White water rafting and La Fortuna waterfalls

 We had booked all our La Fortuna/Arenal tours through Jacamar Naturalist Tours. They were professional from the beginning, with a prompt response on WhatsApp while booking before our trip and prompt pick up- super easy going like ALL the tour guides and locals aka Ticos, we encountered in this little Pura Vida nation. The level 2-3 white water rafting on the lower part of River Balsa was a 2 hour of the adrenaline-filled beautiful ride. We were split into 2 rafts with a guide each, the kids wanted to stick together so the default distribution was Chinmay and me with a father-daughter duo from the Bay area/Bangladesh, and a British couple exploring Central America on their year-long sabbatical. 


Riverrafting on Balsa river
The survivors!



The story that would make the rounds at almost every social gathering for the next couple of months was created at this epic excursion. The hero of the story, aka Chinmay would instinctively jump off the raft into the river to save the heroine aka yours truly who ignored the guide's instructions to "duck" when a large river rapid toppled her off the boat and was swept away further from the raft. With life jacket and the helmet jointly obscuring my vision, I was struggling to breathe. I could hear the faint sounds of the photographer from the kayak asking me to swim to the raft. In what seemed like an eternity, but was probably under 2 minutes I was pulled up back to the raft using my arms as handles! I was shaken up literally and figuratively to say the least, but also determined to not let this little glitch 15 minutes into the tour be a spoiler for the rest of the lovely excursion. The endorsement from the young couple saying "your husband loves you very much, he jumped as soon as u fell" was music to my ears! 

The fresh pineapple and watermelon they served as a snack at every stop were so sweet and refreshing that we  would keep going for more. After a relaxed yet simple lunch of rice, beans and veggies we were dropped off by our tour company to the La Fortuna waterfalls while Parishi went to the hotel to get on with home work and college apps! A flight of stairs and a short hike on the hanging bridge through the rainforest led us to the gushing waterfalls. While the boys and the dads enjoyed freshness of the water in the falls, the girls hung out taking picutres. We had decided to call it a night after and had ordered in pizza for dinner in our room from a local pizzeria. 

Lunch company



Hanging out by La Fortuna waterfalls

To the falls



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