As announced by the organization, the long trek through Chirripo National Park would be difficult and likely to be very cold with temperatures dipping below zero degrees as Talamanca Range is above 3 thousand meters and its highest Peak reaches 3.820m.

 

Chirripo in indigenous language means Land of Eternal Waters and for sure these waters are coming from earth and sky. The local community of San Geraldo is located around 1.300m and 15k to a very well maintained hut that offer facilities to tourists. Actually, this track to Cerro Chirripo attracts a lot of internationals. There are beds, internet, television, a water plant and also solar energy. It is a constant and steep climb to the hut that can be done with or without a guide. After the hut, there are 5kms to Chirripo Peak, another 5k to Uran Peak scrolling through rocks on a ridge line and finally 4k to a very humble hut where the path divides. South is a looping back to the village and Northeast is the path to the indigenous area. Visiting is not allowed to tourists but a special permission was granted to ARWC athletes pass through the area. Indians live there by their own means and some of them might not ever have seen white people.

 

By now only Seagate (37h), Thule (39) and Columbia (35h) have managed to finish the trekking. All three are going to pass the dark zone and the world title will lay amongst them. BMS Multisport was doing really well but apparently stopped moving. Quasar Lontra has overtaken them and moves to the end of the track trying to catch Adidas Terrex and Tecnu. These two Brazilian teams have been close together since the beginning of the race and for the very first time BMS managed to be in front for a while. At the moment, all teams close to the end of the track have to develop their strategies for the dark zone as none of them will finish in time. Time is not going to be neutralized and the only advantage will be more resting time to the restart the next day at 04:30.

 

Way behind, Aerodiva keeps its lead among local teams. On the climb up to Chirripo I've met to them and learned a bit more about the team. They are formed by two rafting guides Pablo Leiva and Miguel Sojo from Turrialba ( location of the next legs of rafting+kayaking), a experienced navigator Marco Mendes who has competed in Ecochallenge and a mountain biker, Ivannia Fonseca. Captain Pablo mentioned that finding a sponsor has not been easy for them and hopes that a good result on this race could help them to compete outside Costa Rica to get prepared to Ecuador next year.

 

Last night at the hut after Uran Peak many teams have stopped to sleep. Ten to twelve teams were there in different moments of the night. Once daylight appeared, Toyota and Banano Costa Rica were getting prepared to leave while Chilean Veronica Bravo was making jokes about the cold they all felt during the cross of Chirripo. "If someone asks what was the hardest part of this race in Costa Rica, it would be the cold for sure ! "