A Costa Rica Trip Report
Sometimes life presents you with opportunities. You won’t know when. And at the time, you probably won’t know why. Often you can’t, but sometimes you can. And if you can, you should take them. Sometimes you can even make them.
It was mid February of 2026 and the Colorado snow pack was not doing well. Without the distraction of skiing here, that meant that (naturally) all I wanted to do was go get on a river somewhere and, as it turned out, I realized that I could squeeze a quick trip into my spring. So my friend and I tuned our gaze upon the warm waters of Costa Rica. The question was: how? How to make it worth our limited time?
That’s when I thought I’d explore a new river community resource called Rally Crew. This is a new website that is a place for river runners to connect the world over. There you can make a profile, search for others by region, find a school or company (we’re on there now!), find a local group, post trip reports, and much else. So on a whim, I searched for people in Costa Rica who list themselves as a guide, instructor, or just as a good resource. In no time at all I was connecting with Kayla, the owner of a company called Jungle Flow Expeditions in Turrialba. She and her business partner, Manuel, turned out to be the most amazing and welcoming resource we could have found in the country. They had kayaks to rent at a very reasonable price, set us up with all kinds of beta, and showed us down some amazing Costa Rican whitewater, some of which I know I would never have found on my own. We also were invited to tag along on their commercial Pacuare trip which is one of the most beautiful sections of river in the world that is run commercially. They even had hot coffee for everyone on their trip that day and if you don’t know, Costa Rican coffee is definitely its own thing. I can confidently say that teaming up in this way made for the best use of time. Five full long days of good Class IV whitewater were definitely worth it!
Rivers Run:
Upper Pejibaye
Parismina
Upper (San Miguel section) of the Sarapiqui
Lower Pacuare (the commercial section)
“Top” Pacuare (the road in is not for the fain of heart!)
So I suppose this short story is a Thank You. Thank you to Rally Crew for creating a new means of connection that isn’t ruled by social media algorithms, AI, or all of the other nonsense and noise of the modern digital world. If you haven’t already, I very much recommend heading over and taking a look. Make a profile, find someone to paddle with, and be a resource for someone in return. As an aside, I have made a group there for Arkansas Valley Boaters to hopefully help people find new friends to paddle with on our local river.
And I want to say a very huge thank you to Kayla and Manuel of Jungle Flow. You both are awesome and could not have been more welcoming. I am so glad that we made the connection and new friendships. I am sure that we’ll have many more opportunities to boat together in the future!
For those of you reading this who don’t yet follow us here at CRI, please do so through your preferred method (Facebook, Instagram, or our email list) and keep an eye open for more information about some possible future collaboration with Jungle Flow!
written by: Alan Cammack
