Monday, 27 October 2008

Phase 3 (Trekking - Guanacaste Trek) - August 2008

Thankfully I was in luck again! I was put on the Guanacaste trek with Aleks (my PM from 2nd Phase) and Jungle Mike (a mountain leader). We had a look at the map to show us where we’d be walking; the distance looked huge! 240km plus. We’d be arriving at the beach which I’d just been on for Phase 2. We had the mammoth task of sorting out our food, checking that logistics had given us enough, and then splitting it up so we had enough meals at each food drop. We had 5 days’ of food when we set off. We would then be given 3 live food drops (each with 4 days worth of food in it) and a dead one left at the beach to last us two days. We had to plan each meal out so that we weren’t left short any night. We left the tea and coffee as the cheapo instant stuff tastes disgusting! Most people had 65 litre rucksacks. Our rucksacks should be no more than a third full with our personal kit to leave room for group kit. Group kit was 3 trangia stoves, the three bowls (for the three bowl system of wash, bleach, rinse), 4 tents (with poles), 5 fuel cans, and all the food. We divided up the kit by weight between the 12 of us. We then had to pack our personal kit as minimally as possible. Jungle Mike told us what to take – two sets of clothes (a wet set for daytime, a dry set for evenings), sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner (optional), ground mat, mosquito net, camera (optional), penknife, headtorch, first aid kit (zinc oxide tape, drugs, gauze, savlon spray), washing kit (small soap, toothbrush, toothpaste), trekking poles and two water bottles. Our bags weighed 25kg with our two litres of water. Some of the other groups had bags up to 30kg of weight because they hadn’t been as strict with their personal kit as us. At 3am on the morning we were leaving we’d got our rucksacks and everything we’d been told to take and then Mike showed us how to fit everything into our bags efficiently. We put everything in dry bags so that if we fell in a river or when it rained our dry kit didn’t get wet. We then had to load our rucksacks on to the top of a minibus. That was quite a struggle lifting it above our heads! Jungle Mike had conjunctivitis so he wasn’t going to be with us for the first four days but was going to arrive with the first food drop. We had Nick, a paramedic and ex-marine, who is in charge of logistics. We were given a sandwich for breakfast and one for lunch but a dog ran off with Danny’s which was a bit comical! Everyone was really tired due to partying the night before so we decided to have a quick game of Two Truths and a Lie before going to sleep. For the game you have to say two facts about yourself and a lie and people have to guess which one the lie is. It’s a good way to get to know people.

We arrived at 9am at the place where we’d be starting our hike. We chatted a bit about the importance of hydration, foot care etc. We also worked out a rota with Health and Safety person, 2 cooks, 2 clean-up people, a day leader, 2 people on comms (radioing through to fieldbase to report our location etc). We only had 4km to walk today but with the heavy rucksacks it took us absolutely ages. It didn’t help that we got lost twice! We passed a really small, dead snake on the road. It started to rain so our boots and clothes were absolutely sodden when we arrived at the cow shed we were due to sleep in. Each evening we did a review of how the day went, things to improve on etc.
We set a routine of getting up at 3.20am and doing some stretches led by Aleks whilst still in our pyjamas. Then we had to have had breakfast, radioed through to fieldbase, repacked our bags to be ready to set off by 5am. We also had to zinc tape up our feet and chafing areas etc. This took quite a while! Usually it was 5.30am by the time we actually left, but it was still better than the other groups. Being on ‘comms’ is really annoying. It involves setting up an aerial by hoisting it over a tree branch, then holding out wire aerials at either side so it’s pointing in the right direction, and then attaching all the electronics. Then after all the faffing the chances are it doesn’t work so you have to take it all down again and just use a payphone or the sat. phone! We had pace setters who we weren’t allowed to overtake. They were usually the slowest people, to keep the group together.
On our second day we did our first river crossing. It took us two hours to learn what to do and to faff about changing into sandals and back again. Our second night was spent in the Indigenous Reserve of Tonjibe tribe. There were masks and arty artefacts on sale. For washing facilities there was a river where a few people bared all for a bath. I took the alternative hose pipe behind the toilet block option although that had no privacy either, lucky none of the locals were around!
We had a stop-off in a town for internet access on the third day. Then after leaving the town along a highway it was really sweltering heat and we missed a turning and had to walk a bit further than we should have so we didn’t have to backtrack. We passed a tree full of really cute monkeys, however, and then met a girl who cycled with us for quite a way and then when she passed her house she got some ice in a bag and gave it to us.
When passing Lake Nicaragua, shortly after seeing the stunning Arenal Volcano, we saw a black squirrel jumping from tree to tree with a dog running along underneath barking!
During the middle part of the trek we were fortunate to pass orange, guava, and grapefruit trees and a discarded pineapple that was still edible.
Across from the community centre in Bijagua on our 6th night some locals were practicing some local dancing, which was good entertainment.
We had quite a few river crossings and depending on the day leader and how efficient they were at assessing the river it could take between 15 minutes and an hour! Beside one river we saw a snake that was quite small but apparently very poisonous.
Our first food drop was in El Pilon where we spent two nights so we had a day off and we could explore the National Park by walking to hot springs, a blue lagoon and a waterfall. That first night in the ranger station someone had shouted “Quick come look!” – I’d thought someone was injured or something but we got a treat! It was a Tapir! Julian hadn’t ever seen one before and we were all really excited. The rangers had said that it was especially large for a Tapir. The following day was really relaxed and chilled out even though I was day leader. The hot springs were lovely – a hot bath at last!! We all just stripped off to underwear. Both the waterfall and the blue lagoon were so blue! It was really pretty; a good place for lots of group photos. We swapped Nick back for the original Mike here but were told that Mike had decided he wanted to be a doctor so he would be leaving us again at the next food drop! We weren’t sure who we were getting to replace him but we hoped it would be Nick again.
We got lost quite severely on a few occasions. The first was in the jungle where we turned left even though the pre-expedition report had told us to take a left if we saw one! Woops! We were faffing about going back and forth for quite a while. The paths were really deep mud and we had to tread quite carefully without being too slow. I lead for a while but ended up stuck in the mud with someone pulling me out by my arms. I ended up falling over and I heard a huge snap – one of my rucksack clip/adjusters had snapped on one of the shoulder supports. I had to just tie a knot in it, but it was impossible to adjust and that was not so comfortable. After traipsing about in a cow field in the dark trying to find a path heading to a town that we could see lights of we finally arrived on a road, which some venturers kissed! A local said the school was locked, but we could sleep outside on a balcony. It was about 5km from where we had originally planned to be staying. We were absolutely exhausted when we arrived and everyone slept very deeply that night. In the morning we woke to find that two rucksacks (from the people at the end), 12 portions of macaroni cheese, the radio and a pair of boots were missing! We found the boots chucked up a tree, and the rucksacks were in the school yard but had been raided and a first aid kit and two cameras had been taken from them. We got advice from a friendly local who contacted the police for us. We had planned to set off at our usual 5.30am as we had to do the extra 5km that day, but we spent all morning waiting for the police and making statements etc. During the morning whilse the police were working away, we just chilled out eating the coconuts, oranges and macadamia nuts that a local boy had brought for us! It was such a treat! We set off walking once the police had all the information they needed. They said they’d check out a few places where they thought the thieves might be. They caught us up in the town 5km away and returned our goods… unfortunately all 12 portions of macaroni cheese had been consumed by the 4 thieves that night!! It started raining really heavily and it was around mid afternoon so we decided to stay in the community centre there. We’d have to make up for our lost day later on.
We were on our way to our next food drop when the Raleigh Bravo vehicle caught up with us. They’d dropped offour food and Nick (yay!) and were coming to collect Mike. They’d been driving along and a Jaguar had leapt across the road in front of them! Julian who runs Raleigh in Costa Rica, who has lived here for 7 years said he’d never seen one before so it was pretty exciting for him!
We had a particularly wet day with slippery slopes, rivers and rain. Quite a long day which got a few people down. I was in quite a good mood even when I ended up with mud up to almost my knees and really struggled to get out! Quite a few people kept on slipping, I think the record was about 14 falls in one day! I maxed at 4 in total over the trip although one was in a river.
On our second visit to hot springs where we had to continue walking to our final destination after our bath. We mistimed things and ended up having to sprint the last 3km in 30 minutes so we would arrive before dark (which is a Raleigh Rule). Some of the smaller girls couldn’t walk that fast and had to run the whole way! This is where the “1,2,3,4,1,2…” counting as you march was born. My rucksack was giving me trouble again and had started cutting off the blood to my head so I was feeling a little woozy. Nick made me lie down with my legs elevated over my bags for a minute and then for the last 0.5km he carried not only his 30kg bag but my 25kg over his shouters! We arrived at the holiday homes centre where we were allowed to discreetly have our tents hidden at the back of their house. This was the first time we were in tents and we got totally soaked while putting them up as it was raining! Morale was still high and no one was complaining which I was surprised about! Thankfully Nick had the foresight to dig a moat around our tents so we wouldn’t flood in the night. The cooks cooked the food and thankfully the kind property owners allowed us to eat it in their bar, which just looked like a dining room. They then were extremely kind by giving us coffee and a huge bowl of fresh vegetables and another huge bowl with rice and beans in it! It was absolutely heaven! The girls were sharing two lots of three to a tent. The guys had to squish all four of them in a tent which must have been a real squeeze!
Another time when we’d made a wrong turn we’d walked quite far from the wrong turning before realising. Another venturer and I were quite far ahead as those behind were counting steps “1,2,3,4,1,2…” which severely irritated us both, so we walked ahead whistling and entertaining ourselves. We had quite a good pace going and ended up quite far up a really steep hill and had to trek all the way back down again to get back to the group which was a pain! We were supposed to be at Quebrada Grande for a live food drop that night but hadn’t quite made it! So the following morning we walked and stopped at a payphone to give a sitrep and to find out where to meet the Bravo Vehicle when it drove up beside us! Because my bag had now broken in about 3 different places and was causing a lot of discomfort I managed to borrow one of the touring PMs rucksacks. It made such a difference! We had quite a lot of road to go along before starting an ascent up to the Cerro Cacao Ranger Station and I was so much speedier! I’d got some painkillers for my foot as well so all my problems were sorted!

We came across quite a lot of forks in the road but were very fortunate in that after we’d been staring at the map for about 10 minutes, scouted out the routes and were about to make a decision on which way to go that was quite often based on which route had the deeper tyre tracks, a local would pass us by, quite often the rangers and tell us which way to go! At this ranger station we had a beautiful view over mountains although it was really misty and very cold most of the time. We saw some wild hummingbirds and someone saw a toucan! There was a delicious orange tree in the yard too. This was a tourist hut which had 4 rooms of 6 bunk beds! So for the first time in ages we actually had something soft to sleep on! We had a day allocated for climbing this volcano but due to the bad weather (including a tropical storm because of Hurricane Hanna) there was a majority of 6:4 not to do the volcano. Surprisingly enough all girls wanted to do it! The guys all wanted to get to the beach a day early. We’d already had to miss out the first volcano because of bad weather and we planned to combine the last two days into a huge 32km one so we now had 4 days at the beach instead of 1.

Our next place of rest was Maritza Ranger Station which was quite a long trek through slippy slopes and we weren’t able to see where we were due to the dense forests and the not very helpful map. It was along here that I dropped my camera and it went from faulty to totally broken! Very annoying! We arrived and weren’t that bothered about where we were staying because we saw the most amazing view we’d seen yet… we could actually see the island that is just off the beach we were heading to!! For the first time we could see our final destination!! Scary thing was; it looked very far away!! 32km! Lots of photos and hugs at this point!! We were pleasantly surprised by some really nice showers (still cold though!).

On our last day of trekking I was day leader. We were up bright and early and set off along a very straight path for 18km to get us onto the highway. From here I could recognise where we were as we’d passed it on our way to the beach on Phase 2. We had a really flat bit for a while which hurt my left (but not right) calf! Then the road wound downwards for quite a while before getting to a town with the supermarket we’d walked to 4km from the beach. We stopped for a 30 minute break outside the supermarket which was closed unfortunately; as it was a Sunday. A worker from the restaurant had brought us out a bottle of cooled water which was nice although between 12 it didn’t go very far! When we stood up again to leave my calves were extremely painful and felt as if they were about to be pulled! Half the group seemed to be about to die whereas the other half seemed to want to run the last 4km! It was a nice walk though – we passed the rocks that we’d put down to repair the road which I was very proud of! Plus I knew when we were approaching a view point, and we also passed the signs we’d painted. It was all so exciting! It took us about an hour and a half and when we arrived we said a quick hello to the ranger we recognised before dropping our rucksacks and running into the sea! It felt so good to finally be in water with no pressure on our feet! All the zinc oxide tape came off too. We then assembled on the beach for a photo shoot of us doing the traditional Raleigh jumping on the beach shot! Our legs were so sore that a few of us struggled with the jumping! The sea was a lot rougher than it was on 2nd Phase but the sun was shining and it was nice and hot so we could wash and dry out clothes. We had a shower and set up our tents. Most people spent most of the time swimming but towards the end of our time on the beach the sea got much worse, so much so that it managed to move a gigantic piece of drift wood quite far up the beach so it was facing a different direction. Some crazy venturers walked to the supermarket, so another 8km! In addition, when people were swimming they came out with debris in their hair which put a few of us off going back in the water. We organised a Beach Olympics and held it on our 3rd day. There was the usual tug of war, gladiators, wheelbarrow race, three-legged race and water moving race. It wasn’t as fun as on Phase 2 and the weather wasn’t as good. The aim of gladiators is to have two people on another two people’s shoulders in the sea and the top people have to wrestle each other to get the other person to fall off. The sea won every time which made it a bit pointless!
On the minibus back to Liberia we gave an unknown Frenchman a lift in our trailer where we our luggage was he’d have had a pretty bumpy ride! We had to stop on the way to remove a huge rock that was in the middle of the road as the result of a landslide cause by all the rain. In Liberia we went to Burger King. Whilse Danny from near Liverpool, Rudo and I were outside looking after the bags, he met a lady from Liverpool! He was telling her about Raleigh and in mentioning lack of money and the food we were eating on Raleigh she insisted on buying him a burger. When she returned outside she had two for Danny, and one each for Rudo and I. Pretty cool of her! Danny got three burgers out of it as it was an animal burger. The groups from Nicaragua turned up and it was absolutely brilliant catching up with Allie the PM and others from Phase 2 and Rachael (travel buddy).

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