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Women's Multi Sport Adventure to Costa Rica
Trip Overview
- 10 days, 9 nights
- 2 nights hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica
(January 13, January 22, 2012)
- 7 nights in jungle lodges
- Warm water jungle rafting, Hikes to waterfalls, walks in the forests, visits with the indigenous peoples.
Costa Rica is a unique destination. It is a proudly democratic country with a long history of peace, a tradition of hospitality, great natural beauty and astonishing diversity. In no other country in Latin America can so much be seen and experienced within so small of an area.
- WARM WATER JUNGLE RAFTING with
brilliantly colored Toucans flying overhead and curious monkeys following our river descent
We include in our adventure the "tropical boating" on Class II-IV rivers. We will raft three days on two different rivers starting with the Class II Sarapiqui and making our way up to the Class III-IV Pacuare River.
- NORTHERN LOWLANDS, with rafting and a guided walk through the jungle, plus a flat water boat tour deep into the jungle with naturalist guides.
Since this may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for most of us, we have included two days in the Sarapiqui rainforest at one of the most famous rainforest lodges in the world. Our rooms are screened in and the jungle comes right up to our elevated verandas. The sounds of the jungle are very alive here.
- CARIBBEAN COASTAL MAGIC,
Indigenous tribes, surf and sand, Canopy Tour, reggee-influenced beach hamlets
On the Caribbean coast, you'll have the opportunity to take one of the best Canopy Tour in all of Costa Rica, visit the Kekoldi Indian reserve, meet the indigenous indian women, and relax at the beach. We can swim in the surf, and bikes are available.
Click here to see Costa Rica Map
 Click here to download our registration form
We will send you TRAVEL DETAILS and PACKING LIST when you make your reservation for this trip.
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Click the image above to view the gallery
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Departures: January 13-22, 2012, maximum 24 women
Trip Difficulty: This adventure trip is rated for the beginner to low intermediate traveller.
Type of Raft: For rafting we will use paddle boats with 6-8 paddlers in each boat plus professional female guides. On the Pacuare River our overnight gear will be rowed to our lodge in oar boats rowed by female guides.
Age Range: Ages 7-96 years
Price: $2550 per person plus international air
Experience the lush tropical forests and wildlife of Costa Rica's most interesting ecological areas:
- The lowland tropical rainforest
- The plantations of the atlantic slope
- The virgin jungles
- Rivers of the Central Highlands and Valley
- The isolated and diverse caribbean coastal rainforest and shorelin
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January 13, 2012 will be your first night in Costa Rica. Just let us know your arrival flight and time and we will be at the airport to greet you and take you to your hotel in downtown San Jose.
At the hotel you will check in, be shown your room, and then you are on your own until the next morning at 7:00 A.M., when we will all meet in the lobby for a light breakfast. Our real breakfast will be about 9:00 A.M. in the cloudforest mountains.
Our San Jose hotel is centrally located so you can easily access restaurants and safely walk around.
I rate Mariah in the top 5% of all the companies I have dealt with in my life, not just rafting but all companies, and I am a customer expert who teaches customer service to companies who need it. Your staff are professional in every way; they make you feel like you are rafting with friends instead of a company. The food is very good, and the portions are.....well....if you leave the table hungry, it is your fault. The campground is well-maintained and functional, while keeping the rustic setting. Please feel free to use this in all of your promotional materials.
D.H., South Fork American River, 2-Days, 5/23-24/09
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Day 1 (Janurary 13) - Overnight in Historic San Jose, Costa Rica.
Arrival to San Jose, Costa Rica, Costa Rica’s capital and transfer to the hotel, Costa Rica Gran Hotel or similar. Regardless of your arrival time, we will meet and greet you at the airport and transfer you to your hotel. We always choose a hotel that is centrally located, near the historic opera house, vendor shopping, wonderful and atmospheric restaurants. San Jose has a year-around temperature in the mid-seventies, so it is a pleasure to leave the United States' winter at home. Overnight San Jose.
 Day 2 - La Paz Waterfall, a central highland Cloudforest, and Sarapiqui River Rafting
We leave San Jose behind as we take our first venture out into the countryside. We drive north through the mountain and into the cloudforest, stopping enroute for a typical Costa Rican breakfast, and enjoying a short walk to the La Paz Waterfall, a famous waterfall in Costa Rica.
Late morning we drop out of the mountains and enter the Valley of the Sarapiqui. and the Sarapiqui River for 3 hours of rafting this Class II-III jungle river. After a quick lunch, we arrive for our two night stay at the Selva Verde Rainforest Lodge. Incl. breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Selva Verde.
Day 3 - Jungle Trail Walks and motorized Boat Ride, both with naturalist guides
In the early morning we enjoy a trail walk in Selva Verde’s private rainforest with a naturalist guide. Morning is the best time to visit the interior of the jungle for this is the time the birds and other wildlife are actively searching for tIheir meals, building nests, and doing whatever they do on a day-to-day basis. In the afternoon we take a guided motorized boat ride into the jungle on an isolated stretch of the Sarapiqui river. Incl. breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Selva Verde.
Day 4 - Depart for Pacuare River, Rafting and Jungle Lodge
After breakfast at Selva Verde, we will depart for the Pacuare River, Class III-IV, for two days of fabulous, and warm, jungle rafting and one layover day in between We will experience warm water rapids with colorful toucans flying overhead and plenty of monkeys following our descent, lush vegetation, unique wildlife, and pristine isolation. The beautiful Pacuare River has waterfalls cascading from 1500' forested banks. Half-way down the river we will stop for our overnight at the Rios Tropicales River Lodge. Incl. breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Pacuare River Lodge.
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 Day 5 - Pacuare River - Layover & Jungles
This day is a wonderful layover day. We will be exploring the jungle trails, and overnighting in interesting and comfortable bungalows next to the river. Incl. breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Pacuare River Lodge.
Day 6 - Morning Rafting - Late Afternoon drive to the Caribbean Beaches
After breakfast, we will raft the lower half of the the Pacuare For part of the day we will be in a narrow river canyon where the waterfalls cascade down steep cliffs and we paddle under them to cool ourselves off. We reach the Take-Out about 2PM. We will then drive to the Caribbean and our lodge, the Hotel Suerre Caribbean. Incl. breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Caribbean resort.
Day: 7 - Day at Play on the beach and jungle, Canopy Tour
The activities during our days at the Caribbean may change in their order, depending on weather, availability, or other things beyond our control. We plan a morning tour to an indigenous Kekoldi Village where we will meet some of the people, and a brief visit to the Iguana Farm and the women who operate it. After a special lunch in Puerto Viejo, we will take the Canopy Tour (considered one of the best in the nation). We will overnight at our beautiful beach lodge. Incl. breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Caribbean resort.
Day: 8 - Caribbean Jungles, Beaches, free afternoon
After breakfast we will take a guided walk in the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge where birding and photography are excellent. We will enjoy lunch at Max's in Manzanillo. The afternoon will be free to enjoy on your own; an optional bike ride (at additional cost) is available, as well as swimming in the ocean or the lodge's swimming pool. We visit the village of Manzanillo. Incl. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight Caribbean resort.
Day: 9 - Late morning return to San Jose, Farewell Dinner
After breakfast, we'll enjoy a couple of hours shopping in Puerto Viejo, then return to San Jose, arriving about 2 P.M. You also have time to shop in San Jose before enjoying our Farewell Dinner. Overnight Costa Rica Gran Hotel or similar. Incl. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight San Jose hotel.
Day: 10 (Janurary 22) - Flight Home
Fly home. Airport transfer included. Incl. Breakfast.
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RIOS TROPICALES OUR HOSTESS IN COSTA RICA
Rios Tropicales was ranked the #1 Costa Rica Adventure Outfitter and #5 Rafting Company in the World by national Geographic Adventure Online Magazine in November, 2007.
Rios Tropicales was established by native Central Americans, the Salvadorian Rafael Gallo and the Costa Rican Fernando Esquivel. Mariah Wilderness Expedition's owner, Donna Hunter, became acquainted with Rafa and Fernando in the late 1980's when she began rafting in Costa Rica. In 1989, Mariah Wilderness took their FIRST ALL-WOMEN'S trip to Costa Rica. There were 24 women and 6 female guides, and what an adventure that was!!
Once a year, since 1989, Mariah women venture into Costa Rica. Our itinerary has changed a bit over the years as we keep our eyes open for the unique, safe, and high quality experiences.
RAINFORESTS AND WILDLIFE
Costa Rica is perhaps one of the most awesome examples of sustainable tourism in a tropical country.
Almost a quarter of Costa Rica's land is protected in a world-renowned system of national parks, biological reserves, wildlife refuges and other protected areas. The twelve distinct ecological zones are home to an astonishing array of plants and animals: more than 850 species of birds, 600 species of butterflies, 1200 different orchids, and many mammals, including three-toed sloths, coatis, peccaries, 4 species of monkeys, and 5 kinds of jungle cats.
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Clarion Amon Plaza
 The Amon Plaza is one of our favorite San Jose hotels to begin and end are trip at. The hotel has a restaurant, bar, laundry services, a small business center, airconditioning, and first class service. Centrally located, you can check in, take your bag to your room, and then step outside the hotel and begin exploring.
The Juan Santamaria International Airport in San José is usually where most people arrive in Costa Rica. Within 20 minutes, you will arrive at your hotel by private airport transport. Centrally located, you can check in, take your bag to your room, and then step outside the hotel and begin exploring this historic small city. You may fly in on any airline, and arrive at any time you want. The hotel is the central gathering place for our group. There will be a welcome letter the receptionist will give you; and we will meet in the lobby at 7:00 A.M. the next morning.
Selva Verde Lodge and Rainforest Reserve
This is one of our favorite lodges in the Sarapiqui Valley, and whether we stay here or a similar lodge, the environment, quality of accommodations and service are very similar.
The Selva Verde Lodge is nestled in the lowland tropical rainforest of Costa Rica, in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, along the Sarapiqui River. The lodge is known as being the pioneer of the eco-tourism movement in Costa Rica. This is a magical haven for bird watchers, nature enthusiasts, and hikers desiring to experience the rainforest.
Several protected zones such as Braulio Carrillo National Park and La Selva Biological Station are within a close distance as well as the adventure prone Sarapiquí River. At one time, Puerto Viejo was a small port community that exported goods down the Sarapiquí River through the San Juan River (Río San Juan), eventually docking in Limón and other locations on the Caribbean coast. Now, this same river is a major factor for the ecotourism in the area!
Birding, hiking, and whitewater rafting tours are very popular here. La Selva Biological Stateion (OTI) is the biggest research station in Costa Rica, and is most frequently used for graduate courses in ecology as well as long term and ongoing biological experiments.
All in all, this area is intense in biological diversity. You will certainly hear, and spot, the spider monkey as well as other species of monkeys, the colorful Toucon, many species of parakeets, and many other species of mammals.
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 Rios Tropicales Lodge - Pacuare River, Costa Rica
If you close your eyes and imagine what a genuine eco-lodge deep in the rainforest could be like, you might think of beautiful tropical gardens framing native wood lodge rooms, open air gathering pavilions with thatched roofs and comfortable hammocks swinging in a gentle breeze, ample viewing decks for watching the toucans fly overhead and the river dance along its rapids.
Good imagination! This is exactly what you will experience at our Rios Tropicales Lodge. It is the first eco-lodge built on the Pacuare and the only one powered with hydro-generated electricity for a clean sustainable energy source.
Our 1500 Acre Private Reserve:
Our rainforest lodge is located on our 1500 acre private reserve at the mouth of the Pacuare Gorge, inside the Pacuare Protected Zone. Our private reserve borders the indigenous Cabecar Indian Reserve and contains more than 40 miles of hiking trails and numerous waterfalls, streams, and pools. There are two ways to access our lodge, via rafting in on the Pacuare River, or hiking in along a trail. The various accommodations are set on the mountainside at varying slope heights, affording fantastic views of the river and the dense rainforest surroundings.
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Caribbean Resort - Suerre Caribbean Beach Resort, in Puerto Viejo, south of Limon.
The Suerre is a fairly basic beach resort, though we really like it because it is closer to the beach (just across the street) than most of the other hotels, it has a swimming pool, a good restaurant and bar, and good staff service. We have already stayed there a few times and the women make positive comments about it.
The hotel has 40 rooms, all equipped with two double beds, AC, hot water, private bathrooms, satellite TV, a telephone and a security box. There are two swimming pools, Jacuzzi, billiard table, tennis court, volleyball court, bar, restaurant, TV area, landscaped gardens, beach front, game room, room service
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