Trekkie Reccie!!

The Trek route (Pura Vida) is due to end near to La Cangreja but, given they have walked almost the whole width of Costa Rica, it would seem better to have it end on a beach.  Hanz, Georgie and I went looking at a possible route and assessing it for risks, route directions, places to stay, etc.  

We covered over 500km and for much of this we were in 4 wheel drive mode going up/down quite steep slopes - incredible dirt/gravel and occasional tarmac roads, hugging the mountains.  Quite often we would be either in or above the clouds which tend to hand quite low over the rain forest.  I wish I had taken more photos of the fantastic views but a was little difficult whilst being thrown around!

We did eventually reach the beach and it was lovely.  The sun was setting when we pitched our tents and a local restaurant "Mar Y Sol" provided dinner.

The "Team" - Paul, Georgie and Hanz

Sunset

Quite a hot night so no fly

Perfect sunrise

For some unknown reason Raleigh loves early morning starts.  We had left Field Base at 4:30am on the Wednesday and then the beach at 6:00am on Thursday.   We checked out some routes for another Trek route (Dragon Tail) qnd then arrived at a community centre in San Francisco to meet up with the Trek team - Alpha 1 and to stay the night with them

Community Centre 

Adjacent Soccer Field

It was great to see Alpha 1 and to hear their stories and feedback.  The "boys" have a regular poker game which I joined and was pleased not to lose my shirt!  Wake up call was at 4:00am but it took them almost 2 hours to have breakfast and to get ready.

Team Papaya

Getting ready to move on

Alpha 1 - Team photo

We left around the same time and were back at base just after 9:00am.