X-ray 2 and X-ray 4

X-ray 4

Dr Lawrie goes wandering...

With Carl and Roberto were handling the driving side of things, I settled into the Bravo 3 and prepared myself for my first road trip as part of the Fieldbase team. We were soon climbing our way steadily above the clouds and up the side of Volcan Irazu. At over 3432 metres at the summit, the air undoubtedly feels a little thin and chilly.

However, this did not stop the hard-working X-ray 4 team who are perched below one of the craters working to construct a path up to a stunning mirador. The previous 2 days were spent carrying bags of gravel through stunning and dense forest, teeming with life.

 We caught up with them just before some well earned lunch, after a day of concreting the irrigation channels, and clearing more paths for the next loads of gravel.

After a well earned lunch, we got the grand tour of their fantastic house. And yes, I said house. No hammocks here for X-ray 4. They are living in an old house complete with running water, electricity and as Sophie was desperate to point out – a hot shower! Don’t worry though…they will soon be roughing it when they head down to San Lucas Island where they will be building their very own jungle camp.

Life in the house is very civilized, although undoubtedly a little chilly - there were plenty of requests before we left Fieldbase for extra sleeping bags and jumpers. In the evenings after dinner, there is a mixture of games, English and Spanish lessons, and there were even a few rumours flying that Vicky would be dyeing Josh’s ginger beard!

X-ray 2

Next morning we met with X-ray 2 fresh from tackling the jungle. After setting off from Guallipes a few days ago, they have heroically battled against a combination of rain, hidden paths and plenty of mud to emerge smiling and triumphant. They were all tired and looking forward to some more food (not to mention needing a good shower), but they had all worked incredibly well together over some tough terrain.

Emerging triumphant

 There was plenty of bushwacking with machetes and adventures along the way – but it was a real testament to how well they were working together and helping each other out that they emerged looking so strong. Even in this early stage of their trek, it is fantastic to see them as such a tight knit group.

Once they stopped to buy some food from the tuck shop and have a hot drink or two, there were plenty of tired bodies that were craving a little more sleep after a few big days of trekking. 

As we drove off, they were all grinning and looking more than ready to tackle the last climb that Volcan Irazu offered.