La Pura Vida

Today's Guest Post is courtesy of Mark, who is living the sweet life this week down in Costa Rica.

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I am sitting at El Tigre (Rafa's farm house on the Pacuare), and it is raining like you wouldn't believe. The place is a rustic hut with solar electricity (we had to use a generator tonight, as the batteries are not working well). Except for the LED light above me, it is 100% dark. The rain is so loud, you can't even hear the jungle noises, and all I can think of is that you need to be here with me. [Ed Note: Awwww.]

This place is incredible, and I love it. Today's adventure was fantastic. We started out early, at 7 am, and cooked a breakfast of bacon, eggs, rice, and plantains. Then we got on ATVs and rode all around the area. (When we reached the road, that's when I called you from Rafa's phone.) Next we met the Rios Tropicales clients and went with them to the river. Had a fantastic day on the river and figured out how to do the time trial on the Pacuare. We plan to make it a community event, where we are going to plant trees and showcase how this river was saved from a dam. Once off the river, we had a late lunch at Cairo and then got a ride with the guides back to the ATVs and rode back here to the hut. We sat out on the open deck, listening to the rains come in as we figured out how to organize the World Rafting Champs. Beautiful.

Rafa is now asleep (8:22pm), and I am working on the event and putting all my notes down so we can remember everything. Anyway I just want you to know that as great a time as I am having, the most important thing is that it is not 100% complete as I am not sharing it with you. I promise you will see these places by October 2011 at the latest.