Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Expedition 8A Blog 04: Participants arrive!

Saturday, 2 February 2008

Expedition 8A Blog 04: Participants arrive!

Well, the past week at Field Base has passed by in a blur of activity.

Staff have spent a few days at their project sites, the local communities, the National Parks and the deepest jungle. We’ve walked the treks and visited the nearby clinics and hospitals. We’ve filed our detailed reports to the Country Director. Then we went away and wrote them up again, and again, until he was happy. Then we had our photo taken.

We’ve received our huge food order for the first phase of the expedition. We’ve cleaned. We’ve scrubbed. We’ve stocked the shop. Then we had a day off throwing ourselves down the white water of the Rio Pacuare in inflatable rafts.

Yesterday we spent the day at the airport waiting for planes to come into to San Jose… not just for fun but because…

…we now have participants! Coming in to San Jose from Hong Kong, New Zealand, the UK, Holland, America, and Belguim as well as Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Field Base is now buzzing and heaving with the 115 young people taking part in this expedition. As well as the 30 members of staff. It’s hyper, it’s mad, and it’s fantastic to have everyone here.

After a night spent in the gym of the British School in San Jose, participant induction kicked off in earnest yesterday morning. Several jet-lagged systems were shocked into action. We covered orientation, admin and swim tests and made the pool especially cold to wake everyone up.

We’ve given radio and voice procedure training and presented the projects we’re running here in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Participants then collapsed in their army tents for their first night. No reports of spider sightings so far!

Staff then worked most of the night deciding who to send to which project sites. Early this morning we were able to reveal the allocations of the first phase to the assembled masses. So here goes:

Alpha One: The Corcovado Trek

Man Yee Chung (Chrystal)
Floris Baas
Esther Slagboom
Benjamin Aitken
Alastair Coombe
Henry Johnstone
Michael Plant
Alexander Smith
Phoebe Strawson
Ruth Whateley
Amelia Quintana
Claudia Zuniga

Alpha Two: The Dragon Trek

Barbara Bordewijk
Tjarda Glas
John Carty
Loué Hamami
Steven Leckey
Anna Melville
David Perrett
Alison Toczek
Sam Wood
Lenin Gonzalez
Priscila Arevalo
Amparo Oporta

Alpha Three: The Rio Macho Trek

Chak Chan (Andre)
Thomas Beelaerts van Blokland
Katie Brokmann
Emily Acock
Peter Broomfield
Camilla Harris
Charlie James
Penelope Page
Isabel (Izzy) Scott Moncrieff
Harriet Spicer
Andres Mora
Vanessa Brenes

Alpha Four: Barra Honda

Kam Fai Yip (Oscar)
Elizabeth Nolan
Edouard de Bernis
Eleanor Chalmers
Caroline Davies
Philippa Hill
James Littlewood
Anna Meikle
George Naylor
Laura Rowlands
Thomas Watts
Norma Reyes
Oscar Zuniga

Alpha 5: Piedras Blancas

Frederique Moll
Abigail Smith
Naomi Barker
Elizabeth Flower
Edward Gallagher
Megan Gibbon
Alex Le May
Charles Randle
Jimmy Russell
Tessa Svennevik
Gavin Williams
Javier Bravo
Gustavo Bolanos

Alpha 6: La Cangreja

Sze Man Chan (Toffee)
Tim Hardie
Toby Anderdon
Luke Anthony
Beth Kalischer
Kate Lockie
Charles Macpherson
Charlotte Morgan
Christopher Taylor
Jhonny Blanco
Melvin Talavera
Oscar Saborio

Alpha 7: Achuapa, Los Loros, Nicaragua

Kai Chan To (Wilson)
Robert Loenen
David van Oostrom
Emily Coward
Katie Danaher
Michael Emery
Emily Goldhill
Harry Mallalieu
Laura Marsh
Michael Moloney
Kathleen Stoddart
Delphine Tomes
Odir Rojas

Alpha 8: Miraflor Pre-schools project, Nicaragua

Kin Shing Hui (Steven)
Georgina Nühn
Marieke van der Noordaa
Thomas Abel Smith
Tom Dearie
Ralph Giles
Emma Hedges
Kathryn Hey
Alicia Hockless
Felicity Lyne
Philippa Newton
Jose Carlos Esquivel
Erina Campos

Alpha 9: Conte Burika

Samuel Obstfeld
yuk tsuen, Lam (Alan)
Machteld Vos
Tamara Astor
Katrina Buckingham
Alex Bull
Victoria Cullen
Jessica Robertson
Rowan Robinson
Edward Smyth-Osbourne
Claire Stone
Sofia Carvajal
Loancy Cortes

The groups will deploy to their project sites very early on Tuesday morning for the next 3 weeks. In the meantime they have a hike and overnight at jungle camp to contend with. They will learn map reading, how to set up their bashas, hammocks and tents and cook in the great outdoors to make sure they are prepared.

There’s a lot to learn so we’ll let you know how they get on!

Bye for now.

1 comment:

Unknown3 February 2008 at 04:42
This blog update is fabulous to know so swiftly. Well done and thank you to all concerned! The photos are also particularly welcome. It looks like everyone is in for a wonderful time.
Rock on you explorers! Take care of each other and enjoy the experience. Our love and best wishes to everyone.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Hi,

Thank you for visiting our blog. Comments are monitored daily and we will ensure messages are promptly delivered to your loved ones. Please ensure you state the name of the person to whom your message is addressed. This is so we don't miss any out. Muchas gracias!

Pura Vida!

How to send your loved ones a message

It's easy. Scroll down to the bottom of the most recent entry and click the comments link. A box will then appear where you can write your comment - please don't forget to tell us who the message is for including the full name and project group of the recipient. You can select name/URL from the dropdown menu to tell us who it's from (you can leave the URL blank if you wish). Finally, click on 'Post Comment' and you're done.

As you can imagine there are 180 volunteers so hundreds of messages for loved ones, no comments go live immediately and have to be moderated for appropriateness, so please do bare with us.

All comments that are pertinent to the post will be publshed and all personal messages will be delivered (even if they don't appear published). Messages mean a lot to all the volunteers; thank you for your continued support.

Raleigh Lingo

Copy that?

Sometimes our Raleigh technical terms can be a tad confusing so we've put together a glossary for you blog followers. This will appear as a quick-reference section on the right-hand column so you can translate our Tico-terms into something a bit more palatable. And for those keen to brush up their Central American Spanish, we've included some handy translations. Here's a few to get you started...

Alpha, X-Ray and Zulu groups
(Grupos Alfa, X-Ray y Zulu)
The official name for project groups during the phases of CR&N 13A. Alpha will be out on project from 3rd to 23rd February, X-Ray from 24th February to 15th March and Zulu from 17th March to 5th April. Project groups are allocated during induction

Basha
Jungle ‘bed’: consists of a tarpaulin for shelter, a hammock and mosquito net. A basha is hung up between two trees and supported by rope, bamboo and canvas straps

Bodega
A Spanish word meaning store or warehouse

Bravo
A term of endearment for our hard-working Land Rovers. The four vehicles are officially, and imaginatively named Bravo One, Two, Three and Four

C.A.T.I.E.
The agricultural and development research institute on whose campus Fieldbase is situated. Find out more at http://www.catie.ac.cr/

Changeover (Cambio de Fase)
Two day period where all staff and Venturers return from their project sites for some respite before they are all reallocated and sent off to do it all over again...

Chicas, Chicos
Spanish term meaning girls (chicas) or guys (chicos) or both (chicos aswell). As in “Vamonos chicos!” or “Let’s go guys!”

Craic
A way to gauge how people are feeling, usually measured from 0 to 90. If your ‘craic’ is high, you’re pretty happy. If you announce a low craic, people will probably fix you up with an energy bomb and a nice big hug

CR&N 13A
Costa Rica and Nicaragua expeditions 13A

Day Leader (DL) (Líder del día)
Every day on project, one of the Team is designated DL – they are in charge of the day, including organising the day’s briefing, keeping group morale up, dealing with any problems, sticking to schedule and de-briefing at the end of the day. The DL role rotates round the whole group so everyone takes a turn

Energizer (Actividad Levanta Muertos)
An activity to gather the group together and raise energy levels. Can be used at the beginning of the day, or whenever a quick pick-me-up is required

Energy bombs (Explosión de azucar)
A trekking treat – mix together oats, raisins, condensed milk and chocolate powder and roll into little balls of gooey goodness to power you through the day

Fieldbase (FB) (Campo Base)
Refers to the Raleigh ‘office residence’ which is where the Fieldbase staff eat, sleep and work, whilst organising the expedition, manning the radios round the clock, supporting the projects, planning transport and logistics, keeping tabs on the finances and much, much more

Field Base Volunteer Managers (Equipo Logístico Voluntario del Campo Base)
Volunteer support staff for the expedition. The team looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ of the expedition and ensures everything runs smoothly. This consists of three permanent staff members - the Country Director, Country Project Manager and Country Expedition Manager - plus a team of volunteer staff including the, Medic, Photographer, Administrator, Finance Officer, three Logistics (logs) team members and the Communications Officer

Gallo Pinto
A traditional Costa Rican dish of rice and beans (yum!)

Icebreaker (Rompe Hielos)
A getting-to-know-you game

Longdrop (Letrina)
The camp loo. Literally a deep hole in the ground, it is one of the first tasks to complete when setting up jungle camp for obvious reasons! Short drops are similar, normally used for overnight stops when a shallower trench will suffice

Longs (Pantalones)
From 6pm onwards, we all don long trousers and sleeves to discourage the bugs that aren’t deterred by DEET

Maxis
Short for Maxi Pali, the stock-everything shop about a kilometer from Fieldbase where you can buy all those things you forgot/ran out of/lost

Nicas
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Nicaragua

Ninja
A popular game/energizer used by venturers and Project managers alike. Everyone stands in a circle and tries to hit the team members either side of them on the hand via a single ninja movements. Sound effects welcome

POPS
Legendary milkshake and ice-cream parlour chain found all over Costa Rica – perfect for a sweet splurge

Pork and beans (Frijoles con cerdo)
Another staple foodstuff for trekkers: tinned beans with a slightly sausage twang, served cold for lunch. Usually accompanied by dry cracker dust, sprinkled liberally on to the top. If you’re in a hurry, this can be consumed without cutlery straight from the can

Project Managers (PMs) (Guías)
Project staff for the expedition. Each of the groups has at least two PMs who work with the Venturers to develop skills, lead projects and challenge themselves

PURA VIDA!
A very special Costa Rican phrase that means hello, goodbye, I’m great, it’s good, pure life, basically any positive, feel-good thing can be Pura vida!

Radio check (Chequeo de Radio)
As well as a daily SITREP, all Alpha projects are required to complete a second radio call-in each day to check in, receive messages and report any developments

Review (Revisión)
A round-up that assesses how everyone feels, what went well and what needs work. This is sometimes an ‘activity’, sometimes a chat around the campfire, or sometimes just a bit of time to reflect. It’s an important part of everyone’s personal development so we make sure it happens every day

Roadtrip (Paseo Volando Rueda)
The logistics team and some of the Field Base team drive the Bravos on a loop round to each of the accessible project sites once per phase. They deliver kit, supplies, site visitors, messages from the blog and of course the all important post

Ropa Americana
Purveyors of the finest second hand American threads. Perfect for fancy dress/obtaining that long coveted college sports jersey

SITREP (Reporte de la Situación)
Literally Situation Report. A special radio message sent from the satellite project sites back to fieldbase once a day. It follows a certain format and includes all sort of handy information like where they are, what they’ve been up to, what they need and what they’re planning to do next

Tang
A fruity powder that is used to make squash. Jolly useful for taking away the chlorine taste of purified water

Ticos
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Costa Rica

Trangia (Mini Cocina)
A portable cooking stove. Used primarily for trekking, a trangia’s compact design makes it perfect for easy transportation. Literal translation in spanish - mini kitchen. Makes sense

Turrialba
The location of Fieldbase

Venturers (Aventureros)
Participants in the Raleigh expedition. Aged 17 to 24, they come in three varieties: Host Country Venturers (from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Partnership Venturers (positive young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK who participate in Raleigh expeditions as part of a longer term development programme) and UK and International Fundraising Participants (who work hard to raise money to contribute towards the charities work and expenses in order to take part in the expedition)

Wash up (Revisión Final)
The last few days of expedition, spent debriefing, returning equipment, performing skits, and most importantly enjoying the farewell party (tears alert)

Zero (Cero)
A radio term that identifies the radio controller at Fieldbase. Fieldbase monitors the radios 24-7, listening out on three frequencies for calls from our satellite project sites. When the radio alarm sounds, we might answer something like this: “Hello unknown call sign, hello unknown call sign, this is Zero, this is zero, do you copy, OVER?”