How would orchestrating a symphony performance equate to running whitewater kayaking trips? Our last few days here would be  a good example: you take a good line-up/a program that you know will bring pleasureâ¦and then never stop tweaking it no matter how many times you play the same performance.Â
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Say what?!?! So how does that go along with our last few days here in Costa Rica?  Take the fact that we have been running trips here for going on nineteen years now. But things changeâput-ins and takeouts move, dams are built, new access roads open up. And you donât find out about this stuff sitting around surfing the web. What it takes is hitting the road for some quality van timeâand no one does quality can time better than we do!!
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Not that âquality van timeâ? is all bad. Our driver Miguel looks forward to our exploratory days more than anything else he does! We start out early in the morning with a destination in mindâ¦this time it was finding a new angle on the Balsa/San Lorenzo Riversâgetting a handle on releases (both are dam controlled rivers)â¦finding a lower take-out….and keeping an open mind for something that was not even on our agenda.
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Imagine this: driving up to a strangerâs house, knocking on their door, being welcomed into the house, personally walked across their property to the river, shown about, and when asked if we could bring a group through their property, being told âpor supuesto!â? while being offered a glass of fresh juice. That was part of our day. Olâ Marvin; it turns out he spent forty years in San Francisco. And while he was not interested in a tour bus showing up at his ranch, he had no problem with a small group of kayakers taking out on his property. He just wanted to know when so that the gate would be open for us.Â
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All this took nearly twelve hours, of which paddling was only two of those hours. But we have yet something new to offer to our paddling friends who look to us to always have something new up our sleeve. Hope we donât disappoint!
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