Hetal Chirag
White water rafting had been on my bucket list ever since I first went canoeing on Lake Ontario during a high school field trip.
I finally got a change to go white water rafting in Costa Rica after almost 5 years. We started our trip from San Isidro. After a short hike to get to our rafts, we received our training on paddling, safety and basic navigation techniques. We put our life jackets on and balanced the boat according to weight and paddling power on each side. Right after we began rafting, our raft almost tipped sideways on one of the drops and one of our raft buddies got thrown out of the raft. She held on tight to one of the ropes and I managed to pull her back in the raft against a strong current.
We were told not to worry even if we got through out and got separated from the raft. All of us were wearing a life jacket and a helmet so in the case of a tip over, all we had to do was to make sure that we float on our backs with our feet pointed down the river. We were told that the river current would automatically push us towards the shore and then the raft could pick us up.
Besides feeling the rush of sudden drops and fast moving rapids, we also faced a few other challenges on slow flowing waters. We got stuck on rocks a number of times, but we managed to get out by shifting weight, pushing against the rock or paddling against the direction of the current. However, there was one time when none of these techniques worked and we had to get out of our rafts and just carry it out of the rocks and then had put it back in the river to continue rafting.
20In the afternoon, we stopped for lunch near a waterfall. Our guides made the best guacamole from fresh avocadoes. After lunch we went to a waterfall nearby for a quick shower and did not feel like leaving this tropical heaven.
