A volcanic medley

By Amy Perkins

When my name was announced as one of the Maribios trekkers in Alpha 1, I couldn’t help grinning. I was so excited but really nervous too. How were we going to manage 280km over just 15 days?

We had to take a two-day bus journey to Nicaragua and although it was a long time, the atmosphere was totally buzzing. On the second day we boarded the “disco bus” where the driver played constant full-blast tunes we all happily sang along to.

All the members of Alpha 1 instantly got on like a house on fire and I’m sure we all made some life-long friends. As the trek went on, we all grew closer and we were looking out for each other. As expected, trekking involved some major highs and lows, and it was amazing to go through the process as such a strong team.

Right from the first day of trekking, we were all thrown into cultures and environments completely alien to all of us. We walked through settlements that normal tours would never lead us to. Sleeping in schools, churches and even some people’s houses directed us into a completely different and undoubtedly harder way of living. We visited some places where the water was either so polluted that it had to be filtered through a sock, or so scarce that it was only available for 25 minutes each day. It sounds clichéd but this has really made us appreciate everything so much more. We all craved fresh fruit and veg.

One of my personal highs was reaching the summit of Volcan Cosiguina. We watched both the sunset and the sunrise there and I have never seen such spectacular views in my life. I’m sure none of us have. It made all the hard work worth it, and really put into perspective the colossal distance we covered as we could see right to the horizon which was only half the distance of our trek.

I was surprised to find that the trek was a mental challenge just as much as a physical one, Sometimes the heat was unbearable, sometimes our bags were ridiculously heavy and sometimes we thought we might not make it to that incredible beach. However, we all did. I don’t think any of us will ever forget we finally made it. Some of us even cried with happiness. The Maribios trek has been one of the biggest challenges of our lives and we have all absolutely loved it J