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Costa Rica Multi-Sport Adventure
Costa Rica
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The new exciting Costa Rica Multi-Sport Adventure features bike rides in the shadow of Arenal Volcano, hydro-bike and kayak trips in to the remote waterways and lagoons of Tortuguero National Park and a white water rafting trip on the Pacuare River. Specific family departures let you bring along active kids over 12!
This trip is designed for people in reasonably good shape with wide range of physical stamina. Support vehicles and boats will always be close by allowing participants to choose the amount of exertion that suits them. No previous white water rafting experience is needed, although paddle-powered rafters must be able to handle class III and IV rapids, or choose oar-powered rafts (please inform at the time of booking). |
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| Day 1 |
Arrive at San José International Airport, where you will be met by the ramp, helped through immigration and customs, and transferred to your San José area hotel. |
| Day 2 |
After breakfast, drive four hours to Tilajari. After settling in and having lunch, you will go out for your first bike ride. The area around Tilajari and Arenal Volcano is recognized for having some of the best conditions for biking in the world. Tilajari co-owner Ricardo Araya, an avid biker, has found some especially unique and beautiful rides for you.
This afternoon’s 20.4-mile ride goes through flat to easy rolling countryside. From the hotel you peddle 5.4 miles on a little traveled paved highway, before turning off the pavement for 13.2 miles of easy dirt roads through sugar cane and dairy farms. Shortly after beginning the dirt road, you will cross two hanging footbridges over the Peñas Blancas River. This means that you will be unsupported for a few miles, while the support vehicle goes around to meet you on the other side. You meet up with the paved road 1.8 miles from the lodge and peddle back for a well-deserved dip in the pool. Overnight Tilajari Resort. Breakfast. lunch and dinner included. |
| Day 3 |
Your last day of land biking takes you from the base of Arenal Volcano, 1,625 feet above sea level, back down to Tilajari, 211 feet above sea level. Although you will need to climb (or ride in the van) up a few steep hills, this ride is characterized by its exhilarating downhills. You start out on this 33.5-mile ride with 7.5 miles of dirt roads. There will surely be several stops on this section to take in the views of Lake Arenal. You reach the pavement at the Arenal Dam and start a series of steep downhills and two short, steep, uphill stretches over the next four miles. For the next six miles, the terrain becomes more gently rolling. If you are lucky enough to catch Arenal out of the clouds, the views of the volcano are spectacular on this stretch.
Having pedaled 17.5 miles in all, you will stop at Doña Mireya’s hot springs for lunch and a soak. These are natural hot springs that a local Costa Rican family has diverted into a rock pool, located in a pasture with volcano views (clouds permitting). Doña Mireya, your host, will prepare a typical Costa Rican lunch for you from her small, rustic kitchen. After lunch, it is 16 miles of mostly gentle downhill and a few short easy climbs back to the lodge. Overnight Tilajari Resort. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. |
| Day 4 |
This day is the least active but very interesting. After breakfast, you will drive about an hour and a half to the river port of Puerto Viejo, where your boat will be waiting to take you down the Sarapiquí River to the Rio San Juan and Nicaragua. Shortly after entering the San Juan, you will stop at a wooden shack on the bank of the river, which turns out to be Nicaraguan immigration. You will quickly go through the formalities and proceed down river.
The rich human history of the San Juan rivals that of any river in our hemisphere. The famed pirate, Henry Morgan, plied these waters on his way to plunder his first fortune in the Spanish settlement of Granada, on the other side of Lake Nicaragua. Lieutenant Oliver Nelson (later Admiral Nelson of Battle of Trafalgar fame) won his first victory at the fortress town of Castillo, a short distance up stream from where you enter the San Juan. The Vanderbilt Steamship Company provided passenger service on the San Juan to thousands of forty-niners on their way to the gold fields of California.
Going down stream southeast, you will be following in the footsteps of the thousands of forty-niners who returned to the east, usually empty-handed. After one hour cruise down the San Juan River, you will turn into the Rio Colorado and return to Costa Rica. About an hour later, in late afternoon, you will arrive at Tortuga Lodge in time for a dip in their award-winning pool before dinner. Overnight Tortuga Lodge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. |
| Day 5 |
For those interested in birds, a guide will be leading a bird walk at 5:30am. For those who don not want to bird, breakfast is at 6:30am (the early adventurer catches the wildlife!). After breakfast your guide will take you on your first journey into the Tortuguero Rainforest.
Originally intended to protect a major nesting beach of the Atlantic Green Sea Turtle, Tortuguero National Park now protects 51,870 acres, one of the last large areas of tropical rainforest in Central America. Tortuguero National Park is home to the endangered great green macaw, white-faced, howler and spider monkeys, chestnut mandibled toucan, the slatey-tailed trogon, and many more species, which you will have the opportunity to observe during today’s ride through the back water canals of Tortuguero National Park.
You will head north to Caño Palma for a day of adventure and exercise with canoes, kayaks and hydro-bikes. Once you have chosen your vessel, you will be ready to visit one of the most magical places in this flooded forest. These agile, human-powered vessels will allow you to go where our motorboats cannot and wildlife is most abundant. There will be plenty of time for every body to have a chance to try the different kinds of crafts. After a picnic lunch, depending on the group’s energy, you will return to the lodge any time from early to late afternoon. Relax in the pool or a hammock before dinner. Overnight at Tortuga Lodge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. |
| Day 6 |
Early morning departure from Tortuga Lodge for a 30-minute flight in a single engine Cessna 206 to San José. Here, your van will be waiting to take you on the one hour drive to Orosí valley, where you will stop for breakfast in a restaurant with a view of the Orosí Valley. After breakfast, proceed to the put-in on the Pacuare River. After a safety talk and paddling instruction, you will raft one of the most beautiful river canyons in the tropics. Over twenty Class III and IV rapids, primary rainforest miraculously clinging to 100-foot high vertical canyon walls, and waterfalls plunging from the canyon rim into the river will bewitch the adventuresome beginner and the experienced rafter alike.
Half-way down the river your guides suddenly become chefs and prepare and serve lunch on the riverbank. Finally after more great rapids and scenery you arrive at the take-out in the mid-afternoon and return to San José (two hours driving time) in time to get ready for the farewell dinner. Overnight at your San José area hotel. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. |
| Day 7 |
Transfer to the International Airport approximately two hours before your flight’s scheduled departure time. |
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