The year 2020 was a wildly difficult year for many, myself included. First, my father died after a drawn-out bout with Parkinson’s. A week later, my mom’s house burned down in a wildfire along the North Santiam River in Oregon, and I lost my most valuable river outfitting business assets (a triplex and historic home) in the same conflagration.
My light room, dark room and over a decade of 35 mm slides from river adventures all around the world burned. Digital video masters from film work, accolades, tear sheets, and all my keepsakes from traveling the world as a full-time kayak competitor, instructor and guide for my entire adult life, gone.
At the same time, 4,400 miles away, Costa Rica’s tourism economy ground to a halt due to COVID, and whitewater legend Rafael Gallo was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Rafa, as he was known, passed away in the spring of 2021. My old business partner in Costa Rica, Arturo Oropeza, called with the tragic news as word spread through the paddling community.
Man, myth, legend
For those who didn’t know Rafa, he was the man responsible for building the largest whitewater rafting operation in Costa Rica (Ríos Tropicales) and making the Pacuare River famous for being one of the top-five most scenic whitewater destinations in the world.
Rafa put whitewater rafting on the map in Costa Rica. He was a founding member of the International Rafting Federation and helped the developing world learn about ecotourism, setting the precedent with his business in Costa Rica. If you’re lucky, you know about or have stayed at his riverfront camp right before the start of the inner gorge—one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been.
Over the years, Rafa worked to build a 2,000+ acre private reserve in the watershed and influenced the development of a presidential decree that prevents dam building on the Pacuare (it expires in 2040).
I’ll never forget my first trip down the tropical whitewater of the Pacuare in my slalom boat in 1993. It sparked my adventurous spirit and lit up my imagination with its clear, free-flowing water and remarkable rapids and gorges. Blue morpho butterflies, toucans and howler monkeys punctuated the journey.
As a stark contrast, the Reventazón River just over the ridge has been dewatered by dams since the ‘90s. The Reventazón brought many to Costa Rica for the first time in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s to train slalom, helping to boost Costa Rica’s popularity in the whitewater world. It became a dichotomy—the Reventazón being completely dewatered while the early fight for the free-flowing Pacuare River was spearheaded (and won) by Rafa and Ríos Tropicales.
A Confluence of Opportunity
Fast-forward to the summer of 2021, when the Ríos Tropicales sales deck came across my desk. Rafa’s family had liquidated all the Ríos Tropicales rafting equipment and were looking to sell the crown jewels of the real estate along the Pacuare, which included approximately 250 acres of primary and secondary rainforest, plus the remote and rustic riverfront lodge.
In an effort to help the family find an appropriate buyer—ideally someone with conservation-minded values, I put the word out to friends in the paddling community. I also shared the deck with my business partner at eNRG Kayaking, Justin Rae, who works as a financial planner and wealth manager with clients throughout the world. By the fall of 2021, Justin had found a potential buyer for the conservation property, and we flew to Costa Rica to do a survey.
Returning to Rìos was a welcomed reprieve from COVID lockdown, and I was excited to play a role no matter how significant to help keep this amazing property in the right hands. Once we arrived in San Jose we met Rafa’s daughter, Andrea, a prominent attorney in the city, and his son, Roberto, who grew up on the banks of the Pacuare and went to the Ottawa Kayak School Keener program as a teen, later becoming a civil engineer.
Together we traveled three hours from San Jose to the heart of the “Gallo private reserve” in the Pacuare watershed. I will never forget traversing the swinging bridge that crosses onto the lodge property in September 2021, during the midst of COVID, and seeing a 22-boat raft trip crossing under us full of Ticos (over 100 people!). At that moment, I realized the impact Rafa had on the culture of his beloved country. Whitewater sports in Costa Rica are now a way of life, even amidst a worldwide pandemic. I couldn’t help but smile.
Sat at the lodge with Justin, Arturo and Roberto after a long, treacherous hike through thick rainforest, Roberto professed his interest in dedicating his life to furthering his father’s conservationist legacy in the Pacuare watershed. He shared his desire to caretake his family’s properties, to plant trees to further Rafa’s conservation legacy in Costa Rica, and, if it all worked out, operate the lodge after the dust settled.
A New Beginning
As Roberto talked, I watched Justin’s eyes light up. We knew that if our buyer only purchased the larger conservation property, the smaller lodge property would most likely fall into disrepair or get sold to the highest bidder.
After a long, philosophical night with Arturo (while Roberto and I were fast asleep), Justin devised a plan. He waited to tell me until we were at the airport, but his vision included raising the finances to purchase both the conservation property and the lodge property.
What followed was a long pause, a deep breath and a life-changing decision.
Together, Justin, Arturo, Roberto and I became general partners, collectively deciding to dig deep and raise the money needed. Over the next four months, we brought together 18 investors with personal connections to Rafa, Ríos Tropicales and the lodge partners. The transaction closed in February of 2022.
We were off to the races to restore this magical lodge for the next generation, reinvigorate the local economy and continue welcoming visitors to the banks of the Pacuare.
In the process, we were able to reconnect with Rafa’s roots at NOC and bring together an amazing group of “lodge stewards” that included the likes of Payson Kennedy (founder of NOC), Joe Jacobi (Olympic gold medalist, 1992), Julie Thorner (Liquid Spark) and many more passionate river personalities, several of which had paddled with Rafa around the world or worked with him over the years.
Our neighbors would include a five-star lodge just upstream, the Gallo family across the river and the largest Indigenous (Cabécar) preserve in the country. This large tract of land—over 7,000 acres—is one of the most important biological corridors in Costa Rica, known as Paso de Jaguar.
Arturo and Roberto had their hands full trying to navigate the next steps, which included fortifying many of the critical systems at the lodge. We upgraded the micro hydroelectric system, rebuilt multiple cabins and upgraded the kitchen from a small camp kitchen to a full-on commercial kitchen.
Our team knocked down the dilapidated 18-bunk International Student Housing building and rebuilt what we now dub the “eco rooms” and “yoga deck,” which provide affordable dorm-style housing for up to 64 people. We rebuilt and fortified the septic systems, water system and the zipline canopy tour.
We added a new element to the zipline, one that flies over a quarter mile upriver through the canyon. Justin worked as the CFO and COO to coordinate financial payments from the USA to Costa Rica, and we all worked to attract new business to the lodge.
We now own the trademark for Ríos Tropicales and have rebranded as Rios Lodge. Liquid Spark helped us with the marketing side, spinning up a website and getting onto social media. Our goal was to transform the one to two-star glamping experience into a three-star experience. With over 3,000 raft trips of construction materials in the first two years (yes, everything comes in and out via raft), including all visitors, we were well on our way to building back better.
In November 2025, we hosted Blue Ridge Adventure Medicine for the third year in a row and offered wilderness medical education at the lodge, which has retrained Tico guides from other companies and lodges in the area with first aid, drowning prevention and CPR skills.
Our plan is to continue to invest in guide education with ACA/IRF programs and to support the biodiversity conservation mission in the watershed. We run retreat leader summits twice per year and are now hosting retreat leaders from around the world who share our lodge with their groups.
Continuing Rafa’s Legacy
On Friday, October 31st, 2025, the Rivers and Forest Alliance (RAFA) was able to organize the Costa Rican community, along with rafting companies and guides from all over the country, to come together with lawmakers and initiate the drafting of a new law (Salva Guarda) that protects the Pacuare River Basin forever. Over the next few months, this law will be negotiated amongst the Costa Rican legislature and become law.
“It’s been an honor to be part of this new journey with a group of my dad’s friends and international river stewards that stepped up and are now heavily invested in protecting the Pacuare River,” says Roberto Gallo. “Having over 250 people show up to the Linda Vista rafting put-in for a ceremony to gather over 150 official signatures alongside the Cabécar indigenous community showed overwhelming local support. Fifteen lawmakers attended the ceremony and voiced their support for the law which is now well on its way to passing and cementing Rafael Gallo’s legacy on the Pacuare River Basin forever.”
Just this past summer, Justin held his wedding at the lodge. So far, 2025 has been a fantastic year, and we invite you and your family, friends and paddling group to come visit and experience the new and improved Rios Lodge!
Pura Vida,
– Sam Drevo
PS: I first met Rafa in 1995 at the Ocean Surfing World Championships in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I last saw him at the 2016 World Rafting Championships in Abu Dhabi, where he pledged to offset the entire event’s carbon footprint with a tree planting on his property along the Pacuare River. In the fall of 2021, Roberto drove me right to the spot in their private reserve where a sign is dedicated to the 2016 planting of over 5,000 trees. And before us stood a forest with trees 10–20 meters in height, only five years later!
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Guest Contributor Sam Drevo is an educator, instructor trainer, and expert witness. A former US Canoe and Kayak team member, he founded Northwest River Guides and eNRG Kayaking, introducing paddling to thousands, certifying instructors, and organizing international trips. Sam has won awards for his work, including the Jon Muir award from the Yosemite Film Festival and the “Green Giant” award from the Portland Tribune. In addition to his work with Rios Lodge, he works with Team River Runner and Oregon Disability Sports’ paddling programs and serves on the board of We Love Clean Rivers and the Tourism Board for Clackamas County Oregon.