Alpha Two - Guanacaste Trek diary

PMs Simon and Ale plan the route

 Day Three: by Finn White-Thomson

We walked, we talked

We thinked and we drinked

We sat, we chat

We got familiar with the floor – but it wasn’t our friend as our feet were sore.

We tried to savour every moment,

But it was hard as our BO smelt so potent.

Awesome Alpha Two!

Day Four: by Hannah Pitts

Today started tough, a burning morning slog around the rest of Lake Arenal. Water bottles ran dry and the grit road grew tiresome on feet. Spirits were lifted significantly when we discovered we were only a few minutes down the road from a supermarket. A two hour lunch break of fresh pineapple and biscuits was heaven! The afternoon was spent climbing hill after vertical hill. A navigational error meant half the group went the wrong way at one point, but just as dusk fell we reached our destination – a village nestled between the wind farms of Tejana with an inspiring view of everywhere we’d been so far. Tents, showers, dinner and sleep.

Day Five: by Neil McGregor
As day leader I was eager to be up and away nice and early on the morning of day five, but after a long day the previous day a few members struggled to rise at the set time of 04:30. After a few loud bellows of my Scottish voice however the team sprang into action! After tidying up our campsite and having a quick porridge breakfast we headed off for another long day of trekking. We trekked up through the wind farms which was a little breezy I hasten to add! We then headed up to our jungle guide’s house for a ‘tasty’ pot noodle type lunch. After the luxurious setting of the guide’s house Alpha Two were once again reunited with the dusty gravel road towards the Ranger’s station. Our afternoon trek was host to some spectacular views of Lake Arenal and beyond. I made sure the group stopped plenty of times to take in the awesome views. We arrived at our destination early enough so that we even had time to sunbathe and look back at the road we had conquered. I enjoyed being team leader and had a lot of fun. Pura Vida!

Walking through wind farms

Día Siete: Por Ayeris Merlo
Cuando me toco ser lider del dia, lo disfrute mucho. Me parecio una idea super genial e importante. Me senti grande al saber que ese dia yo tenia el control de todo, ni senti la caminata por que me tobaca decidir sobre si haciamos pausas o no, tambien decidia sobre el tiempo - cuanto estariamos en la pausa, tambien me toco esperar a mi companeros, los que se quedaban atras, algunas veces los dejaba pasa y depues continuaba. Fue muy bonito. Fue lo mejor que me ha pasado durante esta caminata y pues me siento feliz que pense que no lo haria bien, pero lo logre y nuestros guias me felicitaron y fue lo maximo. Espero poder volverlo hacer.

Day Eight – by Telisha Johnson
Today was my day to take up the role of day leader, which I did with nervous anticipation. The first task was to allocate someone to have the map, and to pick two people to cook breakfast. Luckily by now many of us wanted to get used to map reading and there weren’t any disputes about whose turn it was to cook.

Everyone was feeling pretty good from the previous night spent at the ranger’s station where we had the luxury of our first shower in a week. We set off at 06:45 towards the town of Bijagua which took us 4 ½ hours including some tough hills, but we did well (and only went the wrong way once). The town itself was more developed than some of the other towns we had passed through and even had a bakery with really good pastries! After stopping for lunch, we decided to push on to a town called Zapote. It was hot and hard on the feet, but after getting past the mental challenge, it felt really good to lead the group. Keeping everyone in high spirits at the same time as keeping breaks short was difficult but we got to the town in good time and stayed together as a group. We worked as a team, all pulling our weight, so that any initial nervousness at being day leader soon disappeared.

The evening we spent in Zapote was one of the most amazing nights that I’ve had so far and very surreal. We turned up at a church to ask if there was anywhere to stay and it happened that we had wandered across some festivities. A local wedding was about to take place and the locals were kind enough to let us camp in the church after it was over. As we sat near the church watching the preparations some of us went to take a closer look and were then invited to the ceremony and reception. The church was a small room with simple decorations, blue benches and a modest altar. Half of the Alpha team piled into the back of the church and watched the ceremony from. Afterwards we were then invited next door to the and were given one of the best meals I’ve had over here, a dish of rice and beef piled high on the plate. For dessert we had something similar to rice pudding with pineapple. For me this was one of the best nights and topped off a challenging and rewarding day!

Dia Nueve: Por Nelson Castillo
Fue un dia muy importante, por ser el lider, me toco coordinar el grupo, y con la ayuda de un guia local, porque ese dia fue en la Montana, no usamos el mapa por ser un dia nublado a travez de la Montana. Fue muy bonito salir del Rangers station, unas vistas muy impresionantes en la jungle, cruzar rios y quebradas despues pasamos por Rio Celeste, una laguna de agua color azul celeste. Subimos al mirador, luego atrevesar el bosque, por un sendero, con destino a la oficina del Parque National Tenorio. Un gran dia. Dormimos en una casa muy bonita.

Top teamwork on the tricky jungle sections

 Day Ten: by Kit Stephenson

Well what a day! It started off with a bit of a shock, no Simon, wait a minute no Ale either, only a letter to explain that we had to trek to Colonia Blanca on our own – fun times! So we began the day a little worried but excited - today was a great opportunity for us to excel as a group. Our crafty PMs were in fact following us from a distance - but we didn't find that out until much later...

I personally think that it was our best day because the group worked well as a team and it brought us closer together. However there was also a great upset and blow to the team; we lost a great member Tom Smallwood, aka ‘The Tank’ - a guy who would give his utmost. Because of a recurring injury to his knee we unfortunately had to loose him. There were a lot of mixed emotions that day because it had been one of the best at the same time as being one of the worst. However, everybody pulled together as a group, acted extremely sensibly and really made an effort to keep morale high. Alpha Two what a great team!

Day 11: by Caroline Bixner

The day that I was day leader we only covered a short distance but at the start it was tough because it was so hilly. Intially I found it hard being the leader because I found it hard to decide when we should take a break and because I always seem to struggle with hills. But other than that I enjoyed being a day leader - it seems that by now we are working as a team and making joint decisions - so I didn’t have to!

Onwards and upwards... the Wedding Crashers trek on!

Next: an exciting Alpha Five update from the turtle team at Camaronal