Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Meeting the 08J crew

Saturday, 29 November 2008

Meeting the 08J crew

Over the next week I am endevouring to post profiles on members of the expedition - this may be a gradual process as I wait for responses via the radio, but I've loved these responses so far - hope you do too!

Name: Pedro
Age: not for public view

Country: Argentina

Highlight so far: Seeing water running through the trench in Achuapa

Missed the most: Family and friends, and watching Liverpool storm the premiership

Do differently on return: Not pack so much useless stuff when travelling

Name: Rose Drew

Age: 26

Country: England

Highlight so far: Walking over the rim of the crater on Volcan Cosiguina and looking out over trek route and Pacific Ocean

Missed the most: simple luxuries like a bed and hot showers

Do differently on return: Have more confidence in self

Name: Ross McKenzie

Age: 29

Country: Scotland

Highlight so far: Finally having the opportunity to climb Volcan Cosiguina and remembering just how lucky I am to do this job.... oh and working with Anna!!!

Missed the most: Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and watching the Hibees

Do differently on return: Try to be more like Anna!!!

Name: Georgie Thomas

Age:18

Country: England

Highlight so far: Trekking - The Waterfall at La Lira

Missed the Most: Family

Do differently on return: Flush toilet paper down loo and be happier in life in general

Name: Viviana Aguiliar

Age: 23

Country: Costa Rica

Highlight so far: Returning to the community in Nicaragua where I worked as a venturer, meeting great people from around the world, and getting to know more of my own country.

Miss the most: Facebook!

Name: Jamie Buttery

Age: 19

Country: England

Highlight so far: Chance to work out plans for when I get home

Missed the most: Family!!!

Do differently on return: Go out and get a job and be more active.

Name: Ross Macpherson

Age: 18

Country: Scotland

Highlight so far: Meeting and getting to know everyone on Raleigh

Missed the most: Family and friends and good old Scottish banter

Do differently on return: Be less materialistic and less focused on myself and more on other people...oh and shower less!!

Name: Valerie Crasemann

Age: 18

Country: Germany

Highlight so far: Trekking through communities in Nicaragua and meeting and playing with the kids

Missed the most: Family

Do differently on return: Be more appreciative of everything, get more out of life, and build a long drop in the back garden

Name: Niall Mullan

Age: 19

Country: Northern Ireland

Highlight so far: Showering "el natural" in La Cangreja

Missed the most: Meat and Milk

Do differnetly on return: Eat on a more modest budget

4 comments:

Anonymous30 November 2008 at 04:07
Great Comments and pictures!!!!!!
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Anonymous30 November 2008 at 11:38
hi ross !

i'm so proud of you! the blog is terrific ! you look so happy and look pretty toned up haha ! Saw the island you are in now, looks amazing !! Hope you have fun there ! And since i taught you to swim on holiday you can dive in the big deep water !

2 weeks on Thursday and your home yeeehaaaaa !!!

love you and miss you lots

love laura doll xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Anonymous1 December 2008 at 07:11
MESSAGE FOR ALL ALPHA GROUPS.

ANNA - PLEASE PASS ON AND TELL WHOEVER IS ON RADIO TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE GROUP.

'MESSAGE FROM SCOTT - NOTHING!!!...'

LOVE Scott
X
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viajera saltense4 December 2008 at 05:49
A message for Pedro from the Alpha 1 group

You and all the other people in your group are doing a fantastic job.
Keep up the good work.
Love you lots

mama
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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?”