13/02/2023 to 14/02/2023 - Turrialba / Costa Rica

At 5 AM the alarm clock rang. We packed up all our things and drove to Santo Domingo Airport. We had already checked in online, but we arrived at the airport two hours early, luckily. The line for baggage drop-off was long, and the line for passport control was even longer. Our passports were checked, and Ben had to pay a fine of $115. We didn't know why because no one at this counter spoke English or could make us understand why. So we paid. Ben still didn't have an exit stamp, so we went to the next officer. Here we asked again why, and the lady could tell us. He had been in the Dominican Republic for too long. Strange, as we only entered yesterday. Directly above the entry stamp from 12/02/2023 is an entry stamp from 2022 in the passport. The smart officer only saw this one. So, we went to the next officer's office and again to the counter to get the money back. It was already boarding time. We were the last ones to board the plane, and shortly after us, they closed the doors. After a three-hour flight, we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica. We took a public bus that took us to the city center in 30 minutes. Here we had a typical lunch - Patacones, fried plantains, and an Empanada, a stuffed pastry. Then we took the next bus to Turrialba. We drove through a few towns and a lush green landscape for two hours.

The next morning, we were picked up at 7:30 AM for a rafting adventure on the Rio Pacuare, the country's most popular river. We had 28 kilometers of whitewater rafting ahead of us with many rapids and amazing nature. We observed some birds, colorful butterflies, a few waterfalls, and after 4 hours of thrills, we completed the course. As a well-deserved lunch, we had a Casado. This is a Costa Rican meal with rice, black beans, plantains, salad, and beef for Ben and chicken for me. Once again back at our small hotel in the middle of Turrialba, we just rested because we had completed our sports activities for the next few days today.