La Fortuna: Maquique Canyoning & White Water Rafting Combo

5.00

(157 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll be honest — I almost chickened out when I saw the first rappel at Maquique, just outside La Fortuna. The roar of the waterfall was louder than I’d expected, and my hands were already slick from the mist (and probably nerves). Our guide, Diego, grinned like he’d seen this a hundred times before — which, okay, he probably had. “Just lean back,” he said in Spanish, then in English for me. Easier said than done. But once you’re dangling there with water splashing your face and the rainforest all around? You kind of forget to be scared.

We did five rappels total — three straight through waterfalls that left my shirt clinging to me like a second skin. There was this moment after the third one where we all stood catching our breath beside a cold little spring. The air smelled green (I know that sounds weird), and someone handed around slices of pineapple that tasted way sweeter than anything I’ve ever bought at home. At some point we zipped across a line above the creek — quick but wild — and Diego shouted something about cacao trees below us. I didn’t catch it all because honestly my heart was pounding in my ears.

The second half was white water rafting on the Balsa River, which is about 10 kilometers from Maquique. Class III rapids — so not too crazy if you’ve never done it before, but enough to keep you shouting and laughing every time the raft bounced off a rock. We stopped along the way for more fruit (Costa Rican watermelon is another level) and just floated for a bit under these huge trees while Diego pointed out birds I’ll never remember the names of. By then my arms felt like noodles but in a good way.

Lunch was simple: rice, beans, minced chicken or fish — nothing fancy but exactly what you want after being tossed around by rivers all morning. The whole thing wraps up with a short hike through rainforest that’s so dense you can barely see patches of sky overhead. My shoes squelched with every step and I still think about how alive everything felt out there — noisy frogs, wet leaves sticking to my legs, even just the smell of mud on my hands from grabbing rocks all day.