WEEK 2 ADVENTURES!!!

On saturday we left San Jose to head for the rapids! I had been looking forward to this day for a the whole trip, and was pumped. We left early in the morning and it took about 3 hours to get to the river. In order to get there we had to take one of the most dangerous highways in the country, i feel asleep so it didnt bother me. As geared up and made our way to the river, the guide went over safety instructions and commands...looking around, people were freaking out. I personally had butterflies in my stomach and i had been on class 5 rapids before. The river was beautiful and the scenery was to die for. Each bend around the river was like a picture out of a natural geographic magazine..i could barely believe my eyes. The rapids themselves were pretty intense and our boat was one of the only ones that did not flip. Our guide, Ninja, even tried to flip us a couple of times but it was not going to happen. At one point a lady, not on our trip fell off a raft in front of us and got sucked under. Big john and I were the ones that made the save and it was a pretty cool experience. She was really freaked out, and i think she sat inside the raft for the rest of the trip. Toward the end of the 5 hour adventure, Ninja pointed out a spot where we could jump off the raft and be sucked under in an undertoe. All of us jumped at the same time and were pulled downstream by and intense amount of pressure. Jamie was sucked under the longest and he popped up about 7 seconds after everyone else..i'm sure he was a little scared. The overall raft trip was amazing and by far one of the top experiences of the trip thus far. Our guide was probably the most experienced one around and took us for the ride of our lives!

The next day we drove to the Osa Peninsula, it was supposed to take anywhere from 6 to 8 hours...but it took us 11!!! I can now say that i know every and all possible ways to sleep comfortably on a bus. On the way there the road came to a stop, and by this i mean the bridge had been swept away by the river the day before. We had to take a detour where our bus got stuck next to a very shady bar. There were deffinatly a couple of town drunks to "help" us get the bus moving. It took about half of the guys on our trip to push the bus! it was hilarous!!

The next leg of the trip to the Osa was a boat ride down a winding river and out into the ocean at top speed. I swear the boat was completely out of the water when we would hit waves that came out of nowhere. My knees were pretty sore the next day because of the jarring impact that occurred when the boat would slam back into the ocean. The Osa itself was amazing and the place we stayed was way better then expected. We stayed in really cool platforms with tents and beds. It was an extremely relaxing experience, and i deff. learned more card games then i would like to or can remember. The next day we went to the rainforest where we saw some amazing animals and plants. I learned how to open a coconut by hand which i am now very good at. Jamie and i had a race which he won!! It was a pretty tough blow... We came to a river where we could swim and it was perfect. The water was cold but it was so hot outside no-one thought twice. We did some injury defying jumps off of rocks into the water. i think a couple of people hit rocks at the bottom but i was lucky. (tends to be a reoccurring thing this trip). The views were unreal and there were points where i had to double check to make sure i was really seeing things. As we were heading back to the camp, we had to cross a river where there was an otter that had been eaten from the waste down. Our guide told us that it was a Croc. What he did not tell us until after we crossed the waist deep river was that the Croc was in a pool about 20 feet away!!!! Yikes. The rest of the day we all relaxed and had alot of fun doing absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere. 

The next day we took a boat to a small island which took about an hour to get to. About half way there we stopped at a pile of debree where they told us about a water snake that if you get bite there is no known cure and you have about 6 hours to live. On the upside they can only bite you in cetain areas of your body like your ear because their teeth are angled backward. What a great learning experience right before we went snorkeling !!! NOT!!! The actual snorkeling was really cool and i saw some very colorful fish. AND NO SHARKS OR SNAKES!!!! Besides the fact that my snorkel leaked, the experience was great and well worth the ride out to the island. After we got back to shore, a team went out to open more coconuts. I think i am addicted. The rest of the night involved more relaxation and games. 

The Osa was much better than i had expected. Prior to the trip i was not looking forward to it at all, but by the end i think it was one of the best weekends i have had here. Possibly the best.