Neil and Helena zig zagging across the river, howler monkeys living up to their names very loudly, howler monkeys napping, stone skimming competitions, the animal spotting game instigated by Linnea, caiman peaking out at us through the tall grass, following a flock of snowy egrets from tree to tree, dragging the kayaks up a muddy hill and meeting that funny little pig at the farm house where we stopped for lunch.

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects
We continued paddling until we reached La Boca de Pacuare which leads out to the Caribbean. Once we could see, hear and smell the ocean, our tired arms got a second wind. Our goal was now to set foot on the beach and dip our toes in Caribbean Sea.

It was now time to make the last push to our home for the evening Cabinas Julio. They were little jungle shacks less luxurious that our previous lodgings but perhaps closer to what one would expect in such a remote place. We did have serious creature and bug concerns and the girls did a full inspection before crawling into bed. The boys on the other hand enjoyed the night in what they described as a perfect set for a slasher horror film. Luckily we all survived the night

DAY 5 Wednesday 14th November

Last day of kayaking and the morning greeted us with rain, rain and more rain. As all our clothes were already wet anyway it didnt make much difference! We got a lift from Julio back up the canal to the intersection to Jalova which we had passed on the previous day. We hoped off into our kayaks and set off- our goal for the day reach la Boca de Jalova and the GVI Expedition Base.

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects

We were now manoeuvring through narrow jungle canals and despite the incessant rain the scenery was beautiful. We were all in good spirits until a game of bumper kayaks in the reeds sent Neils glasses flying into the murky water! Never free super human Alex is here.he dove in to find the glasses, this seemed like an impossible task but this is Alex we are talking aboutyes he managed to recover them from mud!

After a few more hours in the water we stopped off at a lodge and had a quick snack. We made very rapid progress and after 4 hours of paddling we had made it to La Boca de Jalova. We had done it; we had fulfilled our Challenge- to raft down the rapids of the Pacuare River and kayak through the remote Canals of Tortuguero all the way to the Caribbean Sea and the GVI base!!!!!!!!!! It was a now a short 20 minute walk to the base where we were welcome by the GVI Jalova residents with hot coffee. It was time to say goodbye to our guides, Alex, Carlos and Manuel!

GVI SOURCE TO SEA PACUARE CHALLENGE $2900 raised for the Jalova and Quepos Charitable Trust Projects
Gary was back at his home away from home but for us Quepos volunteers it was perfect chance to get a glimpse of life on the GVI Expedition. We spent the afternoon trying to dry off, drinking coffee, exploring base and looking at some amazing photos of animals spotted nearby. We were all in bed by 8pm and happy for the nights sleep.

DAY 6 Thursday 15th November

This was our last day and we wanted to make the most of it, we woke up in time for breakfast at 5am. Of course it was raining but we had become accustomed to this over the last few days. We tagged along on one of the morning nest checks in the hope of seeing some hatchlings. We walked a total of 6 miles in the pouring rain but it was worth it in the end. We saw both a fresh jag kill and green hatchlings making their way to the waterthe circle of life right in front of our eyes!

Back on base we tried to dry off, had a filling lunch, said goodbye to the guys on base and our fellow Challenger Gary. We walked to the river mouth, took a boat to Cano Blanco, a minivan to Siquirres and then a bus to San Jose. We decided to stay in San Jose that evening and have delicious meal at La Esquina de Buenos Aires before heading back home to Manuel Antonio on Friday. It was crazy to think how much we had done in a week, how much we had seen, how much we had paddled.an amazing an unique experience we will all remember forever!

THANK YOU AND WELL DONE TO ALL THE CHALLENGERS FOR YOUR STAMINA, GOOD HUMOUR AND PERSEVERANCE!!! Also, a big thank you to Alex and Carlos our faithful guides from Costa Rica Extreme, they worked tirelessly to make this Challenge fun for us! Thank you to all the friends and family of the Challengers who kindly donated to support our Jalova and Quepos projects.

We have raised $2900 in support of our anti poaching initiative in Jalova and the El Cocal school in Quepos.
Pura Vida, Christina GVI Costa Rica Logistics Manager