Pacuare River Lodge — Local services in Siquirres

Overwhelming disappointment We were extremely disappointed with our trip to Pacuare River Lodge for our rafting trip. First, I want to be clear that my complaint is not about the weather because we understand the weather cannot be controlled. My main complaint is that we were not informed about the incoming rain. International phone lines have no internet access, but the guides have access. The guides are professional, and they oversee the weather for how it may impact the safety of the river. So, Moses, our guide, knew that a lot of rain was projected for our raft day. We were there for two days and could have rafted the paid-for route on day 1 instead of hiking. We were very upset about not being informed and not being given the option to take the raft trip out on a dry day. If given a choice, we would have shortened our visit to the lodge to ensure we did the rafting trip. The guides blamed Johana, the manager, for not allowing them to communicate with us about the incoming rain event. If this is true (which I am not sure), this policy ruined our rafting trip which we waited over a year to do. You can only imagine our great disappointment with the complete disaster that was our raft trip. First, we waited two or more hours to arrange a river trip. Second, the drive to the drop-in took just as long as our short raft trip (about an hour). So, we spent about 4 hours, two waiting for a car and 2 hours driving in a car for a 50-minute raft trip. Third, we rafted the same section of the river that we did on day 1, except for the first couple of meters. It would have been avoidable if we had just been informed about the pending weather and given the option to raft out the previous day. We would not have asked for money back; it was the experience that we wanted. Instead, we never got to raft the section of river advertised for this trip, and our rafting trip in the pouring rain was only 1/3 the amount of time promised in the advertised activity. In addition, and as a side note, it would have been helpful to know that we should bring our own alcohol. The lodge is not stocked with alcohol, so at the pickup point, you are asked how many beers or wine you want to drink while you are there. This is something that should be clearly stated for this trip. We were totally caught off guard and requested some beer and wine, but we had no choice in the type of beer or wine purchased. On day one, I watched our guide, Moses, drinking a Bohemian beer while making lunch. I thought it was strange because they indicated that there was no alcohol at the lodge. At the time, I was concerned he was drinking the beer we had just brought into the lodge, but I thought no, he wouldn’t do that. But, sure enough, we were a beer short, and I know the other guests did not drink it. I mentioned the beer to Moses, but he denied it, saying it must have been accidentally opened while crushing the ice in the cooler. We were super annoyed that a grown man would lie like this, and it just adds to our overall disappointment. Our experience was not as advertised or what we expected or hoped for. Moreover, when I contacted Johana about our disappointing time at the Lodge, she did not even have the courtesy response, hence this review. This is a rinky-dink operation; save yourself the aggravation and...

we were looking to combine a rafting trip with an overnight stay and we are so glad we discovered this fantastic company. we left our rental car with the owner at 10am at a secure location called finca tres equs(30 mins east of turrialba). he drove my wife and i and our guide down an offroad to the pacuare river. we had a gentle 45 min raft(to get our feet wet) to the lodge where a tasty lunch was waiting for us. in the afternoon our guide took us on a slippery 30 min path to a cool waterfall. after a nice dinner we were off til breakfast at 8am followed by the real adventure--4 of us + our guide on a 3 hour 23 km excursion that ended up just east of siquirres. as 4 novices we were a bit fearful of the level 3&4 rapids but Ronny, our guide, was fab. exhilarating and memorable. our 4th meal(all included) was perhaps the best--lunch at a campsite where our raft trip ended. an added bonus is the owner drove our rental car to this meeting point, saving us a trip backwards of an hour to finca tres equs. our accomodation was superb. we chose the more expensive bungalow with patio and we are glad we did. we had a beautiful balcony overlooking a spectacular show of birds. there is limited internet(only with moviestar not claro or kolbe) so the birds had our full attention! if we ever return to costa rica we will return here. the owners, curt & johanna, have to be the most organized, efficient and gracious hosts one could ever hope for and they offer volunteer positions to do the cooking and cleaning. the energy provided by the volunteers was amazing, again a reflection of the owners and staff. the 2 day one night rafting package was an amazing value in comparison to...

I can not reccomend the Pucuare River Lodge enough. My boyfriend and I met Curt and Joanna by chance at a little restaurant in turrialba one evening and they were so incredibly nice! They told us about their company and reccomended their white water rafting tour which my boyfriend and I were already interested in doing. Curt and Joanna were quick and prompt with their communication and helpfulness and the rafting excursion was unforgettable! If you've ever seen A River Wild and Jurassic Park, you'll know what I mean. It was quite and adventure with both level 4 and 5 rapids! Insane but sooooooo much fun! Our guides Abel and Walter were so professional and literally saved our lives at one point when we had to walk through the river during a flash flood and thunderstorm cause the current was to strong to raft through it. Curt and Michael were waiting for us at the other end of the river with our vehicles waiting for us so we wouldn't have to make the long drive back to Finca tres equis. They even had a really nice lunch waiting for all of us and I thought it was extremely sweet to even add some vegan options for me since I'm vegan. So if you're in Costa Rica and you're thinking about white water rafting and you're into an adventure and the time of your life, look no further than Curt and Joanna's Pacuare...