Chirripo

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Well, Ben and I are now on day 5 of the holiday. After meeting up in San Jose with no problems we spent the day drinking coffee (cafe) and did a tour of a plantation (we were the only people under the age of 50 but definitely the most shaky with our over-consumption of coffee and other coffee products). We went for a great seafood dinner and met Papa Pez, the restaurant owner, who later accompanied us to the local dance club for a round of cervasas. We stayed at an incredible restored mansion-turned-hotel of a famous coffee baron in a neat part of San Jose called Bario Amon. Amazing how rich some people became by just selling a bit of java! After a well neeeded sleep we got up early and took a bus to San Isidro which is where we actually are right now. After running to catch another bus with exactly 2 minutes to spare we were on our way to San Gerardo. After a 2 hour trip on a gravel road (in a rickety old school bus) we made the "long" 22km trip in one piece. I think the bus does not exceed 10 kph the whole way, not even fast enough to give us a bit of wind in the ridiculous heat. San Gerardo is the base of the Chirripo hike to the highest peak in Costa Rica, a 2500m gain in elevation and 20 km up and down. We had a hard time convincing the ranger to let us go up to Chirripo for two nights. After pretending not to understand anything but "yes you can stay for two nights", we had our reservation set. We spent the night in Roca Duro (Hard Rock)a nice little hotel that cost $10 for the night with all of the 8 rooms being build in the rock of the mountain side...really cool! At 5:30 am we got in a jeep and headed for the trail head with both Lauren and I hanging on for dear life while the jeep went bouncing up the mountain. We met a "friend" we called Steve (really his name is Tom) who is actually a clown (that{s right and we have his brochure to prove it!) from Germany. He was one of those guys that you{d do anything in your power to avoid, but instead we played leap-frog with him on the trail for 7 hrs while he told us of his experiences in the Circus and the joys of riding a unicycle. In the heat, it was just a bit to much to handle. At least the trail up was fantastic. 7 hours later and 15 km of steep hiking and too many stories from Steve we made it to Base camp Crestones. We had a good but very cold nights sleep in a dorm room (with Steve of course) and headed out just before 3 am to get to the peak in time to see the sunrise. With the full moon to guide our way we made the steep 5 km hike and were just in time to see the most amazing sight. We{ll attach pictures at the next stop. As we hiked down our wet footprints had acually frozen. It was soooo cold. Anyways, by 9 we were back at the base camp dining on "beanwhiches" our little creation of refried beans and tortillas. We met another friend Henry who is actually from San Isidro. His english is excellent so we started playing cards and taught him our version of rummy. The next morning we got an early start at 6am and along with Henry headed down the trail. 6 hours later and lots of blisters we made it back to San Gerardo. Henry offered us a place to stay with him, but we didn{t want to impose. His wife, daughter and mother picked him up and they also gave us a ride back to the city. We found an okay hotel, the only requirement being a hot shower as it had been about 3 days.... Needless to say we now feel great are having a wonderful time and are just about to meet up with Henry and his wife for dinner. Can{t wait to show you pictures, miss you and we{ll see you soon! Send us some emails too! Off to the beach we go to heal our aches and pains. Until next time...

Lauren and Ben

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