Early on Saturday we prepared our rucksacks for a two night stay up in the hut half way up to the continental divide. The group consisted of Devon, Melissa, Ema and me led by Eugo.
Once we had packed the group equipment, like food, we set off on our little adventure. Now I can tell you, walking in a group of 5 is so much faster than walking in a group of 12 plus teachers and leaders. What took us 3 hrs last time was achieved in close to 1½ hrs! But the walk was beautiful. The forest is home to so many beautiful plants and animals, especially by the stream that I found myself very busy with the camera.
The walk was also a lot easier than I remembered it despite carrying all the vegetables, but it was nice surprise and allowed me to enjoy the views and sights much more.
When we were walking along the track before the last climb we began to hear the sound of blanches shaking and the calls of some creature. I soon discovered this to be the so
und of white face capuchin monkeys feeding on the huge fig trees. It was wonderful to see the little creatures jump from branch to branch. One seemed very interested in its new audience and sat there staring at us for a while, which was the perfect opportunity to dig into our bags for our cameras. Unfortunately, my camera either loved the look of the leaves around it or was convinced that that was what I wanted to look at, so I found it hard to focus on the actual monkey. Also with it being a good 20m away, the pictures weren’t brilliant but hopefully this image should give you an idea.The last ascent is very steep and would have been fairly challenging if I had been thinking about it. However, the ‘path’ was guarded by wild raspberries! So if anyone was to ask me about a certain section of the ascent I would only be able to tell them how good that section was for the fruit. Either way, they tasted great and as I said I so absorbed in devouring them that I didn’t even notice we had been climbing a very steep section for over half and hour.
We arrived pretty early so after lunch we set to work on some of the jobs we were there to do. Waxing the floor was interesting and my trousers now have some interesting red patterns on them where I wasn’t careful enough.
But the other job was clearing out the ‘thunder box’. For those of you who are not familiar with that term, it’s the ‘long drop’ or bog. I’m sure you currently have images of disgusting smelling, fly cover piles of … well you know… doo doo. Well, I certainly did and I am not going to lie and say I was very enthused about the sound of that job.
So when the sight of very good compost reached my eyes I was mightily relieved. The last group had been there 3 months ago and it had decomposed very nicely.
And then, we cooked, but more importantly made fudge. Eugenio’s mum had owned a restaurant and her fudge recipe had made it famous in the local area. So much so that old people still go to the shop (now owned by Eugo’s sister) go get the famous fudge that they used to eat in their youth. But seriously, when you taste it, you understand exactly why it became famous! It is the most delicious fudge I have ever tasted the recipe is so simple that I will be using it to pay for my university fees (as well as filling my belly on regular occasions he he).
After a good nights sleep I woke up to the most amazing view. You could actually see the Pacific Ocean from the window. The sight was both wonderful and humbling.
This view proved to be the best view of the ocean as it was very cloudy on top of the actual Divide but the walk up was great. We saw so many different organisms and I obviously had to take loads of pictures. But the most amazing animal we saw as the Resplendent Quetzal.
Unfortunately I was carrying the rucksack at that time and I couldn’t get my camera out. I think Eugo got some good photos but I’m not sure. Either way, look it up on the internet, ‘Resplendent Quetzal’ it is sometimes considered the worlds most beautiful bird. But yes, very few people go up there so they are not used to ‘being afraid of humans’ so they hung around much longer than you would expect.Anyway, when we were at the top of the Continental Divide we sat and lay around for about an hour. It was really interesting because if was so peaceful and calm and the cloud was really starting to come in then. I’m not sure if it was this, and it reminding me of hiking, but I started to think of Abbotsholme. I have never properly dealt with leaving Abbotsholme, emotionally. I had been so relieved that I could finally rest. Either way I have never felt that I have managed to properly deal with it. But up there, when I was thinking about everything I had done at Abbotsholme, I got quite emotional and even felt my eyes well up because although I don’t miss it in a way that I want to go back, I do miss the fact that it was my security and home for 7 yrs. It was a bizarre moment but I think that this experience is doing exactly what I intended it to do, allow me to process things I haven’t been able to do whilst at school and get myself both physically and mentally ready for the next stage of my life.
Oh yeah something else I must add. Every now and then Eugo will announce, ‘this may be a new species, because I have never seen this before’. I believe that Durika may have discovered 50 new species of organisms so some of the picture I have taken may be some of the first pictures of that species.
But anyway, we were just going to collect some water from the local spring when I spotted it. It was the most beautiful creature, a type of moth I think. It had red and black wings with a metallic blue shoulders and head. Underneath, it was striped with metallic blue and black stripes. And to my surprise as Eugo began snapping shots off with his camera, he announced his great phrase, ‘this may be a new species!!!’ If that’s the case I found a new species!!! And today when we were walking back towards Durika, I spotted another one! Either that or it was the same one, but this time I had my camera ready. So it is possible that these are some of the first photos of this species. If its not a new species I would appreciate it if nobody told me so that I can live on
thinking that there was a possibility of finding a new species, he he. Thanks. Well, the whole experience was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very different from what we normally get up to and it was good to break up the routine a little. But I must say this was a particularly special way to break up the routine.
