Romancing the Rivers in Costa Rica : Nature’s bounty beguiles author as he traces the white water on a raft and finds love waiting.

In the Costa Rican jungle, there’s never a need for a wake-up call. Flocks of green parrots, screeching and chattering, gleefully provide the service at the first hint of dawn.

Emerging New Year’s Day at 5 a.m. from the tightly zipped confines of my tent, I watch as a dozen of these aggressively social birds dart overhead, move from treetop to treetop and then arc out across the eddying river. The din, piercing and unending, echoes across the lush, narrow clearing where the evening before, our eight-person rafting party had pulled out of the river and pitched camp. The screeching, however, has not been enough to rouse my companions from their tents.

The morning is damp and dewy. It is warmer here than it had been in San Jose, the tidy Costa Rican capital that had served as our base of operations, but the temperature is certainly not oppressive.

While our surroundings look to be classic jungle, in reality we are situated on the margin of the wooded eastern slope of Costa Rica’s famously cool central highlands, the Cordillera Central, about 35 miles east of San Jose. We are still at an elevation of more than 2,500 feet, despite having spent the previous day descending by raft, sometimes abruptly, down the Reventazon as it makes its way toward the Caribbean.

Mindful of our guide’s repeated warnings about snakes, I start out alone for the river’s edge, stepping gingerly through the macheted undergrowth, glancing warily at branches which, I have been told, might not be branches at all. My goal is a simple one--reassurance. I just want to see and touch the two inflated rafts that have brought our party this far along the river. This is no place for a flat.

The rafts are indeed fit, ready for another day of white-water descent. As usual, my anxiety is misplaced.

A little embarrassed, I scurry back toward my tent, fearful that the others will find me out.

Which, of course, has already happened. By now everybody is awake and stirring. That’s the trouble with parrot wake-up calls--there’s no snooze button to still the screeches.

But no one has actually been paying the slightest attention to my raft inspection tour. Everyone’s attention is directed to a nearby Quercus tree, where a bright-beaked toucan has been spotted preening itself on a branch. Within seconds, cameras are out, zoom lens are zooming and my compatriots have yet another spectacular shot of Costa Rican fauna in action.

This is getting to be a pleasant routine.

The day before, after putting in the river near the town of Pejibaye, we had seen a quetzal, crested with long, streaming tail feathers, arguably the most beautiful bird in the world. Nearby was a cluster of purple orchids in search of a senior prom.

In fact, one of our party, a young Canadian woman named Karen, apparently was so taken with the scenery that she was oblivious to the approach of our first rapid, and was tossed for an unexpected swim.

But who could keep their eyes on the river? In endless procession, we saw blue morpho butterflies, river otters and more flowers than anyone could take in, much less name.

That night we couldn’t see much, but were all but overwhelmed by the noise of the jungle--chattering monkeys, squawking birds, buzzing insects . . . who knew what? And then came those dozen parrots at daybreak.

Now, after a breakfast of granola and fresh fruit and an animated discussion about the relative scariness of the sounds we think we heard overnight, we work together to break camp, repack one of the rafts with our provisions and clamor aboard the other, all of us eager for another day on the river.

Rafting, it turns out, is a terrific way to see one of the world’s great treasure houses of nature. Unlike traveling by Costa Rica’s justly famous and popular jungle train, or even on foot, floating downstream allows one to move silently into the heart of the dense foliage, all the better to observe one of the planet’s tropical paradises.

There’s a great deal to observe.

Although only about the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica has more than 800 species of birds, more than in all of North America; 350 species of reptiles and amphibians; 10% of the world’s butterflies, and more than 1,200 varieties of orchids.

Add to that the fact that it has more water, mostly rivers, per square mile than any nation in the world except New Zealand, and you begin to see why rafting has recently taken off as a Costa Rican pursuit.

And there is a wide range of rivers from which to choose. For novices or the timid, the placid Corobici River, which runs into the Bebedero, offers an eight-mile float trip with virtually no white water. The Reventazon is a step up--relatively forgiving but capable of tossing paddlers around, especially toward the end of the trip when the river gathers power and hurtles through the rapids El Gordo (the fat one) and Hueco Santo (holy hole).

For those seeking major-league white water, the jolting, technically challenging Sarapiqui, which drops 125 feet in a little over a mile, should do the trick.

All three of these rivers can be rafted out of San Jose as a day trip, with overnight trips available on request.

For the truly adventurous who don’t mind going a little farther afield, there’s rafting on the San Juan River, which forms part of the border between Costa Rica and its northern neighbor, Nicaragua. The dense jungle scenery is said to be unsurpassed, but when we were there, the political situation in Nicaragua was particularly unstable (it’s since improved), and I was advised rafters were more likely to see guerrillas than monkeys or birds.

I quickly chose to stay out of harm’s way and raft the Reventazon.

It turned out to be an excellent choice. The river is clean and fast-flowing, and the 12-mile section selected by the rafting company we used--Costa Rica Expeditions--for their two-day overnight trips, flows through lush, largely uninhabited terrain.

For most North Americans, the idea of rafting in a tropical climate either conjures up visions of Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart slogging along in leech-infested water in “The African Queen,” or prompts questions about piranhas, the carnivorous South American fish that make no distinctions between human and animal flesh.

The happy truth is that the major rafting rivers in Costa Rica are comparatively benign. There are no piranhas. As for leeches, they were nonexistent in the Reventazon, and, we were told at least, quite rare elsewhere. And while our party did not drink from the river, we did swim in it with no ill effects. In all honesty, the Reventazon appeared far cleaner than our own Colorado or Klamath.

Safety and cleanliness rank high among the characteristics that bring so many people to Costa Rica in the first place.

Columbus “discovered” Costa Rica on his fourth and final voyage, mooring his ship off the island of Uvita on the Caribbean coast. His men returned with some carved jade, a few gold ornaments and exaggerated stories of fabulous wealth further inland, hence the name: Costa Rica, the rich coast.

Often referred to as the “Switzerland of Central America,” the country has been a republic since 1848 and is the region’s most stable democracy. It’s long been lauded for its conservation programs. More than 10% of the nation’s land is set aside in a well-run national park system, and the government has worked with the U.S.-based Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy to preserve wild life and habitat.

But that said, it should also be noted that there is very little true tropical rain forest remaining--most of it located in the relatively cramped confines of Cahuita National Park on the Caribbean coast. And the majority of the country’s more prevelant virgin broad leaf forest was cut long ago.

Costa Rica has made a conscious effort to promote itself as a safe, well-developed Central American haven with tremendous natural beauty and first-rate facilities. One measure of the success of this strategy is the government’s estimate that more than 20,000 North American pensionados call San Jose and other locales home for more than six months each year. Another is a sophisticated tourist industry, very attuned to North American interests and preferences. Costa Rica’s approach to rafting reflects that philosophy. The sport has been developed with the help of North American rafting guides, and much of the equipment, including life jackets and the rafts themselves, are manufactured in the United States and Canada.

Our lead guide was an American who had guided on the Colorado, and his assistant was a Costa Rican who had done his apprenticeship in Maine.

Peak season for Costa Rican rafting is mid-December through mid-April. By December, the rain and hurricane season has ended, but there’s usually plenty of water to provide a good, fast flow until April 15 or so. This turns out to be perfect timing for North Americans looking to escape the winter doldrums and find a new way to experience the tropics.

There’s no question that overnight rafting is a fast-track mechanism for not only meeting people but truly getting to know them. That’s in part because a raft, unlike a cruise ship, leaves you no place to hide, much less play shuffleboard. Moving a raft effectively through water, then setting up camp before the sun sets and the beasties start to roam, requires crisp communication and teamwork.

Our team included the aforementioned woman from Ontario, Canada; a middle-aged, newly married couple from New Orleans; two women from Detroit who worked in real estate; a woman manager of a Dallas-based computer services company; one guide (the other guide handled a second raft laden with supplies), and yours truly.

Our young guides picked us up at our respective hotels in San Jose. After riding together on hot, dusty, twisting roads for more than an hour to get to our put-in spot, I think it’s fair to say we all had our doubts about each other.

And those doubts were quickly confirmed. Despite our guides’ best efforts, once on the water we all seemed inclined to assume a leadership role--which sent the raft in circles and backwards through the first rapids, contributing to Karen’s fall into the drink.

But things got better. People relaxed a bit. Captivated by their surroundings, they lost their need to control or command. By evening, everyone relaxed a bit more as the guides served up a special New Year’s Eve dinner. There was a delicious spread including a local favorite, tico stew, made with spicy meat, presumably pork. The scene was complete with candles and an almost-cold bottle of champagne.

I’m not sure if it was the moonlight, my glass and a half of champagne, or maybe just the sound of snakes slithering nearby, but I got so swept away by the whole thing that I asked the Ontario woman--who, by the way, I already knew--to marry me. Probably for all of the above reasons, she accepted--and didn’t change her mind, even after we reached our final destination on the river a day later.

As is true for so many wild rivers worldwide, plans are being made in various government offices that would affect portions of the Reventazon and some of Costa Rica’s other scenic streams.

Four years ago, the state power agency began test drilling to determine if a hydroelectric dam could be built at the head of a spectacular, steep-sloped gorge--a place where the water slows and rafters traditionally take a final, cooling swim before hauling out a mile or so farther on.

Three years ago, a terrible flood on the Reventazon, reportedly the worst in 160 years, destroyed the drilling site, postponing the dam decision--and granting those who wish to see the jungle in silent splendor a reprieve.

GUIDEBOOK

Rafting in Costa Rica

Getting there: Airlines flying direct from Los Angeles to San Jose, Costa Rica, include Lacsa (the national airline of Costa Rica; three stops), Mexicana (two stops), American (one) and Continental (one). Current lowest round-trip fare is about $540, which requires advance purchase and various minimum and maximum stays. Visas are not required for American citizens, but valid passports are.

Health: The health-care system in Costa Rica is excellent. Malaria is not a problem, except in the lowlands near the Nicaraguan border. Drinking water is safe in all major towns.

Where to stay: Generally recommended San Jose hotels include the Reforma Hilton, Calle 11 Avenida 20, 105, about $95; Amstel, Calle 7 Avenida 1, $70; The Royal Crown, Calle 4 Avenida Central, and the Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Calle 3 Avenida 2, both $60. My own favorite is the smaller Costa Rica Inn, Calle 9 Avenida 1-3, $40. There are also numerous “Apartotels” offering kitchen facilities that normally rent for $25-$35 per night or on a weekly basis.

Where to eat: San Jose has a large Chinese population and is famous for its Chinese cuisine. Two restaurants I would recommend are Kuang Chaou, Calle 11 between Avenida Central and Avenida 2, and Fu Su Lu, Calle 7 Avenida 2; both are about $20-$25 for two, with wine. Other good restaurants include the main dining room at the Amstel, if you are in the mood for continental; Goya, Avenida 1, Calle 5-7, Spanish cuisine, and Sina, Avenida 1, for good tico (local) food.

If you are confused by the addresses, so is every other visitor. The city is on a grid system: Avenidas (avenues) run east-west; calles (streets) north-south. The three main streets are Avenida Central, Avenida 2 and the intersecting Calle Central. Do yourself a favor and get the excellent map of the city provided by the tourist bureau.

Rafting trips: Among firms offering Costa Rica rafting trips are: Costa Rica Expeditions, P.O. Box 6941, San Jose, from U.S. phones dial 011-506-57-0766; Swiss Travel Service, P.O. Box 7-1970-1000, San Jose, 011-506-31-4055; Aventuras Naturales, Calle 33 and 35 Avenida Central, San Jose, 011-506-25-3939, and Rios Tropicales, Calle 22 y 24 Paseo Colon, San Jose, 011-506-33-6455. A typical overnight rafting trip runs $220-$280 per person and includes five meals and all equipment; a usual day trip runs $65-$85, including breakfast and lunch.

An alternative to standard rafting packages is a 10-day kayaking excursion run each January by California-based Otter Bar Lodge. The trip includes river and sea kayaking (members of the U.S. Olympic kayaking team have trained with Otter Bar), but they do run a raft with each trip. Total cost, excluding air fare, is $1,200; write or call Otter Bar Lodge, Forks of Salmon, Calif. 96031, (916) 462-4772.

For more information: Contact the Costa Rica National Tourist Bureau, 1101 Bricknell Ave., B.I.V. Tower, Suite 801, Miami, Fla. 33131, (800) 327-7033.