Phase two already in full swing

After a lot of travelling and a couple of very early starts, all of our Alpha groups have now safely arrived at their project sites and are starting to get into the swing of things

So as usual, here is a quick round up of where everyone is and how they’re getting on…

Alpha one spent the night in Alturas last night and are headed to Agua Calientes today (which means hot waters in Spanish) where they will be able to relieve their tired legs in some stunning natural hot springs – I was there a few weeks ago and I can confirm that after a hard day’s trekking it is absolute heaven…Alpha two have been doing a great job of facing the challenges posed by Barbilla National Park, tackling numerous river crossings and tricky climbs.

Alpha four arrived safe and sound and met with the rangers yesterday to discuss the project. They have clearly been practising their Spanish as they managed to complete their SITREP completely in Spanish this morning, delivered by non-Spanish speakers! Today they’re diving straight into work so there’ll be lots of digging and clearing.

Alpha five also met with the rangers yesterday and ended the evening with a beautiful sunset – they are all quite taken with how beautiful it is in Horizontes. Today, although their camp is already set up, they’re thinking up ways to make it even better than phase one.

Alpha seven arrived in Achuapa yesterday evening and had a lovely dinner. Unfortunately they were unable to get the porridge on the go this morning and so had to have sweet bread instead – they sounded very disappointed! They are headed to Los Playones this morning, where they’ll be meeting their host families and getting settled in.

Alpha eight bought some paint for the community centre on their way to San Ramon in Miraflor yesterday afternoon and spent the evening getting acquainted with their new hosts. Today they will be picking up from where phase one left off by continuing with building up the walls.

Finally, Alpha nine did the stunning walk along the beach into La Carona in excellent time yesterday giving themselves most of the afternoon to get settled in. Today they are meeting with the community to discuss what they’ll be doing over the next three weeks, and will pick up the building of the comedor from where phase one left off tomorrow.

Blog messages…
I’ve noticed that some of the comments we receive at our end seem to be disappearing into the ether of cyberspace and not appearing where they should be on the blog. But don't worry! We get all the comments through at this end so we can approve them, and this is where we pull them off and print them out to give to everyone – so rest assured that your loved ones are still getting their messages, but they just aren’t always appearing on the blog. Hopefully we can figure out why and fix it soon but in the meantime the messages will continue to be sent out either via the radio or with the road trips.