Alpha 9 end of phase slideshow

Our phase started with an eight hour trek down the beach before arriving in the village of La Carona situated in the indigenous reserve of Conte Burika.

We immediately set about lugging 50kg pieces of wood over a hilly 3km track. These planks were so huge that they became known as “God’s Chopsticks”.

While carrying the wood was tough, the views from the top were spectacular, we considered ourselves very fortunate to be able to look out over the peninsular and the Pacific Ocean stretching out before us. Back in La Carona with a large pile of wood beside us, we began work on the dining hall. Under the watchful eye of Sebastian we dug, bashed, heaved, whacked, straightened and hammered to produce 54 vertically set planks with the horizontal ones laid on top. From then on there was more wood to be collected before we began planing the floorboards.

Other than work there was plenty of football to be played with the villagers. The home side competed in a mixture of football boots, bare feet and wellies!

We thought we had got used to the Guaymi staple diet of rice, beans and tortillas until one day we were presented with pink custard for breakfast!
We enjoyed a couple of days off, making trips to the beach and to a local waterfall. It was incredible to be guided through the beauty of the untouched landscape that the Guaymi are so lucky to live in.

At the end of the phase we had a dinner with the entire community. We had an immense amount of fun and we were extremely proud of our work in attempting to enhance the lives of the people of a unique and fascinating culture.