Todos tenemos una estaca...

Todos tenemos una estaca...
 

I don't struggle with the phrase itself, just the personal pronoun & mantener vs. quedar.

Todos tenemos una estaca, la mantenemos oculta y nos mantenemos alerta para la mínima oportunidad que tengamos.

Why is it ''la mantenemos oculta''? As it referrers to the stake, shouldn't it be ''lo mantenemos oculta''?

''nos mantenemos alerta'', would ''nos quedamos alerta'' be correct as well?

Thank you in advance.

"La" it's used as it refers to "una estaca" (fem.)

"Nos quedamos alerta" wouldn't be "incorrect", but it would be a bit odd collocation.

"We remain/stay alert". "Nos mantenemos alerta" or "Seguimos alerta" gives a "progressive idea" that we stay and remain alert.

Somehow "nos quedamos alerta" comes to me as "we end up being alert" as in a "completed" action... Although this is my personal interpretation. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't be incorrect, but it would not be the first option a native speaker from Spain would take.

Hope that helps!

It helped my a lot thank you.

According to my dictionary both words, "mantenerse" and "quedarse" mean "to stay" or "to remain" so i could not tell the difference.

Great, glad to be of help.

Oxford bilingual gives the following examples for "quedar" (only 2a.) (See that only one of these examples is translated as "remain", I noted it in bold green.)

2 a (permanecer):
pienso quedarme soltera = I intend to stay single;

no me gusta quedarme sola en casa = I don’t like being (left) on my own o being alone in the house;

no te quedes ahí parado y haz algo = don’t just stand there, do something;

nos quedamos charlando toda la noche = we spent the whole night chatting;

se me quedó mirando = he sat/stood there staring at me, he just stared at me;

la escena se me ha quedado grabada en la memoria = the scene has remained engraved o is engraved on my memory;

iba para pintor pero se quedó en profesor de dibujo = he set out to be a painter but he ended up as an art teacher;

se quedó en la mesa de operaciones (euf) = he died on the operating table;

de repente el motor se quedó (AmL), = the engine suddenly died on me