Our little group of three visitors stood with Olger Leiva on a bridge over a rocky stream while he explained how glass frogs lay gelatinous sacks of tadpole eggs on the undersides of big leaves. When they hatch, the tiny tadpoles fall 20 feet into the water below. We amble up a trail where we watch industrious leafcutter ants carrying shiny green pieces of leaves on their back, ferrying them to their underground lair to feed a fungus. The ants eat the fungus, not the leaves. Olger walks in front, ready to gently guide snakes off the path with a big stick. We stop at a waterfall pool and spend time wading or floating in the cool water.
If you don’t like nature, don’t climb onto the raft that takes you down the Pacuare River to Rios Lodge. This off-the-grid Costa Rican getaway on the country’s Caribbean side is only accessible by hiking or rafting. But if you’re looking for a retreat far from everyday life for you and maybe a few sober besties, you’ll find adventure at Rios — but with a comfortable bed, excellent food, and a solid nonalcoholic drink menu.
A special place
Rafael Gallo, known as Rafa, spent about 35 years tending to this land on the Pacuare River — first renting a campsite while guiding raft trips and then purchasing 90 acres in 1989. He built it into Rios Tropicale Lodge. Rafa was originally from El Salvador. “But he loved this country. And he loved this river,” co-owner Sam Drevo tells me as we stand in the Rios Lodge open-air restaurant, gazing down at the Pacuare. Rafa, a famous rafting guide, co-founded the International Rafting Federation and, in 2009, was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame.
Rafa died of cancer in 2021. His son Roberto and a few rafting guides from the US and Mexico decided to buy the lodge. “The main reason why we ended up buying this property was to preserve it,” said co-owner Arturo Oropeza, who’s originally from Mexico. “Rafa was my mentor. One of the reasons why I’m in Costa Rica is because of him.” As soon as he heard the property was for sale, Arturo called Sam, who lives in Oregon. Soon, they joined forces with Roberto and another Oregon raft pro, Justin Rae, and were scheming upgrades and rebranding the place as Rios Lodge.
Rios may be more luxe than it used to be, but getting to and from the lodge is still exciting. On a January morning, a van picked me up at my hotel in San Jose, the country’s capital. Two other guests were also traveling in that day; Julie and Carlo Smith, who own the Tennessee rafting company Adventures Unlimited. The drive from San Jose to our put-in spot took more than two hours. Our driver, Rony, took us through small towns and farmland, pointing out fields of onions, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, and sugar cane. The last stretch of rough dirt road dead-ended at the Pacuare River, where people were clambering onto rafts.
We met our rafting guides, Olger and Hazel, who put our duffel bags inside huge dry bags and secured them to the raft. Our trip into the lodge only took about an hour, and the rapids were small. They’re much bigger on the route out.
The rainforest is alive with birds, monkeys, and huge blue butterflies. As I walked up the trail from the raft landing to my bungalow, I benefited from the conservation efforts of Rafa — who oversaw the planting of 30,000 trees here — and his successors. I scored an excellent bungalow, the best feature of which was a huge deck overlooking the Pacuare. Turns out, it’s not quiet in the rainforest. But the sound of a river thundering 24/7 is a sound I like.
Challenge
Later that afternoon, I stood with Arturo at the edge of the river, dressed again in my still-wet rafting outfit. “Are you comfortable swimming in rivers?” he asked as the Pacuare raged past. Uh, yeah. But not ones moving this fast. Our objective was to cross the river to a long sandbar, where we would join a group of people tubing the rapids. Arturo explained the strategy: I needed to swim upstream as much as I could, then cross the fastest water, then swim at a 45-degree angle, kicking hard and swimming freestyle but with my head out of the water. A safety kayaker was on standby to catch me before the next set of rapids if I couldn’t outswim the river.
I’m doomed, I thought. But jumped in anyway. “Harder! Faster! Harder! Faster!” the kayaker yelled at me. “Do you want the rope?” No way. I was almost across. Breathing harder than I ever had from swimming, I reached the calm waters of the eddy, then the sandbar. Still panting, I picked up a giant tube and carried it over a million rocks to the other end of the spit of land. Finally getting into the tube was the relaxing part — all I had to do was sit in it and try not to flip.
At Rios, the guides want to challenge you a little while staying close enough to keep you safe. One person I met at Rios faced her fear of heights on the beautiful zipline course, which zigzags back and forth across the river. Another had never gone rafting and was scared of falling out and drowning. Fortunately, the guides are always there. While guests can walk around the premises and visit two nearby waterfall pools on their own, they’re asked not to venture elsewhere unguided. At Rios, you’re far from medical attention and surrounded by the beauties and dangers of the rainforest.
Wildlife
When planning my trip, I asked my contact at Rios whether the lodge keeps antivenom on the premises. She said she’d never been asked before. Which made me wonder what sort of carefree people visit the lodge. After further inquiry, she got back to me and said they don’t have antivenom because it’s illegal for anybody but a doctor to administer it due to possibly lethal allergic reactions. I didn’t ask what happened to a patient with a snakebite who was allergic to the antidote. By then, I was committed. So I crossed my fingers, said a prayer, and tried not to worry about bushmasters and fer de lances.
You need a high tolerance for creepy crawlies to thrive in the rainforest. A headlamp or strong flashlight is essential, especially when walking around the property after dark. Which starts at about six, since Costa Rica is just north of the equator.
The night hike was my favorite wildlife-viewing activity. Armed with flashlights and snake sticks, our group of three guests and two naturalist guides set out for a slow walk up a trail. We frequently stopped to watch and listen. Everything looked different at night. Seeing massive jungle trees by flashlight made them even more amazing as our beams ran over the staggering number of epiphytes, bromeliads, and vines growing on the mossy trees. The fronds of the giant palms looked even longer. Guides Olger and Jorge were skilled at landing their flashlights on critters, including a green basilisk lizard, a glass frog, a walking stick insect, large spiders, and geckos. The cat eye snake, with its huge yellow eyes, was especially intriguing.
By the last of my three nights in the jungle, I was a little snaked out as far as walking around on my own. One night after dinner, I returned to my room to find a snake stretched across my path. Was this one of Costa Rica’s 117 harmless snakes I could shoo away? Or one of the 22 that could kill me? I returned to the restaurant for an escort. As soon as I said “Snake” half the staff — it was a slow night at the lodge — sprang up, excited to check out the serpent. By the time my posse reached the spot, the snake had taken off. I decided that was enough scaly excitement and vowed to stay in my bungalow until morning light.
Food and drink
Rios’s restaurant is the lodge’s main gathering place, where you eat all your meals, play board games, peruse a library of Costa Rican wildlife books, and even enjoy jungle Wi-Fi. The signal was surprisingly strong — I managed to attend a Zoom meeting I’d thought was a lost cause. The restaurant has a prime view of the river. In the mornings we looked for monkeys swinging through the trees.
Rios has a full bar, which includes a robust menu of nonalcoholic drinks. Featured smoothies include watermelon, pineapple, starfruit, and sour guava, all made with fresh fruit. Or you can order one of ten virgin drinks, including mojitos, daiquiris, pina coladas, and Bloody Marys. My favorite Rios drink was freshly squeezed ginger lemonade.
The restaurant is one of the main upgrades since Rafa’s days here. Instead of raft guides packing food in coolers for each overnight trip, Rios now has a formidable kitchen. I enjoyed hearing the tale of how a crew transported a 490-kilo stove on a raft and then spent six hours dragging it up from the landing. The menu is big and varied enough that you can stay a few days without repeating a meal — even if you’re vegan. I ate dishes like lentil salad, a Buddha bowl with fresh veggies, chickpeas, and hunks of tofu, and pasta pomodoro. Omnivores can order dishes like mahi mahi filet and grilled chicken skewers.
If you go
There’s not a bad time to visit Rios Lodge. “It’s on the equator,” Sam points out. “It’s always warm. It’s always good.”
You never know what you’ll get. The first day of my three-night trip was very lively, with a big group of University of Delaware students finishing up a rainforest study and another dozen or so guests from G Adventures. When they left, it was just the rafting pros I came in with, a British couple touring Costa Rica to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and me. Very quiet.
Rios has a good range of cost options. You can choose to stay in one of the eight very nice eight-person dorm rooms — complete with comfortable mattresses, personal reading light and power outlet, and high ceilings — or go more upscale with your own bungalow. This is an excellent place to visit on an adventure trip with friends or as a solo getaway. Since I came on my own, I was grouped together with Julie and Carlo. Olger planned all our activities — ziplining, tubing, hiking to gorgeous waterfalls. Or we could opt out and hang in hammocks, listening to the river.
If you’re looking for some off-the-grid adventure, Rios might be for you. Don’t forget to pack your headlamp.
About Teresa Bergen
Teresa Bergen had the great good fortune to quit drinking very young and has enjoyed long-term sobriety. She lives in Portland, Oregon, and travels all over the world as a travel writer. She also works in the oral history field, helping to document and preserve history. Learn more HERE.
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