X-ray One: The Final Word by Nitin Rish

Lying on the long awaited sands of Playa Carbonera, the realisation of finishing trek began to kick in. X-ray One had reached their Mecca. It was a surreal experience arriving at the beach - gathering up the last of our energy, we ran the last couple of minutes, flung our bags on the beach and dived into the ocean that we had trekked so far to enjoy. The journey to get there, however, was far from a stroll in the park.

Trek-tastic X-ray One

Uphill slogs, body aches and mental challenges were all coupled with incredible views, wildlife sightings and a group that grew closer every day. When one of our team, Dani, had to gracefully retire, it provided a wake-up call for the whole group - that halfway point was when you truly understood that you either finish the trek or you don’t. Just two days later Phil, another member of the group, got sent home when an old shoulder injury resurfaced - but before you sympathise with him too much, he did get to jet up to San Jose, have a feast with the field base staff and then head down to picturesque Camaronal. There could have been worse alternatives! Nevertheless X-ray One battled through their loss and continued their adventure, learning some incredible lessons along the way.

Plenty of character-testing obstacles overcome on trek

Reaching the town of Finca Puntarenas was an exciting experience: we arrived at this village based around banana plantations,to see some bemused faces from the locals. Even so, they let us stay in their community centre and courtesy of the town, our Raleigh rations that evening were complemented by local fried plantain. We stayed at other towns during our stay and they were all different in their own way, but they all had one thing in common to us because we were so well welcomed to each town or village we visited. Conversely, staying in a completely wild camp one rainy night after scaling the jungle helped us truly appreciate the nights when we had taps and, if we were lucky, a shelter to sleep under.

Entering Corcovado national park was one of the most interesting parts of the trek. Corcovado national park is considered the most biodiverse place in the world, and among the beautiful plants trees and thousands of insects and spiders, we saw tapiers, packs of boars, snakes, and a load of scarlet macaws. The walks through the jungle where pretty incredible, even though there were days when you didn’t know when you would reach the clearing you had been trekking towards. I think it’s safe to say that X-ray One had a few very long days in the jungle. Our rest day was spent in the park and it was pretty special being able to spend some time to truly appreciate that incredible pocket of Costa Rica. The final section of the trek was spent walking long kilometres along the deserted beaches lining Corcovado. We knew the end was near.

So while sitting on the beach at the end of the trek you experience what is, in a sense, a conflict of emotions. The feeling of reaching the end of trek is what keeps you going during those hard days of walking. However when it is actually over, you understand that the group that goes through so much together and shares so many amazing experiences will inevitably be split up. What is left of the incredible challenge that you go through together is what you choose to remember, and the many eye opening things that you learn about yourself, those in your group and the people you meet along the way.

The group enjoy a much-deserved feast at their journey's end

Tomorrow: find out what happened at Fieldbase during Changeover