Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: 09F Final Farewell

Saturday, 12 September 2009

09F Final Farewell

On Wednesday afternoon the venturers all returned from a very successful phase three. A massive clear up began, cleaning kit, returning valuables, foreign exchange and of course catching up with all of the Alpha groups. Then it was time to draw life maps as a way of reflecting on the Raleigh experience and how the it would influence the future.

The group sharing their life maps

Laura and Tessa about to present their life map to the group

Michael deep in thought

In traditional 09F style it was time for a fancy dress farewell wash up party. The theme was to dress up as a place, person or event beginning with the first letter of your first name! We had some interesting costumes - Oli, the DEL, recruited 10 staff and painted herself blue to come as Oceans Eleven, Guy covered a suit jacket in forks and was Guy Forks!

Dancing to the macarena!

The staff team

Guy Forks and Spongebob Square pants aka the comms and photography team!

The next day it was an early rise and lots of tearful goodbyes before setting off in the bus to the airport.

Loading the bus

Tearful goodbyes

A bus full of venturers and mixed emotions

Adios!

A huge WELL DONE to all the venturers in 09F, may you wear your t shirts with pride and always remember this experience, all the staff and villagers are certain to remember you. Thank you for making the expedition such a success. Don’t forget to join Raleigh Alumni to keep in touch with everyone and definitely come along to the reunion!

To everyone at home, again, thank you. Your messages of love and support have inspired us, made us laugh, made us cry, and kept us going up all those hills in the pouring rain and the blistering sun!

Final Note from DEL for the 09F Expedition

We hope all the Venturers are now either home safe or enjoying their continuing adventures around the globe. You were an amazing team, and we wish you every success and happiness in the future. See you at the Reunion!

The Volunteer Manager team have offered exceptional support to all those on 09F&G and it is a privilege to be a part of this team.

Finally, on behalf of us all, a huge thank you is owed to Julian for managing the 09F expedition and making it such an incredible experience for us all. His wisdom, patience and calmness were appreciated by all – he is an inspirational mentor and has been a great friend for all the staff.

7 comments:

Anonymous13 September 2009 at 07:47
Thank you for an awesome time, im home safe and sound finally! Will miss you all..Louise xxx
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BUMBLE BEE13 September 2009 at 10:16
THANX 4 THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE ON TO PHASE-4. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE REUNION MAYBE NO ALCOHOL TILL THEN LOL. THANX TO JULIAN AND THE GANG.
LOVE THE BIG GUY
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Anonymous13 September 2009 at 10:26
thanks to everyone made this amazing all staff and ventures PAUL M:)
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Diana15 September 2009 at 15:06
Thank you Raleigh for maintaining this great blog during the 09F&G expeditions. As a friend of team manager Alex Carr-Locke (Alpha 3)and living on Vancouver Island in Canada, the blog was so appreciated as a vehicle to follow the various teams throughout their endeavors. Your organization is to be applauded for your good work as are all the staff and venturers that are fortunate to be part of your programs.
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Matt Usherwood15 September 2009 at 15:45
Simply put, I had an fantastic time on expedition. It has helped me in so many ways and I will take the experiences with me through life.
For all the PMS and fieldbase staff, thank you for being such a huge inspiration to me and everyone.
Miss y'all loads.
Matt
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Anonymous15 September 2009 at 18:35
Heya!! everybody... Thank you for every single day on the expedition, it's been just the best experience of my life!!! Thanks field base for your support, the best PMs and the best Log Organization. Thanks Raleigh, you gave me new friends and a new life!!! See you soon Raleigh, se you soon friends!!! Gracias por todo!! Pura Vida! Nacho Taco Enchilada!!!!
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Oli20 September 2009 at 12:03
Hey everyone!

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone on the expedition. I've had the best 10 weeks of my life and am majorly bummed to be back. Thanks to all the staff for making this the awesome experience that it was. I'm totally in awe of all the hard work you guys put in.

All the best for the future, looking forward to seeing most of you in December.

Oli Halls
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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?”