Alpha 3: Turrisantos Trekkers

Barbilla National Park is rich in biodiversity

Two days into this first phase and our limits are being tested to the extreme. Barbilla National Park is probably the most beautiful and serene place I have ever seen however... it is brutal!

Night 1 at Ernesto's House in Barbilla National Park

We were thrown in at the deep end on day one of our trek but after finally making it to the start of the park, we set off going from open green fields to the dense, dark and incomprehensibly muddy but incredibly beautiful rainforest in an instant.

Emily

Quick break

Though we are still faced with an extremely difficult trek ahead, through the last bit of Barbilla National Park, I have no doubt that Alpha 3 will battle through and thoroughly enjoy the adventure that we have been given the privilege to embark upon.

Cards before bed

Alpha 3 planning their route

We are presently around halfway through the park in an indigenous village. All of the people are so welcoming and kind, the house we are staying in is luxury - there's even a roof!

Dougie just before sunrise

Stunning sunrise for Alpha 3

We are all excited for the last day in the forest, caked in mud, and then for the rest of the phase and i'm sure that Alpha 3 will remain strong throughout.

Alpha 3 saying goodbye to Head Offices Leonie and Photographer Liz who joined them for 3 days.

Todays blog was written by Conrad, Alpha 3's Venturer Project Communications Officer.

X-Ray One - Turrisantos Trek

To say it’s been wet would be an understatement as to what X-Ray One have experienced these past few days as we weave our way our through Barbilla National Park.

After a short drive from Fieldbase to our start point, somewhat frustratingly we had a 2 hour wait for our guide, but we were treated to a talk on the park and the indigenous people, the Cabecar, by the rangers. Guide sourced, and we were on our way, albeit slowly. The going was arduous as thick, sticky mud, clogged and cloyed our every step and wore us down. Welcome to trek... Despite this, one could not help but appreciate the beauty of our surroundings, until PM Claire pointed out a poison dart frog, resulting in Jose taking his umpteenth tumble as he turned to take a look. Parallels were drawn between trekking and scenes from numerous Vietnam flicks – Phoebe displaying great heroism to delve into the depths of a bog and rescue Danielle’s submerged boot.

Mercifully the next day was far better with beautiful weather enabling us to appreciate our surroundings, as well as making good time to Valle Descondido where we enjoyed a soak in the river, and an early night to recover from the previous day’s toils.

We awoke at 3am to the roar of raindrops hammering the zinc roof above us; if we thought day one was bad, this was something else. Rivers of mud oozed their way through the jungle, sometimes knee deep resulting in numerous falls and the deluge was such that our guide had to take the longer route around to avoid swollen rivers. Needless to say, we blitzed it, and everyone can be proud of their efforts as we made it down to the bridge and out of the park onto firm tracks – bliss.

Tomorrow, although longer, is on gravel tracks, which will hopefully be easier going. In the meantime we send our love to friends and family at home – keep your messages coming!

Love X-Ray 1 xx

Trekking - Alpha 1 stylee!

Alpha 1 have passed the halfway point of the Turrisantos trek! Yey! Though it hasn’t been easy. Day 5 was an epic 28 km journey that left us all blistered and bruised, but our pain gave rise to the funniest line of the trek so far: “Alpha 1, where the heck are you?!!” cried an exasperated Tim, inadvertently making us all burst into laughter.

The rough conditions of day 5 however led to a very welcome lie-in the next day, which was followed by an excellent and efficient foot clinic run by PM Dr Katie. Seven years of medical training to be treating blisters! Despite the late start, we got to our campsite in good time, and desperate for a wash, we all took a dip in the nearby river. We were enjoying a refreshing swim when the most unusual thing floated by - a rather dead chicken. Needless to say, we all got out of the water pretty quickly after that.

Days 5, 6 and 7 were extra special for Alpha 1 as we had a special guest from Fieldbase – finance manager Holly. Her cheerfulness and motivation were most welcome, although I think her most useful skill was her great expertise in putting tents up! Day 7 saw an early finish for Alpha 1, so we spent the afternoon relaxing on a football pitch and playing with the local children. Although I don’t think they appreciated it when their football rolled over and Hanko had his penknife out!

Day7 also brought possibly our best sleeping location so far – the storeroom behind the shop. The shopkeeper was absolutely lovely and insisted that we all bought something, so we had an afternoon feast of churros, crisps and ice cream. A food drop was much appreciated on day 7 especially as it brought Claire, Caroline and Alfredo to visit us from Fieldbase, and they spent the night with us in our cosy storeroom.

Unfortunately on day 8, Rosh came down with a stomach bug, so she had to head back to Fieldbase with Katie. The rest of Alpha 1 powered on up some very steep terrain. It was tough at times, kudos to Louis who was physically pushing me up the mountain at points, but we eventually got to our campsite, which was an electricity pylon. After carefully constructing our tents around the pylon we settled down to dinner around a lovely campfire built by Hanko. The altitude meant it was really quite chilly, so the warmth from the fire was much appreciated. We all fell asleep to the sweet sound of electricity humming...

Day 9 was one of the milestones for Alpha 1. After an arduous climb, we reached the highest point of the whole trek, 2852 meters. It was an amazing feeling and not at all ruined by Allegra pondering: “Is this a hill or a mountain?” Quickly followed by: “It can’t be a mountain, it doesn’t have snow on top.” – this from someone about to study geography at university. Day 9 also brought the halfway point of the trek. Round of applause for PM Roeland who helped us celebrate in style by buying tuna and jalapeno peppers to jazz up our dinner of pasta and sauce. The community centre we stayed in that night even had a table and some chairs, so we sat down to a wonderful formal halfway dinner.

We covered a lot of ground on day 10 due to the Pan American highway. This tarmac, perfectly flat road was (by some) very welcome after 9 days of jungle and rocky tracks. Another plus of the highway was the numerous service stations, so we were able to pick up some tasty snacks at each trekking break.

All in all, we are continuing to make good progress, and Playa Hermosa feels that little bit closer. Pura Vida!

Trek this out: Alpha One in Barbilla.

Today we bring you the first update from the Alphas, and as a stickler for tradition, it makes chronological sense that Alpha One’s Azelle who gets us underway:

Alpha One have made a successful start to the Tuirrisantos Trek! After a 2 hour snooze on the bus, (due to the previous night’s epic paint party), we arrived at our start point. Day One was rather relaxed, and despite there not being room at the ranger station, we were given more than adequate accommodation at a nearby community station. An afternoon of icebreakers ensued; frog murder (a tongue variation of that classic, wink murder) providing much hilarity, especially as poor Hanko was suspected in every round! Well he does play with that penknife an awful lot...

Day Two was much tougher as we headed into the jungle, which was extremely muddy! We all ended the day covered in it, bar Julie, who has the very annoying talent of staying perfectly clean while the rest of us are filthy! (Ed: Nicely done Julie). How does she do it?! Another problem of trekking through the bogginess of the Costa Rican jungle is that we fall over. A lot. But with every muddy fall (even if it is your 3^rd in 5 minutes), we were able to have a laugh and pull ourselves back up again. Various wails were audible throughout the day – “My foot is stuck in the mud” – “I think my boot’s about to come off”, from Claire, to rather embarrassingly, “I want my Mummy” from this author. Credit must go to Mark in his role as day leader, for motivating us all to the finish. We are all enjoying our Raleigh rations too! A can of tuna with crackers, crushed from being at the bottom of your rucksack all day is absolutely delicious after a morning of trekking!

Day Three was further trekking in Barbilla National Park, but we found it slightly easier after our tough introduction, and again credit to day leader Claire, along with ‘tough-but-fair’ Dutch Army PM Roeland aka Chuck Norris aka Rolo (hard on the outside, soft interior) who ensured we reached our finish point ahead of time, and were able to enjoy a delicious and relaxed lunch of salami, noodles and crackers. Props to PM Katie for that, it not only satisfied our meat craving, but was also a relief to Julie, who after carrying it for three days, was looking forward to not being followed by hungry dogs! We are also learning lots of Spanish from our HCVs, Istvan and Michael; Rosh and Eika are top of the class and Michael’s English, in return, has come on leaps and bounds. He’s now at the point where he’s cracking jokes!

We have all bonded really well in such a short time, and Allegra has established herself as Alpha 1 Mum, tucking in everyone’s mosquito net at night. Tim however, needed no help in that department, as he created the most cocoon like structure, drawing awe from us all. Accommodation has so far, been rather comfy, with showers for 2 out of 3 nights and toilets for all 3, (if you include a long drop!) But don’t get too envious, tomorrow we’re cracking out the tents, certainly not for the last time. We’ve now been joined by Louis who had been at Fieldbase with a chest infection, and missed the opening days. Alpha One are a full contingent and ready to go!

3 days down, 16 to go, and Alpha One are in good spirits, Playa Hermosa here we come!