Many words could describe how I felt through this hike! Exhausted. Lucky. Drained. Alive. Proud. Overwhelmed. Accomplished. But most of all, it was AMAZING. I might use that word too loosely, but I was amazed. We hiked close to 40K; up the steepest climbs I have ever done and down the gnarliest, muddiest, yuckiest hills. But, hey! We had fun! The night before our big trek, we stayed at Casa Mariposa, a hostel right across from the trail head. We had heard the owners were great, but they were GREAT! John and Jill made us feel so comfortable and rested. They have not hiked the mountain yet and actually offered us a hostel-sitting job in two weeks! So picture us, sitting on the porch of a nice little blue house,after washing sheets and towels for the weary travellers, watching hikers come down the hill. It is going to be really incredible. I feel like we made some wonderful friends and connections. It was exactly the opportunity we were looking for. It is how we want this whole trip to be…spontaneous, but so perfect! Unfortunately, the summit morning was cloudy and full of spitting rain. You can apparently see both oceans from the top, but we had no such luck! One of the best parts was the people we met. My favorite interactions were with a Dutch couple. They were 28 and taking holiday from Holland. They started in Mexico and are going to end their trip soon in Panama. The Dutch are intense! While we climbed the first 10K up the mountain in 8 hours, they made it in 5! If you saw this mountain, your jaw would drop at this number! There is actually a run of Mt. Chirripo and people run up and down it in 3 hours. My legs just tremble at the thought. We got back to the farm safely to realize that we have only two weeks left there! I think it should fly by; then we will find ourselves back at Casa Mariposa for five nights. Afterwards we will meet our friend Tom Morrow in San Jose with his brother for a week of fun!! We can hardly wait to see someone from home, it will be blissful. This is the best I can contain my thoughts about the past few days, the picture just doesn´t do it justice. Wish you all could have stood on the windy summit with us…soaking up the Costa Rican wind and feeling like a million bucks. We love and miss you!!
Elena (and my wonderful fellow, Garrison)
