Berta’s Travel Shenanigans

I must admit – for the first half of my trekking phase I could have seriously been persuaded to stay on for another go.  That was until Day 10 when we tackled the infamous “Cerro Pelon” (recall, this is where Nick & I could not find the unmarked path up from the river after descending a ‘hill’ by way of machete-wielding and butt sliding).  It was in the moment when we realized that the ‘guides’ we got left us way down the equally infamous river with the advice to walk up the river to catch a path.  Except, these ‘guides’ had no concept of people (especially 100 pound girls) with rucksacks … therefore, scrambling over large boulders and up and over waterfalls to get to said path was a non-issue for them.

This combined with severe knee, ankle, and hip misery (not aging well…and didn’t really have proper trekking boots) solidified my position – no effin way was I doing another trek!  So upon return to field base I received my next assignment – I am going to be on an environmental project in La Cangreja…here is the official Raleigh description:

 La Cangreja is Costa Rica’s newest National Park which owes its name to the striking 1,305 metre peak Cerro Cangreja. The park has a mixture of Tropical Humid forest and pre-Montane forest with a number of species and plant found nowhere else in the world which makes the area important for research purposes and for conservation. The park is also blessed with amazing waterfalls only to be found by exploring the forest. At present the government is developing the facilities in the park and during the expedition Raleigh venturers will build a bridge over the Rio Negro river to extend the trail network within the park. This project is a unique opportunity to live right in the middle of the jungle!

 I am partnered with Sian – a fantastic woman from Whales who, before arriving to Raleigh, could barely part with her hairstraightener and high-heels.  Now she is a proper Jungle ninja, spending the first phase in La Cangreja clearing the jungle camp area, cutting down bamboo, building a tourist structure and waiting to start the trail on the second phase.  We met our participants today and I have 2 great blokes from my trekking group – whoot, whoot!  I am looking forward to being able to stay in one spot for 20 days (in fact, last phase it rained for 3 days and the group literally could not leave their site because the only way ‘out’ was via the river…and it was too high to cross!).  We have to carry all our equipment (tools, food, bags, etc.) across the waist-deep river. But we will have the opportunity to get fresh food (yeah, nutrients!) every day and I am definitely committed to tackling my spanish – not exactly conducive to the exhaustive nature of trekking!  Plus, although Nick & I were indeed a fantastic duo with a good balance of similarity and differences (much like brother/sister…including the bickering part!) there are just some things that you can’t relate to a guy on (RB, you can relate eh?), especially a young ex-marine trying to work on his ‘soft skills’, tolerance, and communication…so, it will be a nice change to have a girl project manager to turn to…ah, the girl talk 🙂

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