Sloths Hit the Water!

Hello from Day Three!  Today was a “lean-into" challenge day for our Sloths.  Once the students completed breakfast, they changed into rafting gear, boarded the buses, and traveled a short 10 km to an input on the San Juan river.  There, the students met six experienced river guides, divided into groups, and started their rafting adventure with a 15-foot cliff dive and float to acclimate to the river, before launching on a three-hour rafting excursion down the volcanic-fed San Juan.  Apparently, according to our guides, Costa Rica is experiencing an El Niño phenomenon that has the river at a lower point, which slows down the river, but makes its navigation more challenging, and students bobbed and banged their way down a series of class-3 rapids.  Wildlife abounds on the river, as students saw, among other animals, egrets, Kingfishers, swallows, howler monkeys, and iguanas.  Halfway down the river, the boats stopped for fresh pineapple before finishing the adventure with a final ride down an 8-foot “waterfall.” 

Link to the rafting photos, taken by a professional photographer: Sloths on the Water!  Jake Griffith and Sabina Datta wore GoPro cameras for the trip, which we will download and share once back in San José!

Aadi Chandra had this to say about the rafting adventure:

“Day Three will be the best day of the trip, no matter how good the rest is.  We went cliff diving and white water rafting.  Cliff jumping was the most exhilarating experience ever.  Once you jump it feels like nothing could bring you down (but sadly gravity does).  White water rafting was equally as fun, rushing down a river, paddling as hard as you can and you see a wave.  The instructor says, “Tuck in!,” you tuck in, and BOOM!  I was trying it for the first time and I loved it.  So far, today has been a blast and I am ready for everything on its way.”

James Crawford adds an addendum: “Hey Mom, it’s James.  Please, please, please send me a Jeffrey’s burger.  Love you.”  (The students did enjoy a delicious taco lunch served by our river guides.)

We managed to re-board the buses just as a downpour hit, and traveled to a nearby Iguana preserve, where the students played cards, ate ice cream, and spotted a group of huge iguanas.

Then it was check-in at the Los Lagos Hot Springs resort, in the shadow of the dramatic Arenal Volcano, which was featured in Jurassic Park.  This was a true high point of the day, as students played in the labyrinthine hot springs water park for the remainder of the afternoon.  A full day!

Tomorrow is an early 7:30 wakeup.  Bright and early!  The sloths are signing off for Day Three.

In addition to Aadi, our journal writers for today include Michelle Zhang, Sabina Datta, and Russell Chiu.

Michelle:

“Whitewater rafting was one of the most exciting (and scary) experiences of my life!  Originally, when we first arrived at the river, I was almost dreading the experience.  I had never white-water rafted before, and I felt like I was going to fail at it.  However, I ended up being grouped with my friends for the ride, which helped calm my nerves.  The moment I got into the raft and started traveling down the river, my fear turned into excitement.  As we made our way down the river, I was in awe of the beautiful nature and scenery of Costa Rica.  Ultimately, I really loved the experience and would definitely do it again.”

Sabina:

"Today was one of the days I've been anxiously anticipating since I got the itinerary.  We went white water rafting, and this was my first time ever.  Sophie, Ally, Ashley, and I were in a raft with an awesome guide named Anita, and we raced a raft of boys all the way down the lake (we won, by the way).  I also had the best pineapple I've ever had in my life today.  We then got to the beautiful Los Lagos and spent about an hour and a half riding down water slides and relaxing in the 100-degree natural hot springs pool.  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, when we get to go work with animals.  It's crazy to think that we're not even halfway done with the trip yet!"

Russell:

“Today was the most exciting and relaxing day so far. We got to both whitewater raft and go to the hot springs. The whitewater rafting was both fun and slightly scary because one of our group members fell out, but overall it was a great experience. Also, we got to eat fresh pineapple and swim in the river which made it even more fun. After this amazing experience we went to Los Lagos which was a huge resort with many pools. We got to swim in both the cold pool and the hot springs pool which was extremely relaxing. I especially loved doing the water slides at both the cold pool and the hot springs pool. Overall, today was a great experience full of both action and relaxation and I would definitely do this again.”