Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: And they are off...

Wednesday, 4 February 2009

And they are off...

0300: Team field base, consisting of the Logistics team Szeman and John, lead by superstar organizer Wendy and Jackie, Anna-Lousie, Ross and Julian got up. Tasks: Set out breakfast and lunch for everyone to make, sort out any final deployment details and make cups of tea! As an honorary Team field base member I (Libby) was also up, although my broken foot confined me to the shop table selling last minute chocolate bars and crisps to the Ventures!

0330: Volunteer Managers and Ventures started to appear bleary eyed and more than a little excited about starting Phase 1!

0430: Alpha 5, 7 and 8’s bus arrives and they start to pack tools and backpacks into the bus. Fitting three groups’ kit into the bus in the dark was challenge not dissimilar to our Crystal Maze the other night!

0500: All the other alpha groups’ buses arrive, they start to pack and make sandwiches for the trip.

0515: Alpha 5, 7 and 8 are the first off the mark! Alpha 5 will be dropped in Liberia where they will catch another bus to Horizantes. Alpha 7 and 8 will continue across the Costa Rican/ Nicaraguan boarder to Jinotepe where they will stay the night before heading onto their projects.

0530: Alpha 9 depart heading towards the small town of Banco where they will stay the night. Lucky things they will have a bit of a sleep in the morning, as due to tides they cannot start walking into Conte Burika until around midday tomorrow.

0535: The sun manages to shine some light on field base!

0545: Alpha 4 squeezed all their food, tools, bags and ventures onto the bus for La Cangreja and headed out complete with wheelbarrows strapped to the top!

0550: Alpha 1, our Corcovado trekkers and Communications Officer Amy curled up on their bus ready for a long trip down to the south of Costa Rica. I am sure they are getting in as much sleep as they can before they start walking tomorrow.

0600: After stuffing all their tents, food and other kits into their packs the Alpha 2 Macho Trekkers and Photographer Laura leave on their one hour bus trip to where they will start trekking (Yes they start walking today - lets hope they all slept well last night!)

0630: Team field base start to clean, clean, clean, eat a well deserved breakfast and then get some well deserved sleep!

5 comments:

Anonymous5 February 2009 at 05:02
Have a great time everyone! Loving to see what you are up to. The blog is great and it's making my job here at HO a lot easier!

Pedro
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Anonymous16 February 2009 at 00:02
TO CAROLINE BORSTLAP ,

hi sweet caro,
i hope you have a great time there, and not TO heavy?!
Just read the blog and saw the pics, im gonna follow you babe!
hoh cartje, i miss youu!
keep it up there,
lot of love from Canada!
xxxxx

lieve carooo!
ik hoop dat je het super hebt daar, en niet al te zwaar.
heb net heel je blog gelezen, en ga je blijven volgen ;)!
hoh cartje, ik mis jee!!
hou je goed daar!
veeeeel liefs uit canada!!!
kisss

(ik wist niet of ze het mondeling gingen doorgeven,want er stond via radio, en ja mss kunnen ze geen nederlands, vandaar de 2 talen haha;)!)
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Anonymous16 February 2009 at 12:56
Good luck to the team I met in Santa Lucia Costa Rica as you guys were treking through (I remember an Anna from Brisbane - the leader and a guy from Holland with a girlfriend). I was the dirty statesman with that was on a misson trip where you stayed the night we left at the Methodist Church. Really cool what you guys are doing. The first thing I did when I got back to the states is look up this website and it is really interesting. Keep up the good work.
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Anonymous17 February 2009 at 11:10
Hi KB, hope Valentine party went well - love the bright pink trews!! - also just to let you know our wee girl, Caoimhe (pronounced Keeva), arrived safely at last on friday 13th feb at 10.30 am. She weighed 8 pounds but is long so not too much of a chubber - ;-) - she is gorgeous and we over the moon! - she is looking forward to meeting her Auntie KB on her return from CR! - we looking forward to hearing your next update
love Morven and Callum
xxx
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Anonymous18 February 2009 at 11:58
RE: message to KB-
see what a lucky day Friday 13th can be! Congratulations to 'Auntie' KB, and to the proud parents - and welcome Caoimhe.

Blog team: thank you so much for your work in keeping us all up to date with the groups' activities, and for making this on-line community possible. You are doing a great job.
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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?”