Turrialba & Puerto Viejo - Week 16

21st - 26th Dec (CHRISTMAS!!)

We headed down to Turrialba on the 21st first thing in the morning, another pretty bus journey to a small town nestled in a steep sided valley - good for rafting.

The Pacuare River apparently has been recognized as one of the top five most beautiful raftable rivers of the world in the National Geographic Magazine. We´d agree, once in the valley the sides are so steep there are no roads in for the 18 mile, 5 hour trip to the Carribean. The rapids were cool, mostly class IIIs & IVs, enough to brick yourself!!

David, Karen, Martin, Ben, Katie & James - what a team!!

The Pacurae River - with our little raft at the bottom of the picture...

It was a hard work for some - Katie said she spent most of the time leaning in so that she didn't fall out!!

At the end of the trip we all got the bus to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica's largest port where they send all the bananas from, to find a hotel. It's a bit of a scummy place being a big port so we checked into Hotel King and kept our heads down, only crossing the street to a restaurant and back, and to then back to our beds and the delight of our polyester bedsheets (see below)!!

"trick or treat smell my feet" - quality!!

Next morning we got the bus to Puerto Viejo ready for James's 30th Birthday and Christmas celebrations. We stayed in Cabinas Tropicals for some festive season luxury ($45 a night) with a really big clean room with private bathroom.

Katie sitting on our little patio...

A tiny (2cm long) Red Poison Dart Frog in a bush in the grounds!!

So the 30th Birthday, no more 20's for Jamesy. We went out for a few beers and lots of rum with the rafting team on the night of 22nd at Johnney's Bar on the beach till about 3am, under the stars. Technically with the time zone (6 hours behind) it was well into James's birthday. So that meant a hangover for most of the 23rd, but James managed to go for a swim in the sea. We went had a really nice meal and some wine in the evening, but the thought of going out for more drinks and feeling crap on Christmas Eve put me off??!! I thought that planning the next day on the basis that I will feel rubbish all day seemed stupid, so we went back and were asleep by 11pm. DAMN - I'm already thinking like a thirty year old!!

Not bad for a guy in his 30´s!!

The missus looks pretty good too - needs to work on standing up in waves though...

On Christmas Eve, we went out for dinner with Yvonne and Alex, a lovely German couple staying in the room next to us (Yvonne even has the same birthday as Katie - 7/7/77 - spooky!) to celebrate with them as they celebrate xmas on the 24th. We had two enormous red snappers to share between us - delicious!

So onto Christmas Day, raring to go after resting up. After an enormous breakfast and a few glasses of wine on the patio with Yvonne and Alex we met up with Helen & Emily for crimbo dinner. No turkey for us this year, it was lobster all the way!!

Then it started all to go downhill with loads of hot tropical rain to remind us of back home. Only one thing for it, so we brought a 3 litre bottle of Flor de Caña Rum (7 quid!) and some coke, and headed back for drinking games. Ring of Fire did us in. The germans were shocked about the way the english consume drink. I think Alex must have said ..."ooh James you are crazy..." about three times - messy! A very funny night though, one not to be forgotten in along time.

Boxing Day of course was a write off, big hangovers all round. James managed to get out for a swim, Katie couldn't and didn't leave the room once. Maybe youth is leaving us...

Next stop Panama, Bocas Del Torro, and to meet Ally for New Year fun.