Pacuare River Tours is a whitewater rafting company based out of San Jose, Costa Rica. We are different than most rafting companies, heck we're different than most people - and here's why...

Being a raft guide is a peculiar way to make a living. Typically, raft guides don't make very much money and do it "because they love it." Unfortunately, that love can wither with age and the prospect of getting married, having a child, or maybe even buying a house. So a lot of raft guides decide to grow-up and get a real job. Here at Pacuare River Tours we decided to get a real job without quitting the job we're most qualified and passionate to perform. So we have a profit-sharing corporation where guides actually have health insurance, job security, and retirement. Trivial perks for the rest of the world, but here in raftingdom quite a big step.

Are you asking yourself, "so what does that have to do with me" or "especially, what does that have to do with my vacation to Costa Rica?"

Well, the answer is that when you go rafting with Pacuare River Tours everyone you see is either a part-owner or is working to qualify to participate in the profit-sharing. So they're all happy with their job and hopefully do it better. They aren't part of the huge "brain drain" or in our case "skills drain" that often happens in the commercial rafting community.

They are also contributing their ideas. The ideas that they developed during their tenure in the industry are what we hope will make us the best rafting company in Costa Rica.

It's great to talk about "ideas," but we want to take it a step further and tell you how we've implemented these ideas:

First, we noticed that most of our clientele speaks English as their primary language or if they speak multiple languages English is their second language of choice. So, all of our guides are proficient in English, and we have a native English speaker as one of our owners. Most complaints coming from travellers in Costa Rica are from miscommunication. As enlightened new-age business people we realize the importance of communication, and we want to help you to communicate in the language of your choice!

Second, we realize that health and safety are a huge concern. There are plenty enough urban legends flying around to scare anyone concerning health care in Central America. We want to destigmatize our region with respect to health care. Our company has a comprehensive evacuation plan that involves helicopter evacuation as a contingency. In less than an hour from the time one experience's a medical emergency in the Pacuare River valley they can and should be under the treatment of one of the many U.S. trained doctors at the CIMA medical center in Escazu, Costa Rica.

We are also utilizing a new helmet design, created by the Whitewater Safety and Research Institute developed by a crack design team at Johns Hopkins University that we hope will become the industry standard. In short we've put your safety above our bottom line to give you the confidence necessary to enjoy your adventure in paradise.

Ideas like these are what we hope will make you feel comfortable doing business with us. And if that's not enough we're some of the best damn river guides on the river.