Ready Steady Cook!

Yesterday the venturers from Costa Rica and Nicaragua arrived along with some of the 5 week project managers. Ale, the host country venturer co-ordinator together with ex host country venturers Ivan, Vivi and Kei, did some ice breakers to get to know the group and then they got settled into their tents. In the evening we had a cooking competition. The project managers, field base staff and venturers were split into teams and had to race each other to pick the best ingredients from the table. We then had one hour and one trangia to create three delicious courses. Julian, Vivi and Kei were the lucky judges getting to sample each dish. Some were delicious and the judges couldn’t stop eating them while others were described as ‘the worst food I’ve ever tasted!’ Group 4, Ben, Rachel, Bec, Zoe, Kate and Ivan were the lucky winners creating an amazing array of dishes starting with galaxy tuna bites that bite back! Followed by salty nut pasta surprise (with jam!) and finished off with some guava fruit layered extravaganza! Yum yum!

The teams running for ingredients
Freddie and Carl picking the best ingredients
Chloe, Holman, Freddie and Charlie
Holman checking out the guava jam
Laura explaining her recipe ideas to Carl, Sarah, Nacho and Jalmar
Alex and Freya preparing a feast
Gemma, Wendell, Ivan, Carla, Joel and Alex getting ready to present their dishes
Zoe and Kate preparing tuna balls that bite back!
Nacho, Jalmar and Laura
Alex and Joel putting the finishing touches to their meal
Wendell, Carla and Joel setting up the trangia
Jalmar, Laura, Carl and Sarah - lots of laughter but not much cooking!
Freddie - its all about the presentation!
Zoe tasting some roasted nuts
The judges, Vivi, Julian and Ivan tucking into the winning dishes
This was the worst meal they'd ever had!
The winning group 4, Ben, Rachel, Zoe, Bec, Kate and Ivan
This morning some more of the 5 week project managers arrived together with two buses full of venturers from around the world. After a traditional breakfast of Gallo Pinto and a warm welcome from the team, they began getting settled into their tents and getting to know each other with an ice breaker mega mix. More venturers are being collected from the airport tonight and will be warmly welcomed at field base tomorrow morning. We can't wait for everyone to arrive!