A Costa Rica Kayaking Story
Arnaldo loves the river. It is his favorite place to be. He is the most patient and kind guide and teacher on the river. He loves the river so much he is willing to face almost any danger or lack of comfort to explore new places or kayak that ‘best spot’.
If you’ve had a chance to meet Arnaldo, you know he can tell a good story! This is one of them that he told a fellow traveler. If you have a story about Arnaldo, share it in the comments.
One day Arnaldo and a buddy were kayaking and exploring some Class 5 areas in Costa Rica. They had to carry their kayaks from one river location to another. It was a dense jungle area so they had machetes to clear their path. Arnaldo’s buddy opened up a leaf – only to discover it was a killer bee nest!
They thought they were going to have an adventure on the river that day, but they had an adventure in the jungle instead.
Those bees were not happy about being awoken from their nap and were out to take their revenge on the hapless friends who discovered their home. The bees launched their attach causing the boys to drop their kayaks.
As the boys began to blindly run! The jungle was still dense, so they were swinging their arms hoping to produce a double whammy of cutting down vines with their machete and ward off and swat away the bees at the same time.
In the chaos, the boys were being repeatedly stung.
To avoid more stings the pair dropped to their bellies right there in the middle of the jungle and tried to army crawl through the trees and vines to hide from the merciless bees. Sliding on the floor of the jungle the angry bees found our friends and continued to berate them with stings.
In desperation, Arnaldo’s buddy flung himself off a nearby cliff into the water below in hopes of finding escape and relief from his stings. The single minded bees saw no problem with this and followed their prey.
Arnaldo and his friend fought those bees for two hours in the water. The bees must have finally tired out because the pair had relief to the point that they began to realize two things. They needed to get back home – and they also needed to get their kayaks. In the malaise, they had left them back at the scene of the crime.
Climbing back into the jungle, retracting their path of destruction they spied their kayaks resting serenely where they had left them. Anxious to go home and put this painful experience behind them, they went to grab the kayaks only to be ambushed by those crazed bees again!
They hadn’t been scattered. They hadn’t been killed. They hadn’t been deterred. They had been lying in wait, ready to jump on anything and anyone who dared enter their sphere.
Deterred but not beaten, the boys were able to more quickly find relief from the bees during this second attack, and began to make a plan. They covered their entire bodies in mud for protection and relief. As they headed back, the boys quickly realized that the bees would not be swayed from watching this direction.
So they went around and approached their kayaks from a different area. Sneaking up on the kayaks as a predator not wanting to disturb their prey the slowly, quietly, and carefully entered and exited the area without alerting the bees to their plans.
Tired and beaten – and in the case of his buddy, sick and throwing up due to his stings the boys exited the jungle to discover they were not where they thought they were at all and the sky told them a storm was on the way. Fortunately they were able to call their dad and he helped them make it safely home.
Now, had this been you or I, this would have been the end of our illustrious jungle exploration to find the next rapid. But not Arnaldo. He was soon back on the river doing what he does best and you will find that this experience hasn’t dimmed his love for all things water and jungle. But it does bring a smile and a twinkle to his eye as he tells it!
Don’t you fear, Arnaldo won’t take you bushwacking through the jungle with him on your trip. But he will take the best care of you, make you laugh and enjoy every minute with him, and teach you how to be better at whatever it is you’re doing on the river.
Pura Vida
