The Blog is BACK!!!

It is with MUCHOS apologismos (that’s sorry for those not fluent in Spanglish) that we bring you this latest blog. The internet at Field Base is going through a particularly weak spell, so I am currently parked in a deserted Turrialba Plaza at midnight using the municipality’s free wireless internet – anything for our readers. We shall endeavour to bring you much more frequent blogs from now on. Remember – your loved ones out here are keen to hear from you, so leave a comment and we’ll make sure they get it (just remember they might not receive it for a few days).

SOOOoooo....what has been going on since the last time you checked in? The Venturers deployed for Phase 1 on Friday morning having had an intense day of packing followed by a night of dancing at ‘Club Raleigh’. The first buses departed at 0430 and that last was gone by 0600, leaving the Field Base team with a few hours of cleaning followed by a well earned, delicious breakfast. Here’s what each group has been up to for the last few days:

Field Base waving the last of the groups into the mist...

Alpha 1 – Maribios Trek
Alpha 1 had an easy first day as it was spent on the Transnica bus – the perfect chance to catch up on sleep lost during the first four days. They spent the night in the Jinotepe School (built by Raleigh in 2002) along with Alpha 5 & Alpha 6. Everyone crashed out very early which as just as well – day 2 consisted of a 5am bus to the start of the trek – a five hour uphill hike to the beautiful pine forests above Esteli (the most southern pine forests in the Americas north of the equator). The start of the trek is quite fresh – a stark contrast to the baking hot dust bowl which is to come. The group have walked for three days now and will spend tonight in El Matapalo. Within the next few days, the wonder that is the Maribios chain of volcanoes will be stretched out in front of them.

Alphas 1, 5 & 6 packing the coach

Alpha 2 – Coast 2 Coast Trek
These poor souls were the only group that had to do anything significant on day 1 of the phase, after 4 days of quite intense induction. A relatively short three hour bus journey took them to Moin, just north of the port town of Limon. The group dipped their toes in the Caribbean Sea, knowing that the next time they would do this would be on the other side of the country / continent in the Pacific Ocean. The first three days involved relatively flat but long days walking through communities, banana plantations and along train tracks. However, today they ascended up to Barbilla National Park – the start of three very exciting and challenging days walking through incredible rainforest. Zoecita and Raquelita (that’s Zoe and Rachel for their folks back home) are there right now in Bravo 3 delivering their first food drop. We’ll have photos from Alpha 2 tomorrow.

Action Man Ken loads the bus and Alpha 2 wave goodye

Alpha 3 – La Cangreja National Park
Alpha 3 are living the Raleigh dream deep in the jungle at La Cangreja. They have spent the first few days living in the ranger station, as it takes time to put together a proper jungle camp. They will spend their first night in their camp tonight sleeping in hammocks and basha beds. Here is the summary of the first few days from A3 Comms Officer Christine Harry:

Alpha 3 prep to leave

Alpha 4 – Camaronal
After a long eight hour coach journey, Alpha 4 arrived in paradise. It didn’t take them long to move in – their Ranger Station is very nice indeed. So far the group have written their group contract, met with the Rangers to plan their phase in more detail and divided the team into shift groups. One of the jobs the group will be doing is patrolling the beach and moving the turtle eggs to the protected ‘nurseries’ to ensure that poachers can’t steal them, so the team will be working in shifts of threes or fours throughout the night. The other job they are doing is building a trail from the beach up to the mirador (lookout point) – a place so beautiful they are already calling it ‘The Stairway to Heaven’.

Alpha 5 – La Calera, Achuapa
It took Alpha 5 a day and a half on a bus to get to their project site, but the warm welcome they were given on arrival made it all worthwhile. After a quick presentation by the community leader, the group were taken away to their houses for the next 16 days led by their Nica ‘Mum, Dad, brothers & sisters!’ Today was a day off for the Maestro de Obra (foreman) so the group went for a swim / clean in a local river. Tomorrow they will crack on with some hard digging and pick-axing in order to make the ditches between the houses and the soon to be well.

Alpha 6 – El Zacaton, Miraflor
Travelling with Alphas 1 & 5, Alpha 6 also made it to El Zacaton by 1400 on Saturday, after a long bus journey and a presentation at the offices of El Foro, our project partner in Miraflor. The group don’t start work until Monday, so they made the most of their weekend by visiting Los Volcanitos wildlife sanctuary on Saturday and then to the Miraflor radio station today. Tomorrow will see the group begin digging the foundations of the community centre.

Field Base
Meanwhile, here at Field base we collapsed on deployment day after three weeks of some seriously hard work. During the phase we will man the communications room 24/7 so that there is always someone available should the groups require any kind of assistance. As it is Sunday today, we had our weekly radio show ‘Radio Raleigh’ – unfortunately the trekkers were still on the move and didn’t manage to listen, but the other groups did – they were particularly keen to hear the football scores and entertainment gossip. The Field Base team have been getting on with planning road trips, doing accounts, getting the vehicles expedition ready and arranging resupplies for the groups. We’ve also been playing a LOT of cards. Terminator has finally been swept aside by Australian Rummy – Pedro is the current champ and just can’t get enough. There was much hilarity this afternoon when we had a knock at the door from our neighbours – the son had been teaching his mother how to drive on our private roads, but with her beginner’s nerves she managed to confuse the brake pedal with the accelerator and proceeded to drive straight into our brand new Raleigh sign! They were so embarrassed and apologetic we couldn’t possibly have been mad at them.

Finally...peace and quiet at Field Base!

Alex, Pedro and Colleen will be leaving for Nicaragua tomorrow in Bravo 1. They will be visiting Alphas 1, 5, & 6, so we can expect photos from those groups within the next few days.

Our most excellent Communications Officer / Blogger, Ray Ray, is currently on translating duties in Nicaragua and will spend the entire phase with Alpha 5 in Achuapa. She has severely warned everyone at Field Base that the blog must be updated regularly in her absence...check out her angry face in the photos below....would YOU mess with her?!

That’s all for now folks – there will be more updates soon
Hasta la bye bye
Ross