Chirripó: Day 1

The Chirripó Crew!
(L-R: Matt, Benji, Ana, Lina, Ellie, Dan)

We have arrived at basecamp, eventhough we are cold, wet and exhausted. The first day’s hike is just over 14km, with an altitude increase of about 7,000 feet. Lets just say it was long and hard, but how could it not be rewarding to climb the tallest peak in Costa Rica!

Awake by 4am and at the trailhead by 5, all 7 of us were loaded with our backpacks full of mostly food and a change of warm clothes. The first km was as rough as we expected, but the sun was rising and the views of San Gerardo and the rolling pastures were worth it. The climb continued up through the cloudforest, along the edge between pasture and forest. We entered Chirripó National Park at the third km with high energy and excitement for the rest of the trip!

By far my favorite part of that first hike was km 6 and 7, where the trail followed along the top of a beautiful ridge that could have came out of a movie like Lord of the Rings or some fairytale. We took a lunch break half way, even though it was only about 8:30 in the morning. In classic SFS style, we had done way too much before 9am! We were advised to not eat a lot before we left because the altitude change could make you sick, so we stopped at an emergency shelter for a lunch of PB+Js. We were happy either way: we had made it half way!

Benji and I took the lead again after lunch and we pounded out 4 more pretty steep and intense kms. The cloudforest broke after that and we entered “Los Quemados” (the burns). A bunch of fires took place between 1991 and 2001, leaving a burnt desert in the place of the cathedral-like cloudforests. After 11 years though, the groundcover was returning and plenty of birds and flowers were now thriving.

Of course, at 10,000 feet, the clouds were always imminent, and clouds also mean rain. The rain started, and hasn’t stopped, since the 11^th km. Only 3 more until base camp, so we powered through. The group decided to split at that point, and Benji and I took off, giving ourselves 1.5 hours to get there!

The rain didn’t stop and the wind picked up when the trail sigh told us we only had 1.5 kms left! Our energy was decreasing and our pace was slowing, but all we had was one final steep leg call “Repentance.” Adequately named, we struggled up the last part (with many stops and few words of how much it sucked and how it felt like our bodies were shutting down)! Finally, the last hill and into a beautiful valley, we saw the camp at last!

Soaked, freezing, exhausted, yet ecstatic we made it, we tumbled into the rangers office to get our beds and get out of our wet clothes and into anything warm and dry we had left! The other 5 showed up not long after, and we settled in for the afternoon. The rain is still going, but at least we have our sleeping bags and hot food! 

San José

This past weekend was our last free weekend. To take advantage, we split the weekend between the beach and San José. Saturday morning we left early, taking the bus to Playa Hermosa. Much less touristy than Jacó and perfectly named (hermosa=beautiful), this small beach town is known for its great surfing conditions. The waves we giant, easily 10-12 feet, with really strong currents and we mainly stayed out of the water except to cool down. We had lunch on the beach at a little bungalow and  watched the semi-finals of a surf competition while waiting for the next bus to take us to San José.

Playa Hermosa

In the market.

In San José, we met the rest of the group at Hostel Pangea. This hostel, located right off the main walking street, was definitely one of the most exciting hostels I’ve ever stayed in. It had a pool, rooftop restaurant and lounge, movie theatre and the best burger in Costa Rica (at least they say).

Add caption

San José is an interesting city. Said to not be one of the safest places, it has an interesting mix of colonial and semi-contemporary architecture. We spent Sunday walking around the city, seeing the museums, churches, and the artisans market. It was a fun city to for the weekend, but nothing to spend more than that. It was still a great way to get out of Atenas for the weekend for a nice change of pace.

The National Theatre

Beach, Futbol, Research

Since Nicaragua, life's been pretty great. We're almost finished with the class section of the program (finals are this week!) and the directed research portion starts after our 5-day break next week.
Since Nicaragua I've:

• spent the weekend at the beach. We went to Jacó, one of the closest beaches to Atenas, on Saturday morning. It's a small, surfer town with beautiful beaches and fun waves to play in. Two full days in the sun is a great way to spend the weekend!



The church in El Sur

• explored a small rural town called El Sur. Located on the edge of Carara National Park, this town  is only about 60 people and centered on the ecotourism industry. They live in harmony with the land around them and everyone is really happy to show off their little town (which consists of a church, a community center, a two-room school, a bar/convenience store complete with pool table, a sugar cane mill, and a pasture area used as a soccer field). Getting to meet the locals was especially rewarding. One day we explored the river with the kids of the town for any invertebrates we could find to put under our microscopes. Later that day we all went to the soccer field and played an exciting game while trying to avoid the cow poop. Another day, we got a tour of a traditional sugar cane mill. I even got to help juice the canes as a team of oxen turned a giant juicer! The power went out one night and we all had dinner by candle light in the community center. It definitely helped us understand the rural, small town life they led and helped us fall even more in love with this beautiful country.

At the sugar cane mill

Helping milk one morning in El Sur

• gone to my first Costa Rican soccer match! Our secretary here at school, Yendry, called me earlier in the week, excited to invite me and whoever wanted to go to see the two most important teams in Costa Rica play. LDA, "La Liga," from our neighboring city Alajuela was playing the (often hated) purple team from San Jose, Saprissa. We were told to only cheer for La Liga because the game was in Alajuela and to definitely not wear purple! La Liga was in the lead in Costa Rica, but Saprissa was only one point behind, so this game was really important and judging from the amount of police they had waiting, it was going to be a crazy game. Fights were breaking out before the game even started! The first half was really exciting and ended with a 2-2 tie, which only made the fans even more passionate. Unfortunately, Saprissa won. But we got to see an exciting game!



Coffee beans out to dry

• learned a lot about what it takes to be an organic coffee farmer in Costa Rica. We visited a local farm in the hills surrounding Atenas and got a personal tour from the owner of his organic coffee farm. With the use of agroforestry (using trees on your farm for added shade, biodiversity, erosion protection, etc.), they had converted their farm 15 years ago. We also learned how to make coffee from scratch, from the seed on the coffee plant to the roasted beans. Since we have a few coffee plants scattered around our campus, a couple friends and I decided we wanted to try it for ourselves! As I write this, the beans are drying on the porch, waiting to be de-shelled so we can roast them! Eventually we should have a cup of our own organic coffee!

The three of us got to pick some coffee berries!

• chosen my research project for the remainder of the time here! A group of eight of us are working with Achim and a forest fragment. We're continuing a project that was started in 2008, that compares the carbon storage and diversity between organic and conventional farms and forests. Our group is focused on a forest in the Atenas area and my specific topic is the relationship between species diversity of trees and the amount of stored carbon in the forest. It sounds like a lot of work, but I'm very excited for it!

Now, I'm just sitting here on the porch in one of the hammocks, an arcoiris (rainbow) is pocking out of the clouds and mountains on the horizon, and the birds are singing. We only have about 4 weeks left in Atenas and I'm definitely going to miss this different pace of life! Tomorrow we are going to the beach for the day and then off to San Jose for the night. By next Thursday we will be off on our adventure of climbing Mt. Chirripó!