Herein follows the next 5 reports from Alphas 5 - 9!
Alpha 5: Piedras Blancas
By Jimmy Russell
Photos by Gustavo Bolanes
Alpha 5 arrived in Piedras Parque Nacional after a 7 hour bus journey to be met by rangers Arturo, Victor Hugo, Yorlan and Don Carlos, a fine body of men.
We immediately set to cutting down bamboo and constructing our camp. Perfecting this took up most of the first 3 days. The rest of our time was spent shovelling dirt and carrying rocks in the baking heat and stifling humidity. Over the course of 14 days we moved many tonnes of rock downstream to form a wall to protect the ranger’s station from flooding in the wet season. Behind this wall we wheel barrowed many more tonnes of gravel to form an ‘impenetrable’ barricade.
Unfortunately, 2 days before the end of the phase an unheard of volume of rainfall fell on us. Our camp was flooded and rainwater created a metre deep, fast flowing river where the dry river bed was before. This damaged our unfinished wall. Despite crushed spirits we managed to make reparations before our departure. The rangers were impressed with finished barrier, and almost as proud as we are.
In between morning and afternoon shifts we made time to take a dip in the rivers and deeper pools in the National Park. On a number of occasions the rangers kindly took us on walks around the rainforest and along the river, searching for monkeys and snakes. Toucans, cayman crocs, striped anteaters, fer de lance snakes and smelly dogs were among the other wildlife that we encountered. But let’s not forget the wasps and ants!
Midway through our phase we squeezed in a trip to the beach – with a 4 hour trek (read climb!) up and down steep ridges of primary rainforest. An amazing time was had by all in this beautiful, secluded beach paradise, and a breathtaking boat ride brought us back to our camp a day later.
Alpha 6 had an eventful few weeks deep in the jungle at La Cangreja. Once we had recovered from the shock of finding out that where we were to build a campsite was actually tangled virgin jungle reached by crossing a river, and not the nice open clearing that we had envisaged! ‘Operation Camp’ began with machete work to clear the site, interrupted only by a Chinese naming ceremony and a Chinese lesson to mark Chinese New Year.
Once our river crossing, hammocks and basha beds were erected, the jungle began to feel like home. We split the group into two; half worked on creating the permanent camp structure, and the other half on the building of the trail. We learned the dark art of square lashing bamboo together from Chris T, and quickly became expert.
Our time in the jungle was crowned off by a trip to the beach. Of course this was not without one last adventure! Our van got stuck in a very large ditch after 2 hours on the road. All the boys piled out to push but the van didn’t move.
Alpha 7: Achuapa, Nicaragua
By Emily Coward
Photos by Delphine Tomes
Over the last three weeks, Alpha 7 made new homes with the families of Los Loros. Our project was to help install a system of pipes to bring fresh water down from the spring to the community.
The fist week of the project was spent clearing the access track since it was impossible for the truck carrying the materials for the project to get into the community. As we shifted rocks and boulders we started building our relationship with the locals.
This relationship went from strength to strength as the next week we started digging the trenches for the pipes. In 8 days we managed to dig 1.6km of trenches, approximately 30cm wide and 50cm deep. It was a 20 minute trek uphill from the nearest house to the worksite each morning, every morning – so we can all safely say that we are all a lot fitter than we were before!
We quickly integrated into the community, attending the birthday party of twins living locally, teaching English (and Geography) in the primary school, and going down to the river with the locals on Sundays after the traditional rice pudding.
Food quickly became a frequent topic of conversation, as our diet consisted mainly of rice, beans and tortilla; rice, egg and tortilla; egg, beans and tortilla; soup; rice, pasta and tortilla… and so on. We also kept ourselves amused through Katie S’s trips and falls, Emily G and Mike’s film conversations, Michael E’s ability to fix anything, Del’s hatred of the hundreds of chickens and Harry’s constant commentary on his life at that moment.
All in all, Alpha 7 had an amazing time, and will never forget their experience of Los Loros – especially Reggae Tor – one of Nicaragua’s best breakdancers. We’re lucky enough to feel part of the family of our hosts in Los Loros as well as friends.
Alpha 8: Miraflor, Nicaragua
By Ralph Giles
Photos by Tom Dearie and Alicia Hockless
Over the past 3 weeks, Alpha 8 as a group have all learnt a lot about each other and the community we have been temporary residents of.
Right at the beginning of the project, we spent our first afternoon getting to grips with the tools we’d be using for the next two weeks and found some rather innovative uses for a few of them. For example, we learnt that gaffer tape is rubbish for leg waxing, a screwdriver is not just a drink, and that when naming an unfamiliar tool, the hint “it starts with a P” may not result in the answer you were hoping for.
The next job at hand was to set up the radio, as even before we’d left Field Base we’d got a reputation for being particularly bad at it following a collapsing antenna during jungle camp. After a morning of fruitless attempts at contacting Field Base, we were forced to move to higher ground. Unfortunately this prime radio location on top of a small hill was protected by a fairly impressive barbed wire fence. This was not enough to deter Alpha 8, and a few ripped t-shirts later we were through… into a field full of ankle high cacti! Still, we persevered and soon enough we managed to finally contact a somewhat crackly Field Base.
The next day we met the foremen in charge of us on the work site. They were men of few words and changeable minds, but kind hearted and appreciative of the work we were doing. We had lots of help from the community right from day one, with children helping us to collect rocks or water for cement mixing.
The families we stayed with too were amazing, all so kind and welcoming. They provided us with delicious food and drink to keep our energy up on the work site. We worked solidly from digging the foundations in dry dusty earth, until all four walls were up and we even made a start on the flooring.
We did have some time off, including a morning trip to nearby Estali for the Friday market and a whole day trip to Miraflor National Park – a huge and beautiful are of untouched nature reserve that San Pedros is on the very edge of. We walked for two hours to a waterfall for a cold swim and a wash. This walk left some of the group rather puffed out and a bit worried about the 19 day trekking phase ahead!
We all have had such an amazing and rewarding time in San Pedro and were all sad to leave, having formed such strong bonds with the local people. But we’re equally looking forward to the next phase and the challenges and rewards it will bring.
Alpha 9: Conte Burika
By Tamara Astor
Photos by Alex Bull
In this day and age it is difficult to find a place undiscovered by a McDonald’s Drive-thru, let alone somewhere accessible only by foot and hoof. After a six hour hike along the spectacular Pacific shore, our journey was topped off by a steep uphill scramble into the most stunningly dramatic scenery any of us had ever seen.
Fatigue-induced grumblings were immediately silenced as the peace of the place took its effect. Snuggled into the valley was our first sighting of our home for the phase. Our first glimpses of the village of Carona and its people were quite simply awe-inspiring. We were welcomed by a beaming, Raleigh T-shirt clad Patricio. He hugged each one of us warmly – very brave considering our sweaty state!
Once we had set up camp in ‘El Centro de Communidad’ – the impressive result of Raleigh’s efforts last year – the importance of our project began to sink in. The very committed committee set our challenge for the phase. Making the fiendishly neat network of dots and lines gracing Don Sebastian’s paper blueprint a reality looked to be a very daunting task. However, thanks to excellent and consistent teamwork, we ended up completing it two days early.
Our most physically challenging job was to lug wood from mountainous heights. The trips to each small plot of chopped wood were well worth the effort as they were proof of the community’s determination to manage the jungle sustainably… we also built up invaluable strength for our imminent treks. The rest of our work passed in a steep learning curve of sawing, hammering, levelling, digging, planning and laying. The locals really appreciated our constant high spirits and enthusiasm. They also found our ‘technical terms’ and improvisation techniques very amusing… especially when we whipped out our mess tins to use as soil scoopers!
We learnt so much about each others’ cultures, particularly with evening English, Spanish, Guaimi, Dutch, Chinese and even New-Yorkian classes. The boys from all cultures were united by the worldwide language of football! Frisbees, too, featured highly. Playing all sorts of games with the children was inspirational. Several of us spent an extremely rewarding morning or two teaching in the existing schoolroom. At the moment, several age groups from pre-school to adult learners are taught together. The school for the younger ones we are building will be hugely beneficial. It is very fulfilling to think of learning beginning in such an idyllic situation.
It was truly humbling how grateful the villagers were for our efforts. They took such a lot of care over our comfort, especially where food was concerned. Their attention to this area was rewarded by the continual chorus of ‘un poco mas por favor!’ We all feel so privileged to have genuinely felt part of such a uniquely joyful community. Khanaki, the leader, assured us that there would always be a ‘casa’ for us in Carona and we are all determined never to forget his generous offer or the time we spent in the community.
Alpha 5: Piedras Blancas
By Jimmy Russell
Photos by Gustavo Bolanes
Alpha 5 arrived in Piedras Parque Nacional after a 7 hour bus journey to be met by rangers Arturo, Victor Hugo, Yorlan and Don Carlos, a fine body of men.
We immediately set to cutting down bamboo and constructing our camp. Perfecting this took up most of the first 3 days. The rest of our time was spent shovelling dirt and carrying rocks in the baking heat and stifling humidity. Over the course of 14 days we moved many tonnes of rock downstream to form a wall to protect the ranger’s station from flooding in the wet season. Behind this wall we wheel barrowed many more tonnes of gravel to form an ‘impenetrable’ barricade.
Unfortunately, 2 days before the end of the phase an unheard of volume of rainfall fell on us. Our camp was flooded and rainwater created a metre deep, fast flowing river where the dry river bed was before. This damaged our unfinished wall. Despite crushed spirits we managed to make reparations before our departure. The rangers were impressed with finished barrier, and almost as proud as we are.
In between morning and afternoon shifts we made time to take a dip in the rivers and deeper pools in the National Park. On a number of occasions the rangers kindly took us on walks around the rainforest and along the river, searching for monkeys and snakes. Toucans, cayman crocs, striped anteaters, fer de lance snakes and smelly dogs were among the other wildlife that we encountered. But let’s not forget the wasps and ants!
Midway through our phase we squeezed in a trip to the beach – with a 4 hour trek (read climb!) up and down steep ridges of primary rainforest. An amazing time was had by all in this beautiful, secluded beach paradise, and a breathtaking boat ride brought us back to our camp a day later.
Memories to treasure include Tess and Megan’s musicals, Javier’s pranks, Jack and Duncan’s cooking and of course, Charlie’s muscles. The stories and adventures shared between us, the gorgeous surroundings and fantastic people made our time in Piedras Blancas the ultimate experience for Alpha 5.
Alpha 6: La Cangreja
By Tim Hardie
Photos by Oscar Saboria and Chris Taylor
Alpha 6: La Cangreja
By Tim Hardie
Photos by Oscar Saboria and Chris Taylor
Alpha 6 had an eventful few weeks deep in the jungle at La Cangreja. Once we had recovered from the shock of finding out that where we were to build a campsite was actually tangled virgin jungle reached by crossing a river, and not the nice open clearing that we had envisaged! ‘Operation Camp’ began with machete work to clear the site, interrupted only by a Chinese naming ceremony and a Chinese lesson to mark Chinese New Year.
Once our river crossing, hammocks and basha beds were erected, the jungle began to feel like home. We split the group into two; half worked on creating the permanent camp structure, and the other half on the building of the trail. We learned the dark art of square lashing bamboo together from Chris T, and quickly became expert.
We had many adventures during the phase: including camouflaging ourselves in mud and leaves so that we could jump out and scare the Field Base staff that visited with our food drop. Unfortunately we were when they were late. After hiding for two whole hours we finally gave up in disgust. Kate lost her soap in the river on day 2 and had to smell for the rest of the phase, and Julian and Rachel from Field Base and Head Office visited us and brought us hungry campers sausages for breakfast!
Another highlight was visiting a jungle waterfall for a swim, despite a major underestimation by Romero the ranger regarding the 30 minutes it would take to get there. Still it was still nice to get there over an hour later…
Another highlight was visiting a jungle waterfall for a swim, despite a major underestimation by Romero the ranger regarding the 30 minutes it would take to get there. Still it was still nice to get there over an hour later…
Our time in the jungle was crowned off by a trip to the beach. Of course this was not without one last adventure! Our van got stuck in a very large ditch after 2 hours on the road. All the boys piled out to push but the van didn’t move.
Luckily, a passer-by in a 4x4 came to our aid. We then realised that a fuse had blown so we had to wait 5 hours for a new one. We finally arrived at the beach at 4pm after a 4.30am start – but it was worth the wait! After 2 nights spent at the beautiful beach, we came back to La Cangreja for our last meal – a barbeque courtesy of our new friends, the La Cangreja rangers who none of us will ever forget.
Alpha 7: Achuapa, Nicaragua
By Emily Coward
Photos by Delphine Tomes
Over the last three weeks, Alpha 7 made new homes with the families of Los Loros. Our project was to help install a system of pipes to bring fresh water down from the spring to the community.
The fist week of the project was spent clearing the access track since it was impossible for the truck carrying the materials for the project to get into the community. As we shifted rocks and boulders we started building our relationship with the locals.
This relationship went from strength to strength as the next week we started digging the trenches for the pipes. In 8 days we managed to dig 1.6km of trenches, approximately 30cm wide and 50cm deep. It was a 20 minute trek uphill from the nearest house to the worksite each morning, every morning – so we can all safely say that we are all a lot fitter than we were before!
We quickly integrated into the community, attending the birthday party of twins living locally, teaching English (and Geography) in the primary school, and going down to the river with the locals on Sundays after the traditional rice pudding.
Food quickly became a frequent topic of conversation, as our diet consisted mainly of rice, beans and tortilla; rice, egg and tortilla; egg, beans and tortilla; soup; rice, pasta and tortilla… and so on. We also kept ourselves amused through Katie S’s trips and falls, Emily G and Mike’s film conversations, Michael E’s ability to fix anything, Del’s hatred of the hundreds of chickens and Harry’s constant commentary on his life at that moment.
All in all, Alpha 7 had an amazing time, and will never forget their experience of Los Loros – especially Reggae Tor – one of Nicaragua’s best breakdancers. We’re lucky enough to feel part of the family of our hosts in Los Loros as well as friends.
Alpha 8: Miraflor, Nicaragua
By Ralph Giles
Photos by Tom Dearie and Alicia Hockless
Over the past 3 weeks, Alpha 8 as a group have all learnt a lot about each other and the community we have been temporary residents of.
Right at the beginning of the project, we spent our first afternoon getting to grips with the tools we’d be using for the next two weeks and found some rather innovative uses for a few of them. For example, we learnt that gaffer tape is rubbish for leg waxing, a screwdriver is not just a drink, and that when naming an unfamiliar tool, the hint “it starts with a P” may not result in the answer you were hoping for.
The next job at hand was to set up the radio, as even before we’d left Field Base we’d got a reputation for being particularly bad at it following a collapsing antenna during jungle camp. After a morning of fruitless attempts at contacting Field Base, we were forced to move to higher ground. Unfortunately this prime radio location on top of a small hill was protected by a fairly impressive barbed wire fence. This was not enough to deter Alpha 8, and a few ripped t-shirts later we were through… into a field full of ankle high cacti! Still, we persevered and soon enough we managed to finally contact a somewhat crackly Field Base.
The next day we met the foremen in charge of us on the work site. They were men of few words and changeable minds, but kind hearted and appreciative of the work we were doing. We had lots of help from the community right from day one, with children helping us to collect rocks or water for cement mixing.
The families we stayed with too were amazing, all so kind and welcoming. They provided us with delicious food and drink to keep our energy up on the work site. We worked solidly from digging the foundations in dry dusty earth, until all four walls were up and we even made a start on the flooring.
We did have some time off, including a morning trip to nearby Estali for the Friday market and a whole day trip to Miraflor National Park – a huge and beautiful are of untouched nature reserve that San Pedros is on the very edge of. We walked for two hours to a waterfall for a cold swim and a wash. This walk left some of the group rather puffed out and a bit worried about the 19 day trekking phase ahead!
We all have had such an amazing and rewarding time in San Pedro and were all sad to leave, having formed such strong bonds with the local people. But we’re equally looking forward to the next phase and the challenges and rewards it will bring.
Alpha 9: Conte Burika
By Tamara Astor
Photos by Alex Bull
In this day and age it is difficult to find a place undiscovered by a McDonald’s Drive-thru, let alone somewhere accessible only by foot and hoof. After a six hour hike along the spectacular Pacific shore, our journey was topped off by a steep uphill scramble into the most stunningly dramatic scenery any of us had ever seen.
Fatigue-induced grumblings were immediately silenced as the peace of the place took its effect. Snuggled into the valley was our first sighting of our home for the phase. Our first glimpses of the village of Carona and its people were quite simply awe-inspiring. We were welcomed by a beaming, Raleigh T-shirt clad Patricio. He hugged each one of us warmly – very brave considering our sweaty state!
Once we had set up camp in ‘El Centro de Communidad’ – the impressive result of Raleigh’s efforts last year – the importance of our project began to sink in. The very committed committee set our challenge for the phase. Making the fiendishly neat network of dots and lines gracing Don Sebastian’s paper blueprint a reality looked to be a very daunting task. However, thanks to excellent and consistent teamwork, we ended up completing it two days early.
Our most physically challenging job was to lug wood from mountainous heights. The trips to each small plot of chopped wood were well worth the effort as they were proof of the community’s determination to manage the jungle sustainably… we also built up invaluable strength for our imminent treks. The rest of our work passed in a steep learning curve of sawing, hammering, levelling, digging, planning and laying. The locals really appreciated our constant high spirits and enthusiasm. They also found our ‘technical terms’ and improvisation techniques very amusing… especially when we whipped out our mess tins to use as soil scoopers!
We learnt so much about each others’ cultures, particularly with evening English, Spanish, Guaimi, Dutch, Chinese and even New-Yorkian classes. The boys from all cultures were united by the worldwide language of football! Frisbees, too, featured highly. Playing all sorts of games with the children was inspirational. Several of us spent an extremely rewarding morning or two teaching in the existing schoolroom. At the moment, several age groups from pre-school to adult learners are taught together. The school for the younger ones we are building will be hugely beneficial. It is very fulfilling to think of learning beginning in such an idyllic situation.
It was truly humbling how grateful the villagers were for our efforts. They took such a lot of care over our comfort, especially where food was concerned. Their attention to this area was rewarded by the continual chorus of ‘un poco mas por favor!’ We all feel so privileged to have genuinely felt part of such a uniquely joyful community. Khanaki, the leader, assured us that there would always be a ‘casa’ for us in Carona and we are all determined never to forget his generous offer or the time we spent in the community.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to find out where the venturers have been deployed next for their second phase of our expedition in Costa Rica and Nicaragua...
