Cerre Chirripo

Last Thursday I began my trip to hike to the highest point in Costa Rica. It is now Monday and my journey is over but I did not have time to write about anything. I will see if I can remember everything from this magnificent and physically taxing expedition.

Day 1 (Thursday) - San Gerardo
Thursday was not incredibly exciting. I went into San Isidro to meet up with Adrian and Miranda. After some eating and Internetting, we went out to buy some supplies for our trip. These included peanut butter, jelly, tortillas, granola, peanuts, raisins, crackers and some cookies. Other packed items included extra clothes, a flash light, some money, a first aid kit and my passport. As well as my Lonely Planet book and another. Notable unpacked item: sleeping bag.

After that we hopped on a 2 hour bus to San Gerardo, the town where the national park entrance was. We made our mountain hostel reservations for the following day, something that we were not 100% sure would be possible, and then found a hotel that would drive us to the park entrance in the morning and allow us to leave some bagage behind the front desk.

At that hotel we met a British man who had just done the hike. He told us that it was beautiful, hard and "a bit slippy on the way down." For the rest of the trip we referred to him as Mr. Slippy since it was hilarious that he put it that way and he said that word maybe 4 times in our brief encounter.

Finally we went to the local bar to have a few beers and then went to sleep.

Day 2 (Friday) - The Ascent
We woke up at 5:00am so that Francisco, the owner of the hotel, could drive us up to the park around 5:30. We entered the park at around 6:00am and almost immidiately the rain started. It rained lightly all day with some brief periods of dryness and the occasional downpour. Each kilometer was marked and we were under the impression that the hostel was somewhere around kilometer 12.

The hike was beautiful. The rain made it even better in some ways. We started out in a rain forest/jungle looking are and the foliage and birds all around were breath taknig. The only real problem was that the fog made it impossible to see anything very far away. However, just being in that natural beauty was an amazing experience.

We arrived at the half way point at around 7.5 km and there was a sink were whe could refill water and a picnic table with a roof. Here we enjoyed some tortilla PB and J's with some granola and we met a group of four Costa Rican/French people who told us that the hostel was at around 12 km and that the last 2 km are the hardest part. They also looked at us funny when we mentioned that we would be renting sleeping bags at the hostel.

After leaving, we eventually got to 10km and that was about the time when the entire ecosystem around us changed. Replacing the jungle was shrubbery and meadows. There were also a lot of dead trees which I think were killed from a forest fire that devastated the area. This transition into a new ecology was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It really showed the biodiversity of Costa Rica.

Finally we reached 12km and the hostel was yet to be found. Also, the 2km of hell had not been reached yet. At around 13km we began to wo0nder how long it would take to get there and then the hard part began.

The road became steep and oxygen was not readily available. The rain began to intensify. We desperately wanted to reach cover and relax.

The entire trip we realized that Miranda was not quite in the same shape as Adrian and I. This meant that we had to either go much slower than we wanted to, or go at a comfortable pace for a few hundred meters and then awit. This was not so bad until we neared the end, at which point we eventually went a little faster and finally reahed the hostel at 14.5km. IT should be noted that the slower speed id allow us to enjoy more scenery than we otherwise may have and we did arrive at the hostel pretty much moments before the serious downpour.

Well when we arrived at the hostel we proceded to change into our dry clothes and made some dinner (yeah more PB and J's). There was a tour group of high school aged girls who seemed to have a monopoly on using the small amount of stove space that was available on which ethey made a ton of pasta. Well it seemed that they were throwing a lot of it out so Adrian piped in and asked if we could have what they didn't want. They gave us all their left overs which was almost 2 heaping plates per person. That was pretty sweet. Then we met our roommate, Scott, from Colorado who was here alone and finishing up his Costa Rica trip by doing Chirripo. We also met David and Rose who were engaged and would become our hiking mates the next day. After some card playing, we all went to bed.

Sleeping was not the easiest task to accomplish. Though Costa Rica is quite tropical, when you are around 3400m up, it is freezing. I brought a sleeping with me to Costa Rica, however the Lonely Planet told me that I ciould rent them at the hostel for $1.60. Wanting to keep our packs light, the three of us opted for the rental option. However, wehen we got to the top we found out that they stopped renting stuff a year ago. Luckily the guy running the hostel found us a few extra blankets but it was still difficult to sleep.

Day 3 (Saturday) - The Summit and Descent
After some horrible sleep we awoke around 6:00am and began our ascent to the summit. We were expcting to have anjother rainy and foggy morning but were pleasantly surprised to find a clear, sunny day. The climb to the top was another 400m or so and the walk was 5.1km long.

On the way up we left Miranda with Rose and Dave who seemed to go at a similar pace.

When we reached the top we were at an altitude of around 3820m or around 12,000ft. We had made it and it was glorious. We could see the Caribbean and one side and the Pacific on the other. We could also see glacial lakes and mountanous beauty all around. This made the trip worth it, I can't really describe what this was like.

After a while we had to go back down to the hostel, pack up and head down the mountain. This turned out to bed the hardest part of the journey.

On the way down Miranda wanted to go faster than Dave and Rose, but not quite as fast as we would like. Therefore I had to stay with her because she was in terrible spirits and didn't believe in herself that she would make it and I didn't want something bad to happen to her. However, going at a slower pace than is comfortable is EXTREMELY difficult.

The moral of the story: on any sternuous hike do not go with someone who is in significantly better or worse shape than you. Or, if you do, make sure there is a mutual understanding that either person can go at their own pace. Nothing against Miranda, I am extremely proud of her and she continually offered me the option to leave her behind, but this made the trip infinitely harder for me. However in the end I was stronger for it and the experience was well worth it.

When we reached the bottom we headed back to the hotel, whowered and went out for celebratory drinks and dinner with Dave and Rose. I had two meals and then got to sleep in a warm hotel bed.

Day 4 (Sunday) - The Journey "Home"
The next day we made our way back to San Isidro. Dave, Rose and Miranda made their way to Dominical. Adrian and I went to Luz and Guillermo's. We stopped at Earth Rose on the way to talk to Sol and Ella (I will leave that for a separate blog post).

Now I am back at Fuente Verde for my final week here. TIme is going quickly. Only 3 weeks until I will be back in the USA.

-Ravi