kristina and grace on chirripo

bussed it all the way to our mountain hotel where we had a rather chilly but refreshing afternoon dip in the mountain view pool. an evening meal and an early night prepared us for the 4.30 am start. in our bleary eyed state we were driven in the back of a pick up truck to the start of the trail. here we met our three guides who were frustratingly raring to go. we all moved off together chating away before eventually dividing into smaller groups and then 1km later we all met again collapsed into a heap of sweaty bodies at the first check point.this was the point that we discovered we couldn´t even see Chirripo itself from here - how strange! after this stop for water and to remove some very unnecessary layers, we headed of again. each kilometer seemed to get further apart and the path got steeper but the incredible views more than made up for it. at 7km we got to our lunch stop to enjoy the delights of plastic ham and cheese sandwiches and the luxury facilities also known as a tin shack with a whole in the ground! soon after we started again, the rain came and washed us all clean ish. at 11km we were relieved to hear that it was all downhill or flat until the last kilometer, the guide lied! but it did get better and the last kilometer wasn´t such a hard climb afetr all. finally at of the hill we saw the wonderfull sight of the lodge with beds and running water but still no sight of chirripo. wearily we all piled into our rooms and rested our very tired feet. the altitude seemed to have more effect on some than others and a few had to go straight to bed. for the rest of us it was after two hefty meals and lots of card games later that we collapsed into our sleeping bags on the comfy bunk beds.

A new day had barely dawned when we rolled out of bed at 2.30am. With muscles aching from the previous day, and eyes still shut, we put our head torches on, and began stumbling up the mountain yet again! 6kms to go until the summit, and we STILL couldn´t see chirripo! 4 exhasting KMs later we could finally glimpse the summit of chirripo.... yeeyyyyyy!!!!! or not. this brought tears to the eyes of many group members. oh. my. gosh. what a sight. well after another K we were at the bottom of the summit, panting and wheezing, but excited that we were soooo nearly there. The final ascent was a total scramble, but it was more fun that the rest of the walk, because we could use our hands. bit of a break for the old legs, which were frequently giving out by now. and day was breaking! we saw most of the sunrise at the very top, where we now collapsed in shivering heaps. photos were taken of our british flag (tristans shorts attached to a pole... without tristan attached), and a tired but very proud group shot was taken. we wrote a boasting message to the other groups in the log book at the top (because of course we got there first. haha if you´re reading). and then feeling slightly shocked that the moment we had all been waiting for had arrived, we began descending, or rather sliding down the rocks. we made it back to the lodge in time for breakfast, and afeter an hour of rest we were packed up and (sort of) ready to go again. the descent happened in a blur of bad jokes, sore feet and chocolate. we were so nearly at the bottom of the trail, when sophia nearly took a wrong turn. here the guide with this group swore under her breath. tristan. he had run ahead to the faster group, and we were all failry convinced he had taken a wrong turn. our guide legged it down the path shouting for tristan, just as the thunder claps began. great timing! anyway we all got down safely eventually, although today we are hobbling everywhere and grabbing anything that will support our weight.

chirripo nearly killed us, but....
go group one, we made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE AH-SUMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love to everyone, kristina and grace xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx