Goodbye Winter, Hello Costa Rica

The forest is luxuriant at river's edge, forming a tangle of vine- and moss-shrouded trees and shrubs. The weather is absolutely perfect, the water invitingly swimmable. My friends and I play the rapids for all we're worth, catching every eddy, surfing every wave.

Finally, we near the end of our exhilarating day on the Upper Upper Pacuare. We have a final Class IV to run, then a series of easier rapids before the footbridge marking our take-out appears. Our kindly Costa Rican driver, Ruben, is already there with the Suburban, and ice-cold drinks and a ripe watermelon.

As we haul the canoes and kayaks out on the bank, I remark to Don that I honestly don't know how the paddling can get any better. He grins and assures me that the four runs still to come equal or exceed everything we've boated so far. After tomorrow's planned trip down the 18-mile-long "Lower" Pacuare, with its multitude of rapids and near-vertical green walls towering hundreds of feet above the water, we'll be sampling the rivers Toro, Sarapiqui (known as the "Jewel of Costa Rica"), and Sucio. Lying to the west and north of Costa Rica's capital city of San Jose, this final whitewater trilogy will allow us to see yet another region of this river-rich, ever-green, hospitable country-and, lest we forget, most excellent winter getaway.

For more information on the activities offered by Costa Rica Rios Aventuras, which include canoeing, kayaking, rafting, mountain biking, and touring trips to archaeological sites, nature preserves, active volcanoes, beaches, and more, check out costaricarios.com, or call their toll-free Wisconsin-based reservations office at (888) 434-0776.