Kayak Valhalla: Costa Rica 2008

December 15, 7:43 PMMinneapolis Outdoor Recreation ExaminerMarie Malinowski

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At the put-in of the Sarapique River - Costa Rica

Come on. Admit it. You were wondering where I was, right? Right? Right?? I was kayaking in Costa Rica with Endless River Adventures, without a doubt, the best kayak guides in Costa Rica. 

ERO is based out of the Bryson City, NC, but they spend November and December guiding in Costa Rica, and December through February guiding in Ecuador. In the spring, they're back in the states for the spring and summer paddling seasons.

Costa Rica is an amazing place. The “ticos” are friendly, good-natured, and dedicated to the earth, making them the perfect hosts for a kayaking vacation. After each day on the river, it was a pleasure to enjoy the warm hospitality and the “pura vida.” And the Imperial beer wasn’t bad either.

Day 1: Surfing the warm water of Jaco Beach on the Pacific Ocean. What a riot act. One minute I was catching a wave and sitting on top of the world, the next, I was being throttled as it broke and crashed down on me.

Day 2: Purrice River. This had a creeky put-in followed by a great rapid, amazing wave trains, and scenery. Actually, all the rivers had gorgeous, jungle-like scenery. I saw a tarantula in this river and screamed. Like a girl. Went back to Jaco and watched the sun set.

Day 3: Savegre River. I took a bad line down a rapid on this river and got sucked into a hole. I side surfed for all of seven seconds while I pondered my escape. After carefully reviewing all options available, I settled on getting flipped and hoping that the hole would spit me out upside down. It did. I figured I needed an opportunity to practice a combat roll.

This river also introduced me to my first “wall shot.” A wall shot occurs when the current drives into the wall of a river on a sharp bend and then shoots a big pillow of water off the wall. The way to handle wall shots is to paddle towards them on the current. I’m not kidding. It goes against my natural instinct to paddle into ugliness on rivers, but things work differently in Costa Rica. Just when I thought I was going to bloody my face and bust my front teeth on the rocks, the current abruptly steered me away.

Day 4 and 5: Balsa River. This was a great river. Wall shots, continuous gravel bar rapids that come at you fast, and some nice standing wave trains. Lots of birds.

Day 6: Sarapique. Dun-dun-dun!! The climax of the trip. Many, many wall shots, birds, an iguana, and a sloth in the tree with a baby.

(Above) Me, with a wall shot in the backdrop.

(Below) The takeout of another river we paddled -- just kidding.

(Below) Carlita, the cat that works at the hotel in Jaco Beach.

You don’t have to be a kayaker to enjoy Costa Rica. But if you are a kayaker, you must absolutely go with Endless River Adventures. The only thing that would have made this trip better was if my husband had been able to go. (He had a work commitment that he couldn’t get out of).

Costa Rica. Pura Vida!