Showing posts with label Rafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rafting. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Pictures Are Worth Thousands of Words

Which is good, because I'm ready for bed. Everything is going well. You can read Mark's take on everything over here: www.internationalrafting.com

For your viewing pleasure, here is a quickie slideshow of our first few days. No captions, just pictures. Sweet dreams!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Riddle Me This, Batman!

So, today Mark is off to Amsterdam to help with an international raft race (involving 53 countries, by the way, which I believe is the biggest attendance at any IRF event to date ... but I could be wrong).

Ah, Amsterdam. The land of windmills, tulips, and Gouda (or perhaps those are not the stereotypes that first pop into your mind? But this is a child-friendly blog, so we'll just leave it at that). What Amsterdam is not known for is its raging whitewater. Hmm? My question is, how is it possible to put on a whitewater rafting event in a country that is called The Netherlands because much of its land is well below sea level? Curiouser and curiouser.

In addition to solving this riddle, Mark will be serving as a race judge, IRF representative, and media go-to guy. And people say men can't multitask! Go, Mark (and please bring home some yummy cheese)!! To find the answer to the riddle and to see Mark in action, check out InternationalRafting.com, which he should be updating on a regular basis ... live from Amsterdam!